Total pages in book: 132
Estimated words: 133224 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 666(@200wpm)___ 533(@250wpm)___ 444(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 133224 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 666(@200wpm)___ 533(@250wpm)___ 444(@300wpm)
“How does it feel to be a married woman?” I smile.
Juliet holds her hand up to show me her wedding rings. “Amazing.” She looks around my house. “What have I missed? Was Barry well behaved?”
“He was a perfect angel,” I lie.
I’m not going to tell her about all my makeup being ruined, that he chewed up four pairs of my lace underpants, killed all my potted plants, and the small fact that he ate Blake’s two-thousand-dollar rug.
“I’m even thinking of getting a dog myself.” Not a lie—I actually am, but I want a well-behaved one. “Let me put the kettle on. I want to hear every detail.” I smile. “You have no idea how much I missed you.”
“Same.” Juliet walks in and flops down on my couch. “It’s great to be home.”
“What about this one?” Chloe holds out the dress into the change room.
“Hmm.” I twist my lips as I eye it over. “I was trying to go sexier.”
“So what’s this guy like that you’re going bowling with, anyway?”
“He seems nice. We’ve been chatting online for a couple weeks. We went out once and had a pretty good time.”
“What does Blake say about this?”
I frown as I pull the next dress up over my hips. “Why would Blake have anything to say about this?”
“Because you know how he is with you. He’ll be jealous as all hell.”
“Oh please,” I scoff. “Blake and I are just friends.” There’s no hope of anything more, not with Kayla in the picture.
“Keep telling yourself that. Trust me, I’m a Blake Grayson expert. I have been watching that man for eighteen months, and there’s something that I know with one hundred percent certainty.”
“What’s that?”
“Whenever you’re in the room, nobody else exists for Blake. I’ve learned to live with it by now.”
I open the curtain and look at Chloe. “Are you serious?”
She nods.
“That makes me feel like shit, Chloe, knowing that you’ve liked him all along. I’m sorry. Is that really what you think?”
“Yeah, I do, and that’s not a bad thing. You don’t need to apologize. I just had a crush on Blake because he’s gorgeous. We didn’t really know each other, and I knew pretty early on that he was smitten with you.”
“You know, it’s the weirdest thing. Taryn said the same thing to me the other day.”
“Because it’s true.”
“I hate to think that if you liked him, and you thought he liked me, that you wouldn’t have said something.” My eyes search hers.
“Blake and I never had chemistry. I just thought he was gorgeous, and now that I have Oliver, I’m actually glad that nothing ever happened.”
I shrug, unsure what to say to that, so I go back to trying on another dress. “Try this one on.” She holds another dress through the curtain.
I think out loud. “Anyway, he’s got a new girl, Kayla, and I think she might be the one for him. It’s probably a good thing. If something did happen with me and Blake and it didn’t work out, I worry that we would lose our friendship.”
“But what if it did work out.”
I stick my head out of the curtain, and my eyes hold hers for a moment.
Her eyes widen. “Wait a minute . . . you do like him? You do, don’t you?”
“No. I’m confused; there’s a big difference. Blake has always been like a big brother to me, but recently I’ve just had a few weird moments where the lines have been blurred, that’s all.” I’m trying to convince myself it’s true, but the words sound hollow to my own ears.
“If I was you, do you know what I would do?”
My eyes search hers. “Please tell me, because I would love some insight from someone who knows the both of us.”
“I would grab hold of Blake Grayson with two hands, and I would make him fall madly in love with me. And I wouldn’t let him go . . . ever.”
“What if he doesn’t like me that way?”
“Trust me, he does.” She goes back to looking at the racks. “I’m going to find you something sexy for bowling and not for stupid Gregory. I’m finding you something sexy for Blake.”
I roll my eyes. “Why?”
“You two belong together.”
Blake
“Hey,” I call as I walk through Rebecca’s front door. “Photog is here.”
“Hi.” Bec bounces down the stairs. She’s wearing gym clothes, and I have to concentrate on keeping my eyes on her face.
“I bought some oil.” I pull it out of my pocket and hold it up.
“What for?”
“I thought we could oil up your feet tonight.”
She blinks. “You want to rub oil into my feet.”
I want to rub oil all over you.
“It will sell pictures.”
“You think?”
“I know.”
I’ll buy the fuckers myself.
“Okay.” She shrugs. “Where will we do this?”
“Probably on your bed.”
“You can’t oil me up on my bed. I’ll get horny.”
“That’s the point.”