Total pages in book: 70
Estimated words: 67795 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 339(@200wpm)___ 271(@250wpm)___ 226(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 67795 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 339(@200wpm)___ 271(@250wpm)___ 226(@300wpm)
“You think so, huh?”
It’s cute how Letty thinks she knows me, has figured me out. A few good guesses over the past few days, but, in fact, Ace is the only person who really knows me.
“I do,” she says with a confident nod. “You have that walk like those guys who are just born cool. You seem so confident all the time like you belong wherever you are.”
I arch a brow at her as we walk across the parking lot, the sun setting behind us. “You mean somewhere like here, where I clearly don’t belong?”
Her coffee-colored brows dip in confusion, blue eyes sparkling with mischief.
“What? No. I mean, I get why you’d say that. I wasn’t exactly friendly and welcoming to you as I should have been at first, and I’m sorry for that. But that’s not what I meant at all.” She sighs and shakes her head. “I just mean you’re so self-assured. I bet you never feel out of place anywhere. I envy that.”
Her words surprise me. “You feel out of place?”
“Only all of the time.” She nods and flashes one of those nervous smiles that turns her cheeks pink. “You ever heard of imposter syndrome? I think I have that.”
I laugh. “But you belong everywhere. There’s no place you could go where you wouldn’t be welcome.”
Letty is the kind of woman I imagine everyone welcoming with open arms. She is, without a doubt, the right kind of people.
“Yet, I don’t feel as if I belong,” she replies with a sigh. “How do you do it?”
“It’s probably a result of my military training. I went plenty of places I didn’t belong and where I wasn’t wanted. I had to make it work.”
I don’t relish talking about my time in the military. I did my time, learned a lot of shit, and took even more shit.
“You don’t like to talk about it,” she guesses correctly. “Sorry. So, why the sunglasses?”
I appreciate her changing the topic without me saying a word.
“I like them. I grew up poor, dirt fucking poor, and this old-timer gave me a pair of sunglasses. Aviators, but the mirrored ones, you know? I thought they were the coolest things ever. So, whenever I stopped somewhere, I’d pick up another pair. It just kind of became my thing.”
It sounds silly when I say it out loud now, as a grown-ass man.
“That’s sweet. Does it matter if they’re designer brands, or do you just go for style?”
I stop and look down at her. That’s the one question I never get, and I’m surprised she’s the one to ask.
“What? Did I say something wrong? Is that too personal?”
“No, it’s fine. Usually, just whatever catches my eye, whether it’s ten dollars or five hundred.”
Letty stops and gapes at me. “Five hundred dollars? For sunglasses? That’s blasphemous!”
I laugh at her outrage. “Aren’t you loaded?”
I never met a rich chick who had a hard time spending money.
“No. My parents have stupid money, not me. I’ve just joined the workforce, so I’m not at all loaded.”
She stops at her car and double-clicks the fob to unlock the doors. “You seriously have a pair of five-hundred-dollar sunglasses?”
“More than just one,” I tell her with a teasing smile.
“Unbelievable. You’ll have to wear one of those fancy pairs to dinner. With me and my mom. Soon.”
“Uhm, when did I agree to dinner with your mom?”
She smiles up at me with a shrug. “Just now when you said, I can’t wait to show off my expensive sunglasses to your fancy pants mom.”
She laughs, and the sound is pure glee. “You don’t remember? Must be the old memory bank going,” she jokes and taps the side of her head.
“Now that you mention it, I recall something familiar. Dinner with your mom in exchange for a ride on the back of my bike. Yeah, I remember now.”
“Hey!” She points at me with a knowing smile. “I see what you did there, and you know what, Shades? I agree.”
Damn, this girl keeps on surprising me. “Seriously?”
“Yeah, sure. Why not? I’m curious to know what it feels like since you guys have made an entire lifestyle out of it.”
“Yeah? ’Cause you look a little bit terrified.”
“Oh, just a little bit?”
Her shoulders sag in relief. “I was afraid you could see full-0n terror.”
I don’t want to, but her words make me laugh. “Nah, you covered it pretty good.”
“Thanks.” She tugs on the door handle until it opens. “So, Saturday night at eight o’clock?”
If another woman was so presumptuous, I would have put her in her place, but Letty’s big blue eyes look at me in anticipation. When she says she wants me to show up for dinner, but she’ll accept rejection if I refuse her invitation, instead of shaking my head no, I find myself nodding.
“Yeah, sure. Eight o’clock.”
I can’t deny that a part of me wants to know more about this chick. A hell of a lot more.