Total pages in book: 100
Estimated words: 96513 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 483(@200wpm)___ 386(@250wpm)___ 322(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 96513 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 483(@200wpm)___ 386(@250wpm)___ 322(@300wpm)
“Come into the sitting room. Your father wants to speak with you,” Elizabeth said with an easy smile.
My stomach hardened. Talking to my father alone was never a good idea. I was sure he was going to rail me for being ten minutes late to a dinner that had yet to be served. It wouldn’t be the first time.
“Thank you,” I said anyway and headed into the sitting room to find my father, Carlyle Percy, sipping on a glass of scotch. “Hello, Father.”
“Ah, Camden, you finally made it.”
I kept my face completely neutral. Nothing to set him off. “You asked to speak with me?”
“Yes, I wanted to show you the new construction on the old library,” he said as he rose to his feet. He buttoned the top button of his suit and straightened. “We don’t have time now since you were late but after dinner.”
New construction. My throat closed as I imagined the fucking dust. Not that I could deny my father anything.
“Of course, sir,” I said obediently.
I’d learned control from my lack of control as a child. And the tight fist of my father.
I knew what he’d meant when he said that he wanted to talk to me later. That I’d fucked up. That he wanted to wait until the ladies were otherwise occupied. It all spelled trouble to mend I knew there was no way to avoid it. The only way out was through.
5
Katherine
I couldn’t believe that Camden had left me alone with Candice. She was two years younger than me, and we’d all attended the same prep school. I’d been a terror in high school, but Candice was her own brand of horrendous. And one of the last people on the planet that I wanted to be left alone with.
Especially with her giant belly and her pseudo-science sex therapy. I needed no help with my sex life, thank you very much.
“So, tell me everything,” Candice said with a glint in her amber eyes. “Does he go down on you? Have you experimented with toys? What’s working?”
I downed half of my martini in one long gulp. I needed to be hammered to endure Candice the rest of the night.
She didn’t wait for a reply. “You know what the key to long-lasting pleasure is?” She leaned in as if she were imparting some secret wisdom. “Giving your partner full access to all holes.”
“And you learned this in Taiwan?” I choked out.
“Oh, well, I already knew that bit,” she said with a wink. “I just like to share it in the States because everyone here is such a prude. Like, you’d think they’d be a little more open after having a stick up their ass for… ever.”
“I’m not sure I’m comfortable discussing my sex life with… you,” I told her as delicately as possible.
“Why not?” she asked, clearly mystified.
“Well… I’m married to your brother.”
Candice waved the comment away. “I’m not afraid of sex. If he isn’t pleasuring you fully, it’s my duty to help.”
I opened my mouth, uncertain what was about to come out of it. I usually tried to rein in my outrage when I was around Camden’s father. Without fail, he always did something that made me want to stab him in the eye. I’d prepped myself for that. But god, I didn’t want to deal with Candice.
Then another woman walked into the room. It was the first time in my life that I was happy to see Harmony Cunningham. Elizabeth’s daughter had been my enemy since high school when she tried to sink her claws into Penn. But I would do anything to get out of this conversation with Candice Percy about my holes and sex life.
“Harmony,” I said in greeting, hoping my voice didn’t betray how much I wanted an escape.
Harmony’s nose crinkled. “Katherine, what a pleasant surprise.”
“Oh, Harmony,” Candice said in delight. “I was just helping Katherine with her sex problems.”
Harmony raised one eyebrow and tucked a lock of her platinum-blonde hair behind her ear. “Problems?”
“Candice-invented problems. She’s a sex therapist, didn’t you hear?”
“I did,” Harmony said in a way that said, Unfortunately.
“I’ve been psychoanalyzing her relationship with Kurt,” Candice explained.
“Kurt?” I asked in surprise. “Kurt Mitchell?”
“The one and only,” Harmony said with a shrug.
“I didn’t know he was in New York again.”
Kurt was old Upper East Side money, but he’d been such a fuckup that his parents shipped him off to boarding school. He’d gotten kicked out of a half-dozen of them in Europe and continued his bad-boy ways when he returned for college. I knew that he’d had a fling with my bestie, Lark, but he’d been off my radar since then.
“He’s cleaned up and working for his daddy in investing,” she said.
“Too bad.”
She narrowed her eyes at me. “Why is that?”
“Bad boys have more fun.”
Harmony actually laughed. We’d spent so many years fighting each other over Penn that we weren’t going to suddenly be friends. But I’d rather talk to her than deal with Candice, which said a lot.