Total pages in book: 103
Estimated words: 96752 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 484(@200wpm)___ 387(@250wpm)___ 323(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 96752 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 484(@200wpm)___ 387(@250wpm)___ 323(@300wpm)
“Again, it’s not my business.” I’ve come to the conclusion that I’m happy things went down the way they did. I made a fool of myself, but it wasn’t anything lasting. We didn’t go so far that I feel any real shame. I almost feel like I avoided a massive mistake. “We were high off romance and champagne that night. It’s a good thing she showed up because I think there would have been a whole lot of regret in the morning.”
“Not on my brother’s end.”
“Jeremiah, I’m not willing to discuss this with him. Why do you think I would discuss it with you?”
He gives a glowy smile. “Because I’m sweet and sunshiney? Come on, Harper. I’m the guy all the girls talk to. You know I spent most of my high school and college days as someone’s gay bestie. I find myself shockingly alone right now. All my girls have betrayed me by marrying boys and suddenly they move to…I can barely say it…Jersey. They know I can’t walk into Jersey.”
He’s cute, but I have to keep my distance. Although there’s a part of me that wants to connect with him. The truth is I’m the third wheel most of the time. My girls “betrayed” me by finding themselves amazing men, and now all I have is this job I’m holding on to by a thread, an extended family that thinks I’m an ATM, and a mom who wants to get my baby factory operating so she can pass her delusional love for the patriarchy down to another generation. Maybe I should get a dog. “I’m sorry. I don’t think getting involved with your brother is a good idea. I mean, he’s in European tabloids. I’m not the kind of woman who gets into tabloids.”
“Which is exactly why I like you,” he mutters under his breath and then sits up straight, obviously deciding on a different tactic. “Can we at least agree that he didn’t lie to you?”
“I never said he did.” We didn’t talk about whether or not we had partners. I assumed, and we all know where that gets you.
“Can we agree he didn’t lie by omission? He hasn’t seen Britta in months. They broke it off last year, and he had no intention of getting back with her. She showed up at the reception with an old friend who was invited to the wedding. She wasn’t. Apparently the security at the reception wasn’t as tight as the ceremony.”
He’s forgetting the important part. “But she was looking for him.”
Jeremiah sighs and sits back. “She does this to him. She throws some massive fit, breaks things off, and then comes back months later. I’ve often wondered if she does it because she wants to see someone else for a while.”
“So she broke off the engagement.”
He winces like he wishes he hadn’t said something. “He would have broken it off this time. He was planning to. He hadn’t found the right way to do it.”
This is not my fight, and yet I find myself still asking questions. Likely because I can’t stop thinking about the way the man kissed me. Like I was the sweetest thing he’d ever put in his mouth. Like he could do it forever and still want me.
I read too many romance novels.
“How long were they together?”
He stares for a moment like he knows he’s in a mine field and isn’t sure he wants to take that tentative first step. “A few years, and that should tell you something. It’s always been off and on. They had a major fight and he was done, though technically she said the words before he did. I know my brother. He’s not going back.”
I don’t know his brother at all. “Well, he certainly shoved me out fast enough when he knew she was on her way up.”
“He did that to spare you,” Jeremiah says. “Britta can be…mean is too small a word. Apocalyptic when she wants to be. He didn’t want you in the middle of that fight.”
“Did he think I was too fragile to handle one supermodel? I assure you I had already handled one obnoxious woman for him that night. I could have done it again.” And honestly, the sex when I was filled with that kind of adrenaline would have been spectacular. I enjoy taking down assholes. It’s a good triumphing over evil thing. Again with the romance novels. I should switch to mysteries or something. At least they would teach me valuable, usable information. Like how to murder my enemies and get away with it.
“I didn’t handle it right. I saw her and I kind of freaked out,” he admits. “I thought it was over. I know how bad it can get and how Reid can get. Dark. He’s been so much happier lately. I didn’t want him to go back. She can talk him into things.”