Total pages in book: 85
Estimated words: 84952 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 425(@200wpm)___ 340(@250wpm)___ 283(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 84952 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 425(@200wpm)___ 340(@250wpm)___ 283(@300wpm)
Me: Eh, widens the field again.
Larissa: IT DOES NOT.
Me: LOL
Larissa: Fine. I’d prefer a guy who has amazing abs, buys perfect gifts (I haven’t taken it off!), and has recent experience fucking me on a rooftop.
Immediately, my cock gets hard, and all thoughts of River’s ridiculous theories are pushed to the wayside.
Me: I know a guy. What time should he be there?
Larissa: Around six-ish?
Me: I’ll see you then.
Larissa: Oh, so it’s you?
Me: If anyone else meets those requirements, I’d love for them to show up.
Larissa: See you tonight.
I stare at her final text before pressing the button on the side of my phone.
What can it hurt to spend a little more time with her?
“I don’t know,” I say as I walk across the street, “but we’re about to find out.”
Seventeen
Larissa
I’m weak.
I knock the new box of Ding Dongs over, and they hit the counter with a thud.
“The things I’ll do for a set of abs,” I mutter to myself.
Even though I know that’s not totally true—and it’s definitely not even the start of why I texted Hollis earlier today—it’s still embarrassing because it’s rooted in truth.
I went around and around, trying to convince myself it was okay to invite him over.
He has nowhere else to go.
We’re friends.
He’s leaving town soon, so I should see him while I can.
He might be hungry.
That last one was the thing that put me over the edge. I could rationalize that.
I would be a bad person if I didn’t invite him over, dammit!
I nearly talked myself out of it after talking to Bellamy. Her advice was to invite him over, answer the door naked, and then to ask him if he was hungry.
“I’m just being a good hostess,” I affirm. “I’m doing the Lord’s work here.”
My laughter turns into a groan as I feel myself slipping. I’ve been fighting it—and doing a damn good job—but I’m a mortal.
Give me a smoking-hot man who has raw edges, a kind heart, and a vulnerability that needs protected, and I’m done. I’m such a sucker.
The doorbell rings, and I all but jog to the door.
“Hey,” I say, pulling it open.
My excitement vanishes.
Standing on the other side isn’t Hollis.
It’s Sebastian.
“What are you doing here?” I ask.
“I came to check on you.”
I look at him with total confusion. “For what?”
“I haven’t seen you in a while.”
“By design.”
He looks over my shoulder and into my house. “Can I come in?”
I step outside and pull the door shut behind me. I don’t give him the pleasure of a verbal answer.
“Please leave,” I tell him.
He looks offended, which is a total joke. Sebastian doesn’t get offended because he doesn’t care. While that might have bothered me at one point, it doesn’t now.
I glance down the road.
“You expecting someone?” he asks.
“That’s really none of your business.”
“I’m just trying to be friendly, Riss.”
I roll my eyes so hard it hurts. “You don’t do friendly, Sebastian. And to be perfectly honest, I wouldn’t have answered the door if I had known it was you on the other side.”
This bruises his ego. He crosses his arms over his chest.
“I came to ask you if you wanted to go to a New Year’s Eve party with me on Tybee Island,” he says smugly. “But if you can’t be nice, I won’t ask.”
What the actual fuck? He has a flipping girlfriend.
“Good. Take Catherine, your actual girlfriend. Now, leave and forget where I live, okay?”
“Larissa …”
He says the words like I’m an errant child, and it drives me nuts. I never realized the tone in which he talked to me until I have something else to compare it to.
Nothing about Sebastian makes me happy. Nothing makes me feel alive or funny or even entertaining—even if it’s annoying. Standing on the porch next to a guy I spent way too much time invested in makes me sad for myself.
“Goodbye,” I say.
But as I turn to go back inside, an engine rumbles down the street. I don’t have to look to see who it is.
His car sounds like him—rough and smooth and a little grumpy when he doesn’t get his way.
My eyes find his as he steps out of the driver’s side door.
He might not be amused, but he is mouthwatering.
His jeans, white T-shirt with a Badgers logo on the front, and a blue-and-white flannel shirt are in stark contrast to Sebastian’s brown sweater and loafers.
I take a step away from Sebastian for my own safety. If Sebastian says the wrong thing, I’m not sure how this is going to end.
Hollis flips his gaze to Sebastian as he nears the porch.
“What the fuck are you doing here?” Hollis bites out.
“We’re having an adult conversation,” Sebastian says.
My mouth hangs open. Sebastian either doesn’t read the room, or he wants to die.
Hollis forgoes the stairs and jumps onto the porch in one swift leap. He stands close enough to Sebastian to make me a little concerned.