Total pages in book: 19
Estimated words: 17750 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 89(@200wpm)___ 71(@250wpm)___ 59(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 17750 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 89(@200wpm)___ 71(@250wpm)___ 59(@300wpm)
“Just chatting with a friend about cute guys,” I answer, looking up from my laptop.
Eric’s white t-shirt is soaked in sweat, making it transparent and revealing his tight six-pack underneath. For a moment, I wonder what it would be like to drag my tongue across his chest. Would he beg for more? Plead for me to stop?
To distract myself from the dirty thoughts, I close my laptop and cross into the kitchen. “I always make dad a breakfast smoothie after a run. Want one?”
I lean up on my tiptoes to grab the blender from the top of the fridge. That’s when I feel my t-shirt rise high on my broad hips.
I’m not wearing pants or anything down below because I only woke up a few minutes ago. It’s not like I was expecting Eric to come home with Dad anyway. He mainly avoids me.
Other than the time I called him when the transmission in my car gave out and I needed a ride or last year when it was mom’s angel anniversary.
I showed up at Mom’s grave alone. Dad must have forgotten but Eric didn’t. He didn’t say a single word to me that day. He just wrapped an arm around my shoulders and let me cry for the longest time.
“Well, do you want a smoothie?” I ask, glancing over my shoulder and trying to act like it’s completely normal for him to see me in just my underwear and t-shirt.
Eric is staring at my black tanga panties, heat flaring in his gaze. He claimed he wasn’t attracted to me that night. It’s what he said right before he walked me back to my room and told me he was writing the night off as a drunken mistake.
My nipples tighten in response to the longing on his face and I clear my throat, trying to get us back on solid ground.
Eric finally drags his gaze upward to my face. He swallows. “I have to go.”
Then he sprints from the room as if he’s on fire and I’m a can of gasoline.
I smile as I put the frozen fruit into the blender for my dad’s smoothie. Now I know Eric’s secret. He’s not as unaffected as he’s been pretending to be.
3
ATLAS
I lean back into the black leather limo seat and try to relax despite my pounding heart. My knee moves up and down in a restless rhythm.
I brought along a green backpack, telling my dad I wanted to have my laptop with me. But it’s not just my machine that’s in there. It’s also all the things I’ll need to transform into Miss Karma.
After helping my friend hack the active machine, I spent the rest of my day looking up flirting tutorials.
I figured it couldn’t be that hard, but I quickly realized I’m more comfortable looking for network vulnerabilities than I am trying to turn on a guy. Especially one as sexy as Eric.
“Is this your first black tie event?” Katie, my dad’s personal assistant, asks. She’s only a couple of years older than me.
She always seems so confident, cool, and collected while I’m over here trying to remember if I put on deodorant before I left the house.
I nod, preferring her to think my nerves have more to do with the large gathering of influential businesspeople than the truth that I’m about to seduce my father’s best friend.
Dad looks up from his phone that he’s been texting on ever since I got into the vehicle. “Your instincts were correct. It was a shell game they were playing with the acquisitions team.”
“Perhaps we could take a moment to be present,” Katie suggests, giving his phone a pointed glance.
Dad pockets his device, and the three of us drift into an awkward silence.
“There was something you were going to tell her,” she prompts.
I don’t like the feeling that I’m being left out of the loop. “Tell me what?”
He pulls an imaginary piece of lint from his suit while refusing to make eye contact. “I had three of the men attending bring their sons for you to meet.”
“Dad! What happened to letting me find someone on my own?” I can’t believe he’s doing this to me. Instead of flirting with Eric all night, I’ll be dodging spoiled frat guys.
“They’re all nice, single boys around your age. I had Eric do some background checks and look at their social media. He approved of them.” He nods decisively as if Eric’s seal of approval should be the only thing I need.
I scoff. “Oh, well, there you go. If Eric says it, that should be enough for me. Do you and Eric get to pick the honeymoon destination too? Or am I allowed to make some decisions on my own?”
He sends Katie a look as if pleading for help.
She crosses her arms over ample chest and shakes her head. Her posture makes it clear she wasn’t on board with this idea. I feel better to realize she’s in my corner.