Total pages in book: 160
Estimated words: 149137 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 746(@200wpm)___ 597(@250wpm)___ 497(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 149137 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 746(@200wpm)___ 597(@250wpm)___ 497(@300wpm)
“No dessert, then, huh?”
“I’m afraid Mrs. Glendower isn’t used to serving desserts,” he admitted. “I’ll talk to her about keeping some fun stuff in the house for you.”
“Not if it’s going to screw up your diet,” she replied. “I can survive. Well, I can hoard candy and eat where you can’t see it.”
“Not at all. I’m quite good at restraint.” Denial was something he was very acquainted with. “It won’t bother me at all if you have sweets around. As a matter of fact, if you like, you can go over menus with Mrs. Glendower and slip in some comfort food. Make sure I have a decent protein and some greens and then go crazy with the rest. How about one night a week we share some comfort food? It’s been a long time since I had lasagna.”
She sighed. “My dad makes the best lasagna. Well, he did until my other dad’s doctor explained that his cholesterol was that of a walking, talking piece of bacon. Now he makes it with vegan cheese and mushrooms. I totally miss real lasagna.”
“How many dads do you have?” He knew a lot about her professional experience, but her personal life had been summed up with a security check that stated she wasn’t a threat. He found himself curious about her.
“Just the two.”
“Ah, so this isn’t a stepdad thing?”
“Nope. Two dads. Happily married since they legally could be but together since they were twenty-two and met at a disco in 1979. Fred was a dancing bartender. Jim was the fly DJ. They swear it was cool at the time. I’ve seen the pictures. I disagree.”
“Where did you grow up?” He knew she’d been adopted and spent her formative years in So Cal, but he couldn’t remember quite where.
She stiffened for a moment and he worried he touched some sore spot. She sighed and relaxed again. “I was born in rural China. I was smuggled out of the country with my mother’s permission and I found my way into an orphanage. I was adopted shortly thereafter and made my way to Santa Barbara. My dad taught at the UC campus there and my other father was a stay-at-home dad.”
“Wow. That must have been interesting back then. Even in the early nineties there couldn’t have been too many families like yours.”
“I’m sure it would have been hard if we’d been somewhere else,” she replied. “I was an Asian girl with gay parents. One white. One black. We were the world, as I liked to say. I’m sure there were people who made fun of me. I never cared. I don’t know if that was a function of how well they raised me or simply my personality, but I don’t give in to bullying behavior. Oh, I should clarify. I totally give in to it. I tend to beat the shit out of the bully, but I don’t let them make me feel bad about me, if that makes sense.”
“Everyone cares on some level.” He could remember the taunts, the stares, the people who looked through him like he hadn’t been there at all. He’d tried to make himself numb, but even now, it hurt. Years later and he could remember those eyes on him.
She shrugged. “I guess I haven’t met anyone I thought enough of that their opinion could make me feel bad. Not that I don’t have friends. But my friends like me. So far I haven’t fucked that up.”
“Even with the person you took a knife to?” He was still reeling a little from that revelation. He’d known whoever he would hire would be good with weapons, but he’d thought about guns. Not knives. There was something odd about thinking Kayla might have a couple of weapons on her at all times.
“Owen? Nah, he took it well. He said it didn’t bug him at all. Said it happened to him in pubs all the time, and that I believe. He could be obnoxious.” Her smiled faltered. “He went to Damon and explained that it was his fault. He tried really hard to get me out of trouble.”
“Are you still friends?” Something about the way her expression had shifted made him wonder.
“Yes, but he doesn’t remember what happened. It’s sad that he doesn’t remember all the reasons I care about him.” She seemed to shake something off and her smile returned. “He had a work-related accident. Fucked up his memory. But that’s not what we’re here for. I looked over the contract and there are only a few things I have some questions about. You want me to surrender my phone to you whenever you ask. Is that because you’re worried I’ll cheat or you’re worried I’m working for a newspaper?”
Well, she didn’t have problems being forward. He wasn’t sure how he felt about that.
Except for his dick. His dick was very sure how it felt. His dick had been hard since the moment she’d turned and told him she didn’t like being referred to as a toy.