Total pages in book: 99
Estimated words: 102607 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 513(@200wpm)___ 410(@250wpm)___ 342(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 102607 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 513(@200wpm)___ 410(@250wpm)___ 342(@300wpm)
Too late.
I already made it weird.
Gio levels me with a look. “There are plenty of fish in the sea, Nova. You don’t have to cast your net inside the Houston Baddies locker room.”
My mouth drops open again. “Did you just—?”
“Plenty. Of. Fish,” he repeats. “Aim for a guy whose dick I haven’t seen in the locker room.”
I recoil. “Jeez, Gio.”
He shrugs, unbothered. “Saving you some emotional trauma.”
“By planting the visual of hockey dick into my brain?”
Before he can follow that up with a well-deserved retort, our server appears beside the table, balancing a tray loaded with eight sliders and truffle fries.
“Here you go,” she says cheerfully. “You guys need anything else?”
“Boundaries,” I mumble under my breath, reaching for the ketchup.
Gio grins like he didn’t just nuke my appetite with talk of his teammates’ anatomy. “We’re good. Thanks.”
She smiles and walks off, blissfully unaware of the emotional crime scene she narrowly escaped.
I pick up a slider and stare at it like it might give me answers. Maybe if I stare long enough, the bun will part and whisper, break it off before he finds out and murders someone.
Across the table, Gio digs in like nothing just exploded between us. Like he didn’t just casually torch my entire nervous system with a single comment about locker room nudity.
“Sliders are good,” he says with a mouthful, completely content.
“Fantastic. I’ll let them comfort me in my time of crisis.”
He pauses, looking up. “You’re not actually mad, are you?”
I shake my head. “Nope. Just sitting here thinking about how impossible you are. And stubborn. And strict.”
“Protective,” he corrects. “And devastatingly handsome. Don’t forget that part.”
Yeah, yeah yeah….
6
Luca: So be honest—are you still mad at me?
Nova: Who said I was mad at you??
Luca: Oh, my bad. Are you still NOT mad at me?
Nova: **eye roll**
Luca: Soo…that’s not a no.
Nova: Why are you so annoying???
Luca: I was just asking a question. Why didn’t you want to stay and talk to me in the parking lot?
Nova: Because literally NO ONE wants to sit in a parking lot having a conversation. It’s creepy. Someone could have come along and murdered me.
Luca: Wow. You have no faith in me? You don’t think I would have PROTECTED you? I’m insulted.
Nova: I’m just saying…if someone did show up to murder me, I feel like you’d be the type to hesitate.
Luca: Hesitate?! WTF does that mean?
Nova: Like. I feel like you’d try to reason with them first instead of taking action.
Luca: What kind of person do you think I am??
Nova: A talker.
Luca: As if I would try to negotiate with a MURDERER??? Damn Nova, way to emasculate me. Jeez.
Luca: I hate this for me.
Nova: It’s not BAD necessarily. Some women might find it endearing.
Luca: Some women—but not you??
Nova: I did not say that.
Luca: Hypothetically, if I was the kind of guy to just act first, no questions asked—you would like that?
Nova: I didn’t say that either.
Luca: What ARE you saying?
Nova: I’m saying…I like to know a man is capable of handling himself if the situation calls for it!!! It’s that simple.
Luca: Oh, I can handle myself…
Nova: I do not doubt that.
Luca: But you don’t think I can stop a murderer from killing us both in the Rainforest Café parking lot?
Nova: LOL
Luca: When you laugh it makes me feel like you’re not taking my hypothetical survival skills seriously.
Nova: Poor thing.
Luca: I know. You should make it up to me.
Nova: Make what up to you?
Luca: The emotional damage.
Nova: Ugh. I hate that you use my own words against me.
Luca: It’s my favorite hobby.
Nova: You need better hobbies.
Luca: You volunteering to help me find new ones?
Nova: Absolutely not.
Luca: Damn. Walked right into that one.
Nova: You did. Proud of you for realizing it.
Luca: Wow. Patronizing and mean.
Nova: It’s a gift.
Luca: Is that why you peeled out of the parking lot so fast? Because you were afraid of what else I’d expose about you?
Nova: I left because the parking lot was creepy—but we totally could have gone somewhere else.
Luca: Oh? Like where?
Nova: I don’t know. Somewhere quieter.
Luca: Quieter? I like where this is going…
Nova: Don’t read into it.
Luca: Too late. What I’m hearing is you WANTED to keep the night going?
Nova: Maybe.
Luca: I KNEW IT.
Nova: Ugh. Don’t make it a thing.
Luca: LAUNCH SEQUENCE HAS BEEN ACTIVATED
Nova: You are so full of yourself.
Luca: I’m actually not. If you knew anything about me, you would know that. I don’t actually think I’m God’s gift to women or whatever you’ve decided about me in that pretty little head of yours. I feel like we’ve been over this.
Nova: Then who is the real you?
Luca: I’m devastatingly misunderstood. It’s tragic, really.
Nova: I’m being serious! Answer the question.
Luca: Fine. The real me… I don’t know who he is. He overthinks things. He’s always waiting for the other shoe to drop. He makes jokes first because that’s easier than being serious.