Total pages in book: 130
Estimated words: 128417 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 642(@200wpm)___ 514(@250wpm)___ 428(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 128417 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 642(@200wpm)___ 514(@250wpm)___ 428(@300wpm)
“Thank you, honey.”
The waitress returns with our new round of drinks, plus the shots and bottles of champagne, and we pour bubbly all around.
“What are you gonna call your new company?” Henn asks.
“PGPR?” I say without confidence—but even as I say it, it sounds pretty lame. “Short for Party Girl PR,” I add, hoping that clarification makes the name more palatable.
Sarah scrunches her nose.
“You don’t like it?” I ask.
“Kinda stodgy, don’t you think? A little boring—and you’re anything but boring.”
I twist my mouth, considering. She’s got a point.
“It’s not an accounting firm, right?” Sarah asks. “It’s publicity. It’s gotta have some pizzazz.”
“Yeah, at first I thought maybe Party Girl PR—but that sounds too much like an event planner.”
“Yeah, you’re right—it kinda does. Hey, but you’re the Party Girl with the Heart of Gold, right? Hannah just said everything you touch turns to gold. Why not Golden PR? You could have a sexy golden-blonde avatar of yourself as your logo. That’d be adorable. Or, hey, better yet, maybe even Golden Kat PR and make your logo a sexy golden cat with long eyelashes.”
I look at Josh and he nods enthusiastically. “Either one. Probably have more luck securing Golden Kat for trademark purposes.”
“Great idea, Sarah,” I say. “I’ll look into that.”
Sarah smiles. “You bet, baby. I got a million ideas.” She taps her temple. “I’m at your service, baby.”
“Thank you.”
We grin at each other.
“Okay, everyone, get ’em up,” Josh says—and we all raise our glasses of champagne. “To Hannah and Henn, and to Sarah for finishing her first year of law school, and to three newly minted mill-i-on-aires, and, last but not least, to Kat and her new baby.” Josh looks at me, his blue eyes sparkling. “YOLO, Kat—I’m glad you’ve decided to go for it. May you climb and conquer.”
“Hear, hear!” we all shout, bringing our champagne to our lips.
“Wait!” Sarah blurts and we all stop. “Duh. We gotta toast Climb & Conquer!” She raises her shot of tequila. “This one we gotta do with Patron, in Joshy-Woshy’s honor.”
Everyone raises a shot glass.
“To Climb & Conquer,” Sarah says. “I can’t wait to watch the Faraday twins ‘climb and conquer’ every peak of their dreamscape.”
Jonas and Josh share a look of unmistakable excitement.
“Hear, hear,” everyone says, clinking glasses.
“Please hire me soon, Kat,” Hannah adds and everyone laughs.
“I’m so proud of you,” I whisper to Josh, squeezing his hand.
“Thanks,” he says, his blue eyes sparkling. “I’ve never been so excited about anything in my life.”
As everyone throws back his or her shots, I put my glass down, untouched. Just the smell of the tequila is making me kinda queasy. Maybe it’s something I ate?
Josh kisses my cheek. “To new beginnings,” he says softly into my ear. He grabs my tequila and downs it for me, seemingly unfazed by my disinterest in it. “And to giant leaps of faith.” He kisses my lips and rubs my cheek with his thumb. “I missed you this week, PG. I was going out of my mind.”
Boom.
That’s it.
Put a fork in me.
My body can’t physically contain these feelings any longer. This sexy beast of a man’s got me hook, line, and sinker. I’m gonna tell him how I feel when we’re alone later tonight. I can’t take it anymore. I love him and I’ve got to tell him so, come what may.
Sarah leaps up suddenly, pulling gently on Jonas’ muscled arm. “You ready, hunky monkey boyfriend?” she asks. “The alcohol has started to kick in—it’s time for you to pay your debt.”
Jonas grimaces—but Sarah’s persistent. She pulls on his arm again, flashing a seductive smile. “Come on, love,” she purrs. “You lost fair and square and you know it.” She leans into Jonas’ ear again and whispers something, and Jonas begrudgingly stands and lets her lead him toward the stage.
Josh flashes me a look of pure astonishment. “You were right.”
“Of course, I was. I’m always right when it comes to two things,” I say.
Josh chuckles. “Men and PR, I know, Party Girl.” He gazes at his brother for a beat. “Look at him,” he says, motioning toward Jonas and Sarah taking the stage. “God, he must really love that girl.”
37
JOSH
This is officially the most entertaining thing I’ve witnessed in my entire life.
Jonas and Sarah are doing a God-awful rendition of “I Got You Babe” by Sonny and Cher. Sarah’s actually pretty good—she really comes alive up there. But Jonas is so fucking terrible, the entire bar is on its feet, cheering him on. But why am I surprised? Even when Jonas sucks at something, people love him for it. In fact, now that I think about it, I’m pretty sure people love Jonas especially when he sucks at something, not despite it.
How Sarah gets my brother to do any of the shit she gets him to do is beyond me. But there he is, standing in front of strangers, singing this ridiculous song to her at the top of his off-key lungs. And, by God, he actually looks like he’s having fun. Well, fun mixed with pain—utter, tortured, unthinkable pain. But with Jonas, that’s just about the best anyone could ever hope for.