Total pages in book: 173
Estimated words: 163802 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 819(@200wpm)___ 655(@250wpm)___ 546(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 163802 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 819(@200wpm)___ 655(@250wpm)___ 546(@300wpm)
I wish I could’ve freaked out over those numbers, but Omma spent twice that a semester to send me to Titan Prep. Competition was fierce in a community that can afford to send their kids to any college they want. If you wanted your kid to have the edge, you had to pay for it.
Even though there wasn’t much my thirty dollars an hour and I could do to relieve his financial pressure, it seemed to help him just having me listen and hear him out without judgment. So much so that over the last week, he’d been opening up to me about growing up under the weight of being Rhodes Newbury of the Chicago Newburys.
He had to be perfect at all times—never letting the public see a crack in the façade. And most importantly, never sharing family business with an outsider. Meaning that his whole childhood, his parents and grandparents refused to have any kind of conversation with him about his father’s addiction, while also forbidding him to talk about it with anyone else. He was forced to keep all of it—his dad stealing from him, the nights he went hungry in a penthouse with the lights shut off, the move to his grandparents’ when he was ten, and the slow destruction of his parents’ marriage—pushed down deep inside.
So deep, he didn’t tell his two best friends anything about it until they all got drunk one night in their dorm room. And he never told Sue at all for reasons I didn’t have to guess.
I knew from our first real conversation what a big deal it was for Rhodes to open up to someone—which just made my stupid, lovesick heart squeal that he chose me.
“Look at you grinning away,” Courtney teased, lighting my cheeks on fire. “You’re so cute when you’re in love.”
“Not love,” I rebutted immediately—almost harshly, but I couldn’t help it as thoughts of Dan floated through my head. “Love requires truth and transparency on both sides. We aren’t in love. But I... I guess I’d be comfortable saying we’re in lust. Possibly in friendship some days.”
“Uhhh-huh,” she teased, hiding her smirk behind the menu.
I ignored her, and the shared strange looks between the beauticians. They were obviously wondering why a woman getting ready for her blowout anniversary bash was denying she loved her husbands.
“So, who all is invited to this thing?” Courtney asked.
Again I wanted to shrug but Freya’s immediate, mind-reading glare kept my shoulders where they were. “Rhodes’s mom and grandmother. Micah’s parents, and Alex’s cousins,” I rattled off. “Also, pretty much every bachelor, bachelorette, and couple in Lantana with the highest net worth—including Charles Layton,” I mentioned. “Did you know Lily’s first-grade teacher was heir to the Lantana Lakes Lager fortune?”
“Whoa.” She whistled. “I didn’t know that, but good for him. That’s some tasty beer right there.”
I had to agree. Micah and I had taken to splitting a can while we curled up watching reruns of The I.T. Crowd. And by that I meant, he poured it down my chest and licked the lager off my nipples while the show played in the background.
“Not just the Lantana VIP list, but New York too,” I continued. “Almost all of Rhodes’s clients got the invite, and a bunch of the guys’ friends from college.”
“I see, and has it occurred to you yet that you’ll be in a room with dozens upon dozens of people who’ve known the happy quadruple for seven years or more, and will definitely want to catch up on old times and all the things they missed in the life of Soo Min Kim...?” Her knowing eyes met my paling face. “...or is that just occurring to you now?”
“Oh my—!” I whipped around, snagging the eyeliner across my temple and cheek.
“Mrs. Kim!” Elin, Freya, and Marcus shrieked.
HOURS LATER, THE MANOR was booming. And I meant, walls-shaking, chandeliers-rattling, floor-thrumming booming. The party was in full swing, and the only one missing was the wife of honor.
“Mrs. Kim, you’re a vision,” Christie gushed—eyes misting. “Madame Lavigne outdid herself!”
I blinked at the spectacle in the mirror, truly at a loss for words. “She really... let her muse off the leash.”
“But of course she did,” Christie cried. She jumped up and down, clapping in her white pumps and glitteringly white strapless gown. Elin, Freya, and the others were behind her doing much the same. After throwing Courtney out for distracting me, they’d finally gotten the chance to finish their masterpiece to satisfaction. “Nothing but the best for you.”
I pushed a smile onto my lips. “Thank you, Christie, Elin, Marcus, and everyone. You’ve not only brought life back to this haunted mansion, you’ve also brought me to my optimal hotness. I will never look better than I do right now.”
The ladies giggled, patting their cheeks like they were about to blush.