Total pages in book: 76
Estimated words: 73094 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 365(@200wpm)___ 292(@250wpm)___ 244(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 73094 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 365(@200wpm)___ 292(@250wpm)___ 244(@300wpm)
“Welcome back,” I told him, looking down at the kitchen counter before I started to get a half-chub from gawking at him.
He turned to one side and sneezed again. “Sorry. Allergies.”
“You sure it’s allergies?” I asked. “If you get me sick during my first week of classes, I’m going to sucker punch you.”
“I’m certain it’s allergies, because I got tested two weeks ago, and it only happens this time of year. It’s ash tree pollen. Happens every time I work long hours outside in the yard.”
“That sucks.”
“My doc gave me allergy meds,” he said. “Just took a couple.”
“So responsible.”
“I’m also fucking ravenous. Thank you for bringing food. Nobody ever brings me food.”
“Don’t you have a ton of friends?” I asked. “They don’t ever bring over lunch?”
“Not exactly,” he said, leaning over the giant kitchen island toward me. “It’s more like… they come over and drink all my liquor, sometimes pass out on the couch, then head home in the morning.”
“Doesn’t sound that great to me.”
“I don’t mind it. I hate being alone.”
“Usually I love being alone,” I said. “Lately it kind of drives me crazy, though.”
A moment later he was next to me, sitting down at the counter. We both dug into our sandwiches, and he looked over at me after a minute.
“Your house is beautiful,” I said.
“Thanks.”
“And the kitchen looks even better with you in it.”
“Oh, shut up,” he said. “Flatterer.”
I blew him a kiss.
“You want to help me pick out this cocktail for tonight’s party?” Mason asked a moment later, standing up and walking around to the other side of the kitchen. “I need to make it a good one.”
“Need to impress your friends with your drink-making skills?”
He shook his head. He grabbed one of the cinnamon rolls, taking a bite and moaning at the taste.
I needed to somehow get Mason to stop making sounds like that around me. It was way too appealing, and I could picture him doing it for other reasons that had nothing to do with cinnamon.
“No,” he finally said, his eyes flashing up again to meet mine. “I need this party to be good, and I need people to bring their friends. Because I can’t take it anymore. I’m lifting the ban.”
“Wait. What?”
He licked the icing from his fingers. “Sex-free summer needs to end tonight.”
7
MASON
I wasn’t sure what time it was when Jesse had shown up in my backyard, and I definitely didn’t know what time it was now.
But tonight was already a ‘Mason makes very bad decisions’ kind of night.
“I don’t believe that for a second,” Jesse said. He was still standing in my kitchen, but I’d gone over and sank down onto the couch. “You’re not lifting the ban.”
“I think I am,” I said.
“You want to hook up with some random guy one of your friends brings over?” Jesse asks. “Low standards, much?”
“My standards aren’t low just because I like sex.”
“Not saying you’re slutty.”
“Then what’s the problem?”
He shrugged one shoulder, leaning on the counter. “Just saying you’ll like it a lot better if you break your ban with a guy who can give you what you need.”
Shut up.
You fucking 21-year-old perfect, cocky, gorgeous son of a bitch, I can’t handle all of the things that come out of your mouth.
“Have you always been like this?” I asked.
He shrugged. “Pretty much. You know, the first cocktail I ever drank was a margarita. Back in freshman year of high school, when I was still a little baby Sanocki.”
I snorted. “You’re still a little baby Sanocki. God, I can’t even imagine you in high school. You must have been all cool and popular, wearing leather jackets.”
“Not exactly. I did okay, though.”
“If we went to high school together you would have hated my ass. I was a social butterfly.”
He lifted an eyebrow. “When you were in high school, I was a child.”
I groaned. “Don’t remind me. Let’s just pretend we could have been in high school at the same age. Do you think you would have hated me?”
“Maybe. Maybe I would have really liked you, though.”
“I can picture you, walking through the halls, a popular athlete, winking at people.”
He laughed. “I was scowling in the corner and I couldn’t wait to get to college. High school wasn’t exactly easy for me. It was when my mom was struggling the most, working two jobs. Kane helped out, though. Sometimes he signed off on paperwork for me.”
Jesse didn’t talk about his childhood much, but for the first time I got a clearer picture of it.
“Did you ever have a high school job?” I asked.
He gave me a look. “If I tell you, are you going to make fun of me?”
“Now I’m really curious.”
He leaned forward on the kitchen counter. “I worked in a frozen yogurt shop at the mall.”
I suppressed the urge to squee.
“Jesse Sanocki—”
“I told you not to make fun of me.”