Total pages in book: 98
Estimated words: 95421 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 477(@200wpm)___ 382(@250wpm)___ 318(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 95421 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 477(@200wpm)___ 382(@250wpm)___ 318(@300wpm)
“Because I’m a woman? So it would be okay if I were a man?”
Another trick question. I sighed. “Just let me drive you.”
She stared at her phone for a long time before turning it to face me. “Oh my God. It says there are no Ubers in the area. How can that be?”
“We’re in bumfuck Michigan in the middle of the night.” I nodded at the door again. “Come on. Let me just take you.”
“I don’t even know your name.”
“Dawson.”
“First name or last?”
“First.”
“Interesting.”
“Thrilling. Can we go now?”
She ignored me. “I’m Naomi.”
I nodded. “Great. Now that we’re besties, how about we hit the road? I’m awake at the moment, but eventually I’m going to crash. It’s been a long-ass day.”
Naomi chewed her lip. “Fine. But let me get my jewelry first.”
“You need to put on jewelry to go to the emergency room?”
“Not wear it, but take it with me for safekeeping. I realized when I got here that there’s no safe, and I brought my mom’s diamond pendant and matching earrings. She passed away, and they mean a lot to me.”
I pointed my eyes down to the little rat, still humping away. “Can’t Gumby protect it?”
Naomi frowned. “Don’t poke fun at my dog. He’s amazing.”
“Why the hell did you bring diamonds to a cabin in the woods anyway?”
“I’m going to a wedding.”
“What wedding?”
“My friend Lily’s. Why?”
Oh fuck. Naomi…her damn name was Naomi. “What’s your last name?”
“Heart.”
I closed my eyes. This was really the day that kept on giving.
“You went to law school with Lily and Ben, right?”
“Yes. How did you know that?”
“Because I’m going to the same wedding. Ben is my buddy—been friends since we were kids, even went to undergrad together. Lily mentioned you to me recently. She said you three went to the University of Michigan together, and you’d just moved to New York. I believe her exact words were, ‘I’d introduce you, but you two would hate each other.’”
Chapter 2
* * *
NAOMI
“Would you like me to call social services for you?” The nurse smiled warmly. “Or the police, perhaps?”
“The police? Why would I want to talk to the police?”
She pointed her eyes to my now-casted hand. “There’s nothing to be ashamed about. My sister was in an abusive relationship for years and hid it from us. It happens to strong people. It’s not a reflection of who you are.”
I held up my arm. “You think I broke my hand fighting my abuser?”
“I saw your boyfriend in the waiting room. He was pacing and looked uncomfortable being here.”
“Well, I’m sure he is since we just met a few hours ago, and it turns out we’re destined to be enemies. But Dawson isn’t my boyfriend, and he definitely didn’t assault me. Actually, it was me who assaulted him. That’s how I broke my knuckles.”
The nurse pursed her lips. Didn’t look like she believed me.
“No, really,” I said. “There was some kind of a mix-up with our Airbnb reservation, and we rented the same cabin. I woke up in the middle of the night to find a half-naked man in my bed, and my first reaction was to throw a punch.”
“Oh my.”
I nodded. “Tell me about it. And it turns out we’re both in town for the same wedding, so I can’t even apologize and pretend it never happened.”
The nurse smiled. “Well, he’s got a pretty good shiner, so you must pack a mean punch.”
It dawned on me that we were going to ruin Lily and Ben’s wedding photos—me with this stupid cast, and Dawson with a black eye. I shook my head. “My friend is going to kill me. She planned this magical fairytale wedding in the middle of the forest, and Dawson and I are going to make it look like the Grimm version instead of the Disney one.”
She laughed. “Well, it could be worse.”
“How?”
“You could’ve punched an ugly man. I’m really glad that guy is not who I suspected he could be, because he’s something else, a real looker.”
She wasn’t wrong. Dawson was ridiculously handsome. I’d been thrown for a loop when I turned the light on. Who the hell notices that their intruder is hot in the middle of an altercation? I really needed to get laid. It had been waayy too long. But damn…I was glad I hadn’t hit him in that chiseled jaw, and at least he had one baby blue left for me to gaze into.
I nibbled on my bottom lip. “I saw all of him, too. He was wearing a towel when I woke up, and my dog ripped it off. I’ll have to remember to give Leonardo an extra treat later.”
The nurse’s eyes sparkled. “And…?”
“He’s the full package.”
The two of us cackled like old friends. It wasn’t very nice of me, considering the man had driven a stranger who punched him forty minutes to an emergency room in the middle of the night, but I needed the laugh.