Total pages in book: 80
Estimated words: 75916 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 380(@200wpm)___ 304(@250wpm)___ 253(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 75916 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 380(@200wpm)___ 304(@250wpm)___ 253(@300wpm)
Read Online Books/Novels: | Pretty Perfect (Boys in Makeup #1) | |
|---|---|---|
Author/Writer of Book/Novel: | Riley Hart | Christina Lee |
| Language: | English | |
| ISBN/ ASIN: | B083M8Y4QX | |
| Book Information: | ||
Jesse After spending the first part of my life trapped in a small town where it wasn’t okay to be a makeup-wearing boy who liked boys, I swore I’d leave and never be anything but loud, proud, and unapologetically me. I’ve kept that promise. I’m following my dreams, have an apartment with my bestie, and get to dance my nights away at one of the hottest gay bars in Portland. The only downfall is Dane, the sexy bartender with a perma-scowl always aimed my way. The tension between us is so strong that even the clubgoers notice, and they eat that stuff up. Our boss makes us dance on the bar together every Friday night. I might shake my booty a little more with Dane just because I love getting under his skin. It’s not my fault he doesn’t know how to have any fun…but I kind of want to teach him. Dane I got burned bad by my last boyfriend. Thankfully, my sister, Bree, and my niece, Hailey, make my days a whole lot brighter. I’m getting back on my feet, including a decent job as a bartender. But working in a gay club makes it harder to keep to myself. No way do I want to get reeled in by another charming, pretty face and get hurt again, and definitely not by someone like Jesse, whose audacity frustrates me to no end. So why do I want to shove him against the wall and screw that boldness right out of him? Only…sometimes he’s pretty sweet, especially with Hailey. As we go from enemies to angry hookups to friends, our feelings are changing and moving into uncharted territory. This can’t go anywhere. Jesse and I are like oil and water; we just don’t mix…right? | ||
| Books in Series: | Boys in Makeup Series by Riley Hart | |
| Books by Author: | Riley Hart Books | Christina Lee Books |
1
Jesse
There was a good possibility I was going to die.
Okay, so I might have been overreacting a bit. There was a chance I’d been called dramatic a time or two in my life, but I’d woken up with the world’s worst migraine. It wasn’t often I got one, but when I did, they kicked my ass.
Not today, Satan. Not today.
I couldn’t afford to be laid up in bed all day. I had an exam for my psychology class, and rent was due in a few days. I was a little short on my half. The tips I’d get this weekend for dancing at the Playground, a popular Portland gay bar I worked at, should just about get me to where I needed to be. I just had to make sure I didn’t need to buy food or anything like that for the next few days. No problem, right?
Rolling over, I hoped and prayed I could make my brain stop working against me. The first thing I did was swallow one of the pills prescribed by my doctor, which sat on my nightstand beside my PrEP. It was Friday. I only had one class on Fridays, which was awesome, but it also meant I’d be dancing with Dane at the Playground, which would result in my head aching even more, and I’d have a pain in my ass too. Not in the eyes-rolling-back, toes-curling, I’m-going-to-fuck-you way either.
Dane was…difficult, to say the least. Gorgeous as hell—with that messy brown hair of his, the scruff that always seemed to grace his strong jawline, and those blue eyes that would make me whimper if he wasn’t such a grouch.
Dane and I…weren’t really compatible. We were way too different. I was fun. He was not. I was happy. He was like Squidward from SpongeBob. I didn’t know what it was about us, but we rubbed each other the wrong way and had since the first time we’d worked together. It didn’t help that one night when we’d been short-staffed, Dane and I had been arguing and were overheard by some customers. I’d played if off as flirtatious, which had been fun because it annoyed him. Unfortunately, the people around us loved it, which got a crazy idea in our manager’s head that he should play up on what he called the obvious sexual tension between us. We’d been dancing on the bar together every Friday night since. It was kind of fun. Dane hated it, but that wasn’t a surprise.
If this migraine did happen to do me in, I was positive Dane would crack the only smile he’d ever smiled where I was concerned, before promptly throwing a celebration.
And the guy didn’t celebrate. I was pretty sure he didn’t know how to be happy. At least not if I was in the room.
And maybe I was being a little dramatic and exaggerating again, but whatever. That was me. I didn’t see myself changing anytime soon.
Shoving my coworker out of my brain—he didn’t belong there anyway—I closed my eyes for some much-needed darkness. I’d woken up early, so I had a little over an hour to fight the headache from hell…
“Knock, knock. You okay, Jesse?” My eyes jerked open at the sound of my roommate’s voice. “I was worried about you,” Seth said. “I didn’t want you to be late.”
“Fuck.” I grabbed my cell, realizing I must have fallen asleep, because it was an hour and a half since I’d closed my eyes. “Thanks, kid. My head was fucking killing me, so I lay back down.”
I jumped out of bed, wearing only my favorite skimpy Andrew Christians, and Seth blushed. He was the cutest little thing—twenty, twinky, and innocent as shit. Somehow, we got along well together, even though I was basically the opposite of innocent, and much louder and more outgoing than he was. I’d spent the first eighteen years of my life in black and white, living subdued, and I damn sure was going to live loudly and in color now. We did have the twink part in common, though.
“I’ll make you some eggs. I was going to make myself some before class anyway,” Seth said as I rummaged around my messy room for clothes.
“Thank you! You’re a lifesaver.” There wasn’t anything I wouldn’t do for him. We’d been roommates about a year, and he was basically the best friend I had.
Seth disappeared down the hallway.
Our apartment was nice—nicer than anything I could afford on my own—with two bedrooms, two baths, expensive tile flooring, and basically brand-new everything. Seth’s parents had money but no time for him, even though they still ran his life. Seth wanted to go to beauty school, but they wouldn’t allow it, so he was at the university while I was at the community college, where I was studying to become a therapist.