Total pages in book: 134
Estimated words: 132464 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 662(@200wpm)___ 530(@250wpm)___ 442(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 132464 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 662(@200wpm)___ 530(@250wpm)___ 442(@300wpm)
Twenty seconds later, Kat’s out like a light, passed out with her cheek against my heart, her little belly underneath her red gown rising and falling evenly with every breath she takes. When I’m sure Kat’s deeply asleep, I tilt her face up to mine and stare at her stunning features, marveling at God’s handiwork. I trace the line of one of her bold eyebrows with my fingertip, brush the back of my hand against her cheekbone, stare for a long moment at her perfectly formed lips.
As evil as Kat’s startling beauty is when she’s awake, her face is actually quite angelic when she sleeps. This isn’t the face of a woman who’d blindside me, is it? After everything that’s passed between Kat and me since my first god-awful proposal, Kat wouldn’t shatter me by turning me down for a second time, would she?
My stomach flips over. If by some shocking turn of events Kat was actually telling the truth when she said she wouldn’t marry me if I were the last man on earth, if she truly doesn’t want all the “hoopla” of a wedding, if marriage truly isn’t something she yearns for in the depths of her soul—or, at least, not marriage with me—then I truly don’t think I’d survive the rejection.
My phone buzzes with an incoming text and I pull it out of my pocket.
“The eagle has landed,” Henn writes. “The fucker’s at his house. Go straight there. No Plan B required.”
“Well, how considerate of him to be home in time for my visit,” I write.
“Can you talk?” Henn writes.
I look down at Kat. Her mouth is hanging open and she’s drooling. “Calling now,” I write.
“Yo,” Henn says when he picks up my call.
“Nice of the bastard to be sitting at home, waiting for me,” I reply softly.
“He’s always home at this time of day after a round of golf at the country club. But just to make double-damn sure he was gonna be there for you today, he might have received a VIP-invitation to a live chat with his favorite porn star. Wink.”
“Fucking genius.”
“So I’ve been told. How close are you?”
I glance at Kat, making sure she’s not overhearing any of this, and she’s snoozing like she’s been cold-cocked. “We’re in the limo now,” I say quietly. “I’d say we’re about fifteen minutes out.”
“Cool. The dude’s not going anywhere. He’s watching a gangbang-bukkake-porno on his iPad while simultaneously live-chatting with a porn star on his laptop.”
“He’s double-fisting porn?” I ask.
Henn laughs. “I think he might have an addiction.”
“Ya think?” I say.
“So, hey, I went through the dude’s computer like you asked me to,” Henn says. “You were right—he’s totally cheating on his wife. Like, compulsively.”
“Yeah, I figured. A leopard doesn’t change his spots.”
“The guy’s a scumbag,” Henn says. “I literally hate him.”
“Welcome to the club,” I say.
“I went through his wife’s phone and laptop just to get the lay of the land and she’s a total sweetheart—a genuinely good person. Clearly, she’s got no idea who she’s married to.”
“Not surprised at all.”
“So are you gonna rat him out?”
“I wish I could so badly—but, no, I wasn’t planning to, for the sake of the wife.”
“Yeah, I guess that’s the right call. It’s not really our place to ruin her life. But it kills me. They’re trying to have a baby—doing hard-core fertility treatments. I hope one way or another she finds out she’s married to a cheating scumbag before she gets pregnant with the guy’s kid.”
“So you think we should rat him out, after all?” I ask.
“No,” Henn says. “It’s really not our place, man. That’s not the mission.”
I sigh. “Damn. I would have loved to decimate that cocksucker in every conceivable way.”
“Oh, well. I guess even a guy as awesome as you can’t have everything, Josh.”
I look down at Kat’s beautiful, sleeping face. “Actually, I’m beginning to think he can.”
“Wait. So you do wanna tell the wife about his extracurricular activities?”
“No, sorry. I wasn’t referring to ratting him out. Kat’s asleep on me. I was looking at her face when I said that.”
“Oh, well, I can see why you’d say that, then.”
“Kat’s totally drooling right now,” I say, chuckling.
Henn laughs. “Yeah, but I bet it’s really pretty drool.”
“Actually, it is.” I smile to myself. “Okay, yeah, I agree,” I say. “We don’t tell the wife she’s married to the world’s biggest scumbag.”
“Not today, anyway. I might not be able to control myself tomorrow. I make no promises.”
“Hey, you gotta follow your conscience, baby,” I say. “I trust you. But just not today.”
“Okay. Got it, boss.”
“So can we somehow make sure the wife’s not there when Kat and I arrive?”
“You should be good. Her iPhone says she’s got an appointment at a hair salon ten miles from their house. She left about fifteen minutes ago. Don’t women’s hair appointments at hoity-toity salons take at least an hour or so? Her appointment’s at one of those really fancy places where they give you cucumber water and wash your hair, so she should be gone a while.”