Total pages in book: 149
Estimated words: 140604 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 703(@200wpm)___ 562(@250wpm)___ 469(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 140604 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 703(@200wpm)___ 562(@250wpm)___ 469(@300wpm)
Olivia’s heart was still racing when she opened the door. Garrett and Keane were far more dangerous in real life than they’d been as her fantasy Masters. She’d known there was a line and she wouldn’t cross it.
That line was feeling more like a suggestion than something she would never cross.
It was feeling like something she would jump over and throw herself into their arms.
Did she want to look like a fool again? She knew nothing about them. She needed to guard herself.
But the situation with Scott was delicate, and they could shield her.
She opened the door, thinking it was one of the hands. The contractors weren’t due at the big house until tomorrow.
Instead it was Miranda and Gigi.
“Surprise,” Miranda announced.
Gigi gave her the biggest grin. “Surprise.”
Yeah, she was totally surprised and not ready to show her friends that she’d brought home more than a memory of the night before. She closed the door behind her. “I’m so grateful you’re here. I’m starving. Let’s go get some lunch. You can drive.”
Miranda grinned. “Sure, but don’t you want to get your purse?”
That would mean explaining Keane and Garrett being in her house. Which she would probably have to do at some point, but not this second.
She needed to breathe. She walked toward Gigi’s Land Rover. “No need. You’re paying.”
Miranda simply shrugged and hopped in the passenger seat while Gigi got behind the wheel.
And Olivia fled the scene of her crime.
Twenty minutes later they sat at a table in the bar of The Barn. The crowd was starting to file in for the party that happened every evening at the only real bar in town. Oh, there were restaurants with bars, but The Barn was a combination roadhouse and dance hall, and it could get raucous at times.
She’d spent many a night right here having a blast. Or feeling humiliated. She’d sat right at that bar the night Scott left.
Miranda looked her way. “Okay, what’s going on? You’re acting totally weird.”
Olivia realized she could put off explanations for another minute. “Nope. Why are you here and why didn’t you mention it to me at the breakfast this morning?”
The entire car ride over had been Gigi taking a call from her dad about her brother. Gage broke his leg and her mom was on a cruise with friends so they didn’t want to call her since Naomi would almost surely move heaven and earth to get home. So Gigi talked her dad through how to take care of him, including the fact that all her dad needed to do was call the club where they all played and almost surely he would find five pretty subs willing to play nurse.
Win Dawson had snorted and asked that she not remind him.
It had been good to have a few minutes to think. She wanted more.
Miranda sighed and sat back, pushing the menu away. Though Miranda was from Bliss, she and her brothers had spent plenty of time here. She didn’t need to study the menu. “I talked to your mom this morning and she’s having some cool things done to the main house, and I’d like to learn the techniques. No one does infrared saunas and wine rooms back in Bliss, so this is my shot at learning. Your mom called the contractor, and he said he was willing to let me watch. Gigi is working a couple of shifts at the med-spa out at the resort. It’s a big week out there. Lots of Botox and too few nurses.”
Gigi grinned. She was a woman who could light up a room. “Dani’s paying me double the usual.”
“You don’t need money. You have a ridiculous bank account.”
“No, I have a trust fund that I can’t actually access until I’m thirty,” Gigi said.
Like her parents wouldn’t buy her anything she wanted. Her father owned DawComm and made Olivia’s own fathers’ fortune look like a piggy bank. Still, Gigi had always been down to earth and seemed to genuinely enjoy her job. And she was kind. “Who are you covering for?”
Gigi sighed. “Alana. She’s had a trip scheduled for over a year. Her mom could probably step in, but Gaby has a lot to do. Dani’s doing some renovations, too. Also, if I stay home, I’ll inevitably get pulled into Gage’s drama.”
Miranda’s whole body perked up. “I could watch that, too. I love my mom, but she is particular, and between her and her partner I get mommed constantly.”
Miranda’s fathers might run a ranch, but her mom was into home renovation and design, along with her partner of many years, Rachel Harper. They were both strong women with big opinions and motherly instincts. Olivia understood. “I get it. Are you staying out at the resort?”
“Your mom said I could stay in the big house. The construction stuff won’t bother me, and I can work on a project I’ve been wanting to have some time for while I’m there,” Miranda replied. “Gigi is staying out here for a few days, and she’ll drive us both back next weekend.”