Total pages in book: 107
Estimated words: 98418 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 492(@200wpm)___ 394(@250wpm)___ 328(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 98418 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 492(@200wpm)___ 394(@250wpm)___ 328(@300wpm)
"My sister." I smile at her and she laughs. "It all looks great as usual." I gesture around the room. There must be about a hundred or so round tables all set with chairs, the table cloths are all black and each table has a centre piece with flowers and fairy lights, making each table glow.
"Thank you. Dinner will be in half an hour. Mike is already over at the bar. I must get on, but I’ll see you later. You're on my table." She hurries off out the front entrance.
As promised I find my Uncle Mike at the bar. He's my mother’s brother and has been more like a father to Cat and I over the years. He used to come and spring us from school in the holidays when my mother had just left us there, we'd go to his house and run riot. He's a good man, although probably not the best role model. He told me on my sixteenth birthday that you haven't lived unless you’ve been arrested and caught an STD at least once. He's a living legend, he used to come to all the parties and drink and bag women with the rest of us, up until a few months ago when he moved out of London. The thing is though; Mike's all we've ever had. Our mother is too busy getting married and divorced half a dozen times to even notice she has children and her multiple husbands were never around long enough to bother with us. I have a huge amount of respect for Mike, he stepped up when no-one else did.
He slaps me on the back when he sees me. "Theo. You're looking flash." He grins.
"Thanks." I roll my eyes.
"Cat, I might have to keep a close eye on you." He mock scolds her. She rolls her eyes as well.
"What are you two drinking?"
"I'll have a corona. Cat?"
"Margherita?" She smiles.
"See, now that's the spirit." He wraps an arm around her shoulders fondly.
The bar tender places the drinks on the bar in front of mike.
We venture over to our table and chat with Mike as he lovingly asks Cat about her fashion line. Cat is the baby of the family, and everyone’s favourite, including mine.
A few more people have started to arrive and the bar is quite busy now, a few business acquaintances come and speak to us boring me to the point of wanting to claw my own eyeballs out.
"God that man's a bore." Mike moans when an older guy from one of our IT companies leaves.
"Well, he does work in IT." I state.
"True. Anyway, I'm going to get another drink. I’ll need it if I have to speak to many more of these bloody people. You two want anything?"
"No. I'm good thanks." I reply.
"I'll come with you." Cat jumps up with Mike.
I turn and see Arabella has sat in the chair Mike just vacated, Jesus that woman moves fast. Her thick blonde hair hangs in loose waves down her back. She's wearing an ice blue dress with a little too much cleavage on show to be appropriate. Arabella was a very drunken one nighter from about a year ago, she's really hot but it was a huge mistake. She's what you would call a social climber and in her eyes I am the summit. She clearly didn’t get the one night only memo. I see her every now and then and every time she tries for a repeat, but I'm not into her at all. The only reason I humour her is because her Daddy is the owner of one of my biggest clients. I'm pretty sure that if she told him I'd banged her we'd lose the account. Drinking, it gets you into stupid situations like this.
So I'm forced to make small talk with her and even when Mike comes back she doesn't leave. She keeps making seemingly innocent gestures and gently touching my arm, for some reason it makes me irritable today. I absentmindedly glance across the room and meet those blazing green eyes that make my crotch tighten every time I see them.
I'm aware that Arabella is still speaking to me, but I can no longer hear her. Everything drops out of focus as I stare back at Lilly. She looks smoking hot. The dress she wears is black and floor length, fitted snugly to show her amazing figure. The top is a black bodice, while the skirt is a sheer fabric, so although it's technically floor length, you can make out every perfect detail of her long legs as if she were wearing only underwear. Her full breasts are hinted at, but by no means shown in any way. She wears black heels that make her legs look amazing. Her red hair is carefully pinned up, but a few tendrils have fallen around her face. Every man in the room is looking at her and I don’t blame them. A touch on my arm pulls me from my trance.