Page 58 of Reckless Liar

We stared at each other, a silent conversation going on with just one look.

Don’t make me say it, Scarlett.

Quit lying to yourself!

I don’t even know what this is.

Yes you do. You’re just scared.

I am, aren’t I?

“I don’t know how it looks from your point of view.” I demurred.

“Xander is a great guy. You know that. You are a really great woman. You probably have no idea how great.”

“I am not.”

She rolled her eyes. “Shut it with the false modesty. You can admit it. It’s extremely important for a woman to know her faults and what she can offer the world. If you haven’t taken an inventory of yourself lately, you should. It’d do you a world of good.”

“That’s quite new age of you.” I wanted to change the subject, though I knew Scarlett wouldn’t let it go.

“It’s something Emma told me about. I liked the idea.”

“And what did you find out about yourself?”

“Oh, tons.” she waved her hand in the air dramatically. “I’m driven and artistic. I worry too much about other people and try to help them even when they don’t ask for help. I tend to be a little overbearing in that sense. I’m messy.” I laughed at her and she shot me a look, “Hey, I can laugh about that, you can’t.”

“You are all those things,” I agreed.

“Now you,” she prompted.

“Umm,” I looked down at my hands, twisting around the handle of my mug.

Selfish, lustful…

“My cleanliness thing is excessive, I know that. Um, I’m a consummate people pleaser... uh... I don’t know... this feels weird.“ I groaned.

“Good. That’s a good start.” Suddenly she slapped her hand on the table. “Oh. My. God. Did I tell you about book club?”

“No.” I leaned forward, pleased the conversation was turning away from me.

“It was Taylor’s turn to pick the book. So, she picks some sappy coming of age book, the kind where everyone learns a lesson in the end through the magic of hand-holding or some shit like that.”

“A Lifetime movie script.” I supplied.

“Worse, more like Hallmark, ugh.” A glimmer lit in her eyes, and she leaned closer. “But she gave us the wrong author’s name, so we all bought another book with the same title.”

She looked around and pulled a small paperback out of her bag. As she slid the book toward me, I assessed the cover of a man’s hand grabbing a fishnet clad leg. “Flip through it for a minute.”

I read a few passages. My cheeks flamed on fire from the explicit lines. I glanced up at Scarlett, her shoulders were shaking as she suppressed a laugh.

“That was...”

“Deliciously twisted, right? That is some hard-core f-ing going on.”

“I don’t know how that is even physically possible,” I whispered. “Is that a real fetish?”

She shrugged her shoulders. “Probably. There’s a fetish for everything. The best part was when we all showed up at the book club talking about the book. Seeing poor Taylor’s face when she realized we weren’t going to be talking about a baker who saves a small town from bankruptcy with her magic cookie recipe was priceless.”

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