Total pages in book: 60
Estimated words: 59022 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 295(@200wpm)___ 236(@250wpm)___ 197(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 59022 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 295(@200wpm)___ 236(@250wpm)___ 197(@300wpm)
A bottle of wine. A tub of chocolate ice-cream… and I’ll spill the secrets. I’ll tell you everything. Start to finish. To the muddied in between. All of it. In succinct detail. There are lots of things to look forward to!
“Hippies?” Stetson’s eyes narrow and he looks perplexed. “That’s not—”
“What?” I interrupt him. “What you’d expect?”
He puts down his drink on the table outside that we’re standing next to on the bridge deck. There are outdoor heaters so it’s nice and cozy, the view around us… so mystical and magical with its cold greys and dark sky with shimmering stars and mystic blue ice water, right to the snow tipped mountains—it’s the perfect postcard.
“Truth.” He says quietly as he folds those arms and stares down at me from that imposing height.
He looks so handsome it’s shocking. He’s wearing a black button-down shirt with dark jeans that are just… perfect on him. His hair is almost windswept off his face like a movie star and his beard looks even sharper, cleaner… just yum.
“Come on,” I laughingly try to blow it off. I don’t disagree with him… but this is an entirely different scenario, and he needs to let me own it.
His bright gaze holds mine before looking over my shoulder at the help who stand next to the bar awaiting our every need. Whatever look he gives causes them to magically leave and within seconds we’re all alone.
Me and Stetson.
Alone.
To be honest, I don’t really remember how we ended up here in the first place. Him and Jayson arrived and suddenly we were the only ones up here, and the rest of the group stayed inside.
I’m immensely grateful for the cabernet working its magic and making the moment less anxiety ridden. I still have the side of major sexual attraction that won’t stop with or without wine, but at least I’m less flustered. I feel warm and turned on and something else that I don’t quite know. The only way I can describe it is this—a feeling that comes over me when he searches my face like he’s reading my story. Like he’s figured me out or knows me in a way I don’t even know myself.
That’s it.
That’s the feeling I get and I don’t know how. I don’t know why— besides the obvious of he’s so hot you’ve never seen anything like it before in your life… basic answer, but there’s something else. That feeling I’ve had with one or two other people in my life, Grace being one—that feeling like you know them.
Or have known them before.
And you know there’s something more between you because the pull is too magnetic. Obviously with Grace it’s a different feeling—more like family but even deeper than that. With Stetson it felt like an electrical current hit me when our eyes met across that tundra. Even before I saw his face, I was drawn to him.
I’m smart enough to know that. To acknowledge it. And I’ll see where it goes, but I’m not holding my breath about it. I’m on a vacation in the arctic, where is this really going? I’ve worn the cloak of disappointment for most of my life, I know what happens the moment I get excited.
It all goes to shit.
And I’m not being a Debbie Downer. I have honest to God receipts to prove it.
“Charlie?” Stetson says my name like it’s something fine.
I snap out of it. “Yes?”
“I think this is the perfect time to say, there’s a clause I’m going to need you to sign.” His voice lowers. “If you are in fact…interested.”
“Interested?” I repeat, lightheaded.
“In me.” He finishes with a smirk. “And everything this world,” he does a little flick of his hand at the view around us. “Has to offer.”
CHAPTER SIX
“Clause?” I echo, wary.
I found the flaw damn it. So close. I was so close!
He’s crazy. Insane, actually. A clause? A clause to speak to him? I knew it was too good to be true. I need paperwork to even get through the freaking front door!
He folds his muscled arms across his chest, towering over me, head tilted slightly as his bright blue eyes settle on my mouth then slowly trail the length of my body. Is he trying to make me forget he just asked me to sign a damn contract or clause? Or that he’s crazy? Whatever.
He doesn’t rush his answer, instead he searches my eyes like he’s trying to pick out pieces to tell me and pieces to keep close to himself. I’m good at reading people. He’s hiding something. He must be. You know, beyond the whole ‘hey sign this to chill with me’.
“I’m complicated.”
My heartbeat stutters to a near stop.
God help me, but I’m instantly turned on. See? This is why I always find problematic relationships, no, they find me, because the minute I see the puzzle I immediately want to get my greedy little hands on it and be the one person to solve it, the one person to fix it despite my inability to even fix myself! Maybe it’s the air, maybe it’s the controlling unhinged nature of his odd proposal but, I’m also completely intrigued.