Total pages in book: 110
Estimated words: 102620 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 513(@200wpm)___ 410(@250wpm)___ 342(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 102620 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 513(@200wpm)___ 410(@250wpm)___ 342(@300wpm)
“Not as good as the make-out session we are going to have after this.” He leans over and kisses my cheek before going back to his chicken. “After I see your whiteboard.” He sits up straight. “Wait, was that code for ‘I want you to come to my bedroom and have your way with me’?”
I throw my fork down. “How did you know?” I push my stool away from the island. “Should I go up there and get ready for you to mount me?” The minute I say the words, his face grimaces.
“Never say mount me again”—he shakes his head and closes his eyes—“unless I’m on my back and holding my cock up for you, then you can climb aboard.”
I take a deep breath to pretend that his words irritate me, but I swear my vagina convulses thinking of him naked on the bed, holding his cock. The images go over in my head like a movie. I pick up my fork to avoid looking at him, scared he’ll see my cheeks are really pink because all I can see is him naked in my head. “So you went to visit home?” I ask him, taking my glass of wine and bringing it to my mouth to change the subject.
“Yup.” He nods his head. “Went to show my parents that I’m still alive and healthy.”
I laugh. “So why did you move away?”
He looks over at me. “Um.”
“Is that too deep of a question?” I push him. “Okay, let’s start slow. What really happened with your ex? I know that story you told me before was just sugarcoated, so tell me the real reason.” I ask him and he doesn’t answer me, and I gasp. “Oh my God, is that why you moved here? Did you find her with your best friend?” I put my hand on his arm. “Did she say it’s not you it’s her?”
He laughs. “No, it was really nothing like that.” The minute he says that, my stomach tightens. “We were high school sweethearts.”
“Aww,” I say, “and then she dumped you.” He glares. “Okay, okay, fine, tell me the story.”
“Not really much to tell. I was captain of the football team.”
I gasp. “You played football?”
He nods. “I did. I got a scholarship and everything.” He tries to make it seem like it’s not a big deal but something in his voice pulls at my heartstrings.
“No way?” I shake my head and smile.
“Yeah.”
“Were you good?”
He laughs. “I was until I wasn’t and it’s just the way things go.” His voice gets soft. “Went back home and I guess you can say that I settled.” He looks at me. “Or at least that is what Amber kept constantly telling me.”
“And do you think you did?” I ask him, turning to look down at my plate, moving around the food. Not really sure I want to know.
“I don’t really. I had just gotten letdown from not playing football, not that it was my dream, but I thought I could have at least made it into the pros. Then I was home and I had a business degree and my dad told me to help him. Try and take over for him. Maybe this is where I would have always ended up. I guess we will never know. But when she finally resolved to the fact that this is what I was going to do, then she started harping on getting married. She probably didn’t even want to actually get married; she was just following the lead of all of her sorority sisters. I”—he shrugs—“I just couldn’t see forever with her and I knew that I would only be getting married once. So.”
I swallow down the lump in my throat as I try not to make it sound that I feel sorry for him. “Hey, at least you had a backup plan.”
“Not sure it was my backup plan,” he admits, leaning back, “but I went with it.”
“So how did you end up here?”
“Ms. Maddie’s called in. I took the call, came here, and I don’t know. I got a sense of my own person.” He looks over at me. “It’s not the best feeling in the world when you’re taking over for your father and people are constantly comparing you to him. He’s the best. But.”
“I get it.” I take a sip of wine.
“So,” he says, “what about you? No boyfriend waiting for you at home?”
I snort. “Nope. The only thing waiting for me at home is two loving parents.” I trail my voice, not sure what to say. “I feel really guilty.”
“For what?” he asks me, and for the first time I admit it to him, to anyone besides me.
“I have these two amazing parents who love me and would die for me.” I swallow the lump, not thinking this is where the conversation would have taken. “And here I am searching for two people who just dumped me in a box.” I try and smile at him to make it as a joke and his hand comes up and holds my face.