Total pages in book: 32
Estimated words: 31149 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 156(@200wpm)___ 125(@250wpm)___ 104(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 31149 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 156(@200wpm)___ 125(@250wpm)___ 104(@300wpm)
While I didn’t speak to or see her for ten years, I have never stopped loving my sister. It took her a while to realize it, because her mom is a fucking piece of work. She did everything she could to extort money from me when my dad passed, and when I didn’t give in to her, she took Tessa away from me. She bad-mouthed me, made me out to be the villain, the one who didn’t want to be in Tessa’s life. By the time Tessa was eighteen, the damage was done, and she wanted nothing to do with me.
I’ll never forget the day she called and said that her grandma had told her the truth. That her mom was the reason I wasn’t in her life. Tessa didn’t make it easy, but she gave me a chance to be her brother. It’s been tense for the last five years, but I’ve done my best. I knew she needed more, so I took a leap of faith, bought a practice from a retiring doctor in the next town over, and now I’m only forty minutes from her. I needed her to see I was serious about us having a relationship. But with how busy I’ve been, I’ve dropped the ball.
Plus, I do better when it’s just Kip and me.
He won’t leave me.
“I have seen you three times in the last two months, and each of those were holidays.”
I grimace. “I know. I’m sorry.”
“And instead of asking me, you just show up with a check for the app repairs.”
“I want to help,” I explain. “I’m proud of what you’ve built. I want you to continue to succeed, and you need the app, Tess.”
She rolls her eyes again. “I can afford it.”
“I know, but I can too.”
She leans into the silver counter, shaking her head as she crosses her arms over her chest. “Doesn’t make the fact that I haven’t seen you any better, Mot.”
I swallow hard at the nickname she used to call me before my dad passed. I lick my lips as I nod. “I know. I’m sorry.”
“I want weekly dinners,” she says after a bout of silence. “I don’t care if we go out, if we stay in, I’ll cook—I don’t care. I just need to see you.”
“Done,” I say without hesitation. “As long as you’re not dating anybody dumb as fuck.”
Her brows rise as she gives me a dry look. “At least I’m trying. Who are you dating, Dermot?”
“Touché.”
She’s got me there. I don’t even remember the last date I went on. Wendy? Marie? Who knows. I have spent the last year making sure the folks of Holiday Ridge are healthy and happy. Yeah, women have flirted with me, and more than one older lady has a granddaughter or niece for me, but I haven’t been interested. I’d rather be inside with my books and my dog.
“Maybe if you grew some balls, you’d go next door and hit up your crush,” she teases with a waggle of her brows that has me quickly flashing her a dark look.
“I should have never told you about her.”
“You didn’t. I saw how your nose almost broke the glass of the clinic when she stepped outside to hang a wreath on her gate.”
Shit, my ears are burning with embarrassment. If Tessa saw it, then I know my office manager has. I can’t help it, though; my crush is one gorgeous lady. “I did not,” I lie, which Tessa just giggles at.
“You did. I don’t know what you’re waiting for.”
“Nothing. There is nothing to be said or done.”
She gives me a come-on expression. “Have you told her you’re her biggest fan?”
“Jesus Christ,” I mutter, much to her delight. “I would never.”
“Hey,” she says, still grinning like she is hilarious. “She could be into it. Maybe she’ll play doctor and patient with you then write about it.”
I groan inwardly, and she laughs. “Right, Kip? Dad should just go over and be like, “’I know you’re a writer. Can I spread your pages with my mouth?’”
“What the hell?” I shout, covering Kip’s ears. “He is a child!”
She snorts. “He’s like three. That’s twenty-one in dog years. He can legally drink.”
I gawk at her. “No, he is just a baby!”
Her laughter fills the small space as I rub Kip’s ears, kissing his head. When I look up, she’s watching me, the playfulness gone. I swallow, and then my eyes catch on the photo of us the day I left for college, before I look back at her.
“I hate watching you like this,” she admits quietly. “You’d rather live in a book than in real life.”
I shrug. “Book girlfriends don’t hurt me.”
Her lips turn down, and she shakes her head. “Not everyone wants to hurt you. Especially an author of romance books. I bet she’d treat you like a king and suck your soul out of your penis.”