Total pages in book: 149
Estimated words: 151384 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 757(@200wpm)___ 606(@250wpm)___ 505(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 151384 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 757(@200wpm)___ 606(@250wpm)___ 505(@300wpm)
“What happened?” he asked.
“Sooo,” she said. “It’s a funny story, really.”
He raised a thick eyebrow. Wow. How was he so calm and collected? He was the epitome of cool. She wished she could be like that.
She was the epitome of . . . a walking disaster.
Certainly not calm and collected. Or sexy and cool.
Okay. Did you really just think about this guy as sexy? You don’t even know him. Get your head together, Immy.
Also, you’re still sitting on the floor. You might want to get up.
“Somehow, I don’t think it will be.”
She managed to scramble up onto her feet, nearly tumbling over again in her haste. While he stood out of his crouch like it was the easiest thing in the world to do.
Wow. “How are you so graceful for a big guy? Shouldn’t you kind of bumble about? Or make noise as you move?”
“Not fucking King Kong, Cherry.”
“Close to it. And you owe a dollar to the swear jar.”
His lips twitched. “You’re sassy, huh?”
Sassy? Her? Never. Well, maybe sometimes.
“Swear jar?” he asked.
“It’s on the bench. A dollar each time you swear.”
“Guess I’m gonna be broke. You gonna tell me?”
“Tell you what?” she whispered.
“The story.”
“Ahh. Well, it’s probably too late for story time.”
He simply stared down at her.
Right.
“You’re not gonna just let this go, are you?”
Another eyebrow raise. Gosh, he could say a lot with those things. It was like they were actually having a proper conversation.
So, she needed to tell him something, but it wouldn’t be everything. Because the truth was that she didn’t really know what exactly happened.
“I saw something out in the dark. A light. And I thought . . .”
Understanding filled Tobias’s face. “You thought it was the stalker.”
“Yes.”
“Sorry,” he said with a grimace.
“It’s not . . . it’s not your fault. You’re just out there doing your job. I assume. Is that why you were out there?”
“Yep,” he replied. “Light was a flashlight. Left it outside.”
“Do you really think her stalker will return? I mean, Maeve isn’t here and security has been tightened. He’d have to be crazy to come back, right?”
“Have to be.”
“Only, he could very well be crazy. You have to be to chase a woman halfway across the country, right? And then to try and drown her . . . yeah, he’s got to have a few screws loose.”
Tobias simply nodded in agreement.
“You don’t say much, do you?” Immy asked Tobias.
He just grunted. But she saw him smirk. She knocked her shoulder against his bicep. And immediately felt terrible. She didn’t even know this man.
“I’m sorry!” she cried, taking a couple of steps back. “I didn’t mean to do that. I just . . . I, um . . .”
“Immy.” Her name was said firmly, without any inflection. And it wasn’t a question, more of a way to bring her back down from wherever she’d been spiralling to.
Instantly, she felt the worry and panic leave her. That never happened except with her friends. They were the only ones who had ever been able to settle her.
Immy gaped at him. “How did you do that?”
“Do what?”
“Bring me back down. How did you know I was starting to spiral?”
“Pretty obvious. And you don’t need to do that around me.”
“Do what around you?” she asked.
“Worry.”
Immy let out a huff of air. “But I always worry.” That was the part of the reason everyone tried to shelter her so much.
Yeah, she could be naïve. And she liked to see the best in people. But she wasn’t a complete pushover.
However, she did worry about her friends.
Hence why she was awake at two in the morning about to do some baking. Immy couldn’t really afford to miss the sleep and she’d pay for it tomorrow. But there had been no getting to sleep once she’d woken up after a nightmare about Maeve.
“Don’t do it around me.”
For some reason she now thought that she wouldn’t worry so much around him. Which was ridiculous.
“I don’t even know you.”
Tobias shrugged those huge shoulders. “You can trust I’ve got this. I’ve got you.”
“You’ve got me? What does that mean?” And why did she sound so breathless?
You do not know this man, Immy.
No, but she felt strangely comfortable around him.
“I’ll keep you safe.”
“Oh. I guess that’s your job. To keep all of us safe.”
He leaned in, his gaze hitting hers and making her feel all breathless again.
“I’ll keep you safe, Immy.”
She nodded. “Uh-huh, uh-huh.”
It was wrong for that to be . . . hot, right?
Was it really possible to be attracted to two men at once? Like in the books she read? And maybe her attraction to Tobias wasn’t a bad thing. It could mean she was moving on . . . which was something she had to do.
Even as she felt her heart break a little.
“Immy?” Tobias said gently. “You okay?”
Immy let out a broken-sounding laugh. “Um, well. That’s kind of debatable. One of my best friends has a stalker who tried to drown her. And now she’s left with a man we don’t really know, even though he does seem quite capable of taking care of her. In all ways.”