Total pages in book: 121
Estimated words: 113812 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 569(@200wpm)___ 455(@250wpm)___ 379(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 113812 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 569(@200wpm)___ 455(@250wpm)___ 379(@300wpm)
“No, though I love to hear it. No rain.”
I stop to listen. He’s right. “It’s stopped. I didn’t even notice when.”
“We were preoccupied.”
Sitting up, I’m both happy and disappointed at the same time. I look back at him still lying next to me. “I guess we should get dressed.”
“Yeah.” The ember dies out, and he sounds just as conflicted as I do. “Your dad will probably be looking for you.”
I turn back around and silently nod, though I doubt he can see it. I climb off the mattress, needing a shower more than ever. But it was nice for a short moment in time for only us to exist in this little universe. After a few hours of hanging on the rail, my cotton dress is made of thin enough material to be dry most of the way. Unfortunately, the stains appear to be there to stay.
I don’t bother with the bra, and I’m definitely not putting my underwear back on. I’ll be tossing those anyway. The material of the dress is cool as it slips over my body, revealing my nipples pressing against it. “What if we don’t work out?” I ask, gathering my socks and other garments together.
His head pops through the hole of the shirt, and he pulls it down. “No harm. No foul.”
“We pretend nothing ever happened?” I pick up my boots in the other hand and return to where he’s attempting to pull on jeans that are still wet, though not soaking anymore.
He stops, his eyes narrowing. “Does that mean you’re thinking we keep this quiet?”
Kind of dumbfounded, I hadn’t thought of that. “A secret relationship?” I hate the way shame creeps into the corners of my psyche.
“That’s not what I had in mind, Pris,” he says, coming closer and lowering his voice as if the tempered tone will make me feel better. “I don’t want to hide you or what we have.”
So many thoughts merry-go-round in my head, but two come to the forefront. “My dad—”
“And Baylor,” he says, the same look of defeat dragging his expression down. “He’ll kill me.”
“He’d bury you alive somewhere on the property to never be found by me or anyone else ever again.”
With a slack jaw, he stares at me. “Um, that’s quite the visual. First time having that thought there, babe?”
“No. But it didn’t involve you, if that makes it any less worrisome.”
Seemingly shaking off that imagery, he says, “It does.”
“But now we’re back to hiding again.”
He strokes my cheek with the back of his hand. “We don’t have to hide. I’ll face the music for you.”
“The Death March.” I look down between us at our bare feet, thinking how I felt like I was on cloud nine just five minutes ago. Now, I’m thinking it’s best to keep things undercover. “Maybe we work through the kinks secretly? I mean, what if I discover you snore, and I murder you with a pillow in the middle of the night if I don’t get rest?”
“I think we need to slow the roll on the different ways I can be murdered and get back on track to what will work best for us. You and me. That’s all we should be considering right now.”
“That’s simple. We keep it a secret until we’re ready to share with everyone.”
He tugs his jeans on the rest of the way and secures the button. “How do you figure?”
“Whether we tell everyone or just show up together, then the relationship becomes a thing—of gossip, scrutiny, and dealing with the fallout.”
“Instead of enjoying what we have.” He drops his socks and underwear in his boot, then grabs the other. “Dooms us from the start.”
“Because it becomes about them instead of us.” I rest my head on his arm, closing my eyes. I’m not quite ready to leave this little paradise we created. “I don’t want that.”
His arm comes around me, and he kisses my head. “Me either.”
I shift in front of him, looking up and seeing how this isn’t what he wants. He’s agreeing to keep me out of the line of fire, knowing I’m the one who will have to deal with them here in Peachtree Pass. Though, it wouldn’t be a walk in the park to break the news to my brother either. So we’re screwed.
“One positive is I get you all to myself.”
“You already had me. You just hadn’t realized it yet.” He heads toward the other side of the loft, tossing his boots to the ground before he takes a step down onto the first rung of the ladder. “I’ll go down first.”
“A girl can dream.”
He shoots me a look that says I might get a tongue-lashing if I’m not careful. The thought makes me tingle. I decide to be reckless in hopes of receiving that reward, erm, I mean punishment.
At the bottom, he holds the ladder steady for me after I toss my boots to him, and asks, “Whatever happened to you and that guy in Denver? You never tried the long-distance thing?”