Total pages in book: 102
Estimated words: 99967 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 500(@200wpm)___ 400(@250wpm)___ 333(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 99967 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 500(@200wpm)___ 400(@250wpm)___ 333(@300wpm)
She bites her lip as if she’s said too much.
“I think I’ll get the chicken Caesar.” She pushes the menu away and watches me for a minute through those glasses.
“Are you originally from Bitterroot Valley?” I ask. I don’t think she is. It’s a small community, and I know for a fact that I’ve never seen her before, even in passing.
“Silver Springs,” she says, and I nod.
That’s an even smaller community just thirty minutes from Bitterroot Valley.
“You?” she asks.
“Yeah, I’m from Bitterroot Valley.”
“So you went away to medical school and came back home.”
“I did.” The server returns, and we put our orders in. Then we’re silent for a moment as we look at each other over the table. “But let’s not talk about work.”
She lifts a perfect eyebrow. “Okay. What would you like to talk about?”
“You.”
She snorts, then raises her water glass to her lips and takes a sip. “I’m very boring. This will be a short conversation.”
“Somehow, I doubt that. Favorite movie?”
“Like of all time?”
My lips tip up at the confused frown on her pretty little face. “Yes.”
“Easy. Captain America: The First Avenger.”
I blink at her. Holy shit. “Nice choice.”
“Yours?”
“Same. Favorite kind of music?”
“Psh. Seventies rock. Hello, have you heard ‘Dream On’ by Aerosmith?”
How did my favorite song of all time just come tumbling out of her perfect mouth?
“If you could only eat one thing for the rest of your—”
“Loaded pizza with anchovies. But that’s only if the carbs no longer count in your fictional world.”
“You don’t eat carbs?”
“I’m not an animal. Of course I eat carbs.” She lays her napkin in her lap as our meals are served. “But I try to choose gluten-free as much as I can, just because it’s better for inflammation. But I’m not perfect at it. I’m not allergic or anything.”
I nod and dig into my own Caesar. It sounded good when she mentioned it. “My niece, Birdie—”
“The apple of your eye.”
“And the love of my life,” I reply with a nod, “has celiac disease. So when we get together as a family, we make sure we have plenty of safe options for her. That poor kid was so sick for such a long time, it broke my damn heart.”
“Poor baby.” She frowns over at me. “Can I see a picture of her?”
Not needing to be asked twice, I whip my phone out and happily share photos of my girl.
“Oh, she’s precious.” Harper takes my phone and smiles down at my girl. “She’s a dancer.”
“Yeah. My brother’s girlfriend, soon-to-be fiancée, owns a dance studio in Bitterroot Valley, and Birdie couldn’t wait to join. She’s actually pretty good.”
“And that’s not just her unbiased uncle talking.”
Harper passes the phone back and digs back into her food.
“Never. I’m completely impartial.” I chuckle and shove my phone back in my pocket.
“What do you do when you aren’t at the hospital?” she asks.
“I spend a lot of time with my family,” I reply, thinking it over. “I like to hike in the summer.”
That has her pretty gray eyes sparking with interest. “Yeah? Do you have favorite trails?”
“I take it you hike?”
“I love anything outside.” She decides to whip her hoodie over her head, leaving her in a little T-shirt. She hooks the hoodie on the back of her chair. “I spend so much time in hospitals that I can’t wait to be outside. So yeah, I hike and bike and ski. Swim. All that stuff. It was pretty cool to travel so much because I’d be out finding local trails on my off days. I’ve hiked the Appalachian Trail, all through the Redwoods, Olympic National Park, which is unbelievable.”
“I’ve done Kilimanjaro,” I inform her, watching her jaw drop and her eyes widen.
“Holy shit, Blake. That’s incredible. Did you love it?”
“It was an interesting experience.”
Honestly, it was fucking lonely.
“Your cool factor just increased,” she admits, and I laugh as I take one last bite of salad, then push the plate away.
“Good to know. I should have led with that.”
Chapter Two
HARPER
Why does he have to be so damn handsome, funny, and he likes to hike? Not just little hikes, either.
The man has done Kilimanjaro.
When he said that, my core tightened, and I’m pretty sure my vagina cried out with joy.
Down, girl.
I have avoided men like the plague for the past two years. No sex. No dates. No talking to men at all unless they were at work.
No. Men.
I’ll be the fun aunt once Ava or one of her brothers decides to settle down and pop out kids. I take care of babies every day at work.
I do not need a man in my life.
In fact, life’s been pretty decent the past couple of years without one.
And then I had to get on that flight.
I noticed Blake sitting in first class when I boarded. He was watching me. There was … something there. A little tingle. A little hint of awareness.