Total pages in book: 117
Estimated words: 115683 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 578(@200wpm)___ 463(@250wpm)___ 386(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 115683 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 578(@200wpm)___ 463(@250wpm)___ 386(@300wpm)
“Why would you shoot a beer with a gun?” Dean screws up his face. “That sounds stupid.”
Colton and I laugh.
“It is stupid,” Colton replies, holding the mouth of his beer to his lips. “And kinda fun.”
“In a sloppy way, yes.” I grin. “I was a pro in college.”
Colton lifts a brow as he drinks. “You? Sloppy? I don’t buy it.”
“Every saint has a past,” I say.
His eyes darken. “Every sinner has a future.”
My heart skips a beat. “Since when are you an Oscar Wilde fan?”
“Since we read The Picture of Dorian Gray senior year in high school.”
I sip my beer, trying to make sense of this breaking news. Is Colton a cowboy with an attitude problem and good taste in literature?
Does such a being exist?
Dean sets the box on the kitchen table and pulls out a chair. “You’re gonna stay to help us put this together, right, Lainey?”
Colton chuckles. “Did you thank Miss Lainey for the super awesome LEGO set?”
“Thank you.”
Colton picks up his beer. “Seriously, Lainey, thank you. You didn’t have to do that.”
I sip my beer. “Are you kidding? This is such a treat for me. I loved LEGO sets as a kid. My brothers and I would spend whole days putting things together. I think my favorite was the Millennium Falcon.”
“From Star Wars.” Colton moves to the kitchen table to help Dean open the box with a pair of scissors. “We’ve done that one too.”
“Come sit, Lainey.” Dean waves me over. “Can we do the haunted house first? Then we can do the trees and the ghosts.”
I take a seat next to Dean and pull the directions out of the box. “Sounds like a plan.”
“Dad, you sit too.”
I expect Colton to decline the invitation. Hesitate at the very least. Not because he doesn’t want to play with his son, but because he doesn’t want to play with me.
Instead, Colton pulls out the chair on the other side of Dean and takes a seat so that his son is between us. The woodsy smell of Colton’s freshly showered body fills my head and makes me woozy.
Dean glances at Colton, then at me, a big smile breaking out on his face.
“It’s a Dean sandwich,” he says.
Colton grabs the instructions from me and unfolds them. “You are scrumptious.”
“I like sandwiches,” I say. “Peanut butter and jelly is my favorite.”
Dean gasps. “Mine too!”
I hold up my hand, and he gives me a high five.
Colton just stares at his son. “That’s hilarious, because this little stinker told me not too long ago that he didn’t like peanut butter and jelly anymore.”
“I changed my mind.” Dean shrugs.
“Sure you did,” Colton mutters, shaking his head. “I’m sure that has nothing to do with the pretty girl here tonight.”
My pulse skips a beat, but Dean replies before I do. “You are real pretty, Miss Lainey. We both think so.”
“Thanks? I think?” I’m blushing.
“You should have my dad make you a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.” Dean doesn’t look up from the pile of LEGO bricks he pours out of the box onto the table. “He’s really good at it.”
I help Dean start to sort the LEGO bricks. “Your dad is good at lots of things.”
“Like what?” Colton smooths out the instructions with the heel of his gigantic hand. He doesn’t look up either, but I still get the feeling he’s watching me. Keeping track of how I move and what I do. Is it wrong that I’m turned on by the subtle attention?
“Playing around with cowgirls, for starters.” I see Colton’s lips twitch.
He reaches for the LEGO bricks. “Almost as good as Lainey is at playing around with cowboys.”
Dean scrunches his forehead. “I don’t know what y’all are talking about.”
“That’s on purpose.” Colton meets my eyes.
There’s a pinch between my shoulder blades, right behind my heart. Warning.
Ignoring it, I say, “I agree with Dean about starting with the haunted house first. I find it’s best to tackle the hardest thing right off the bat—”
“Because then you don’t end up chucking it across the room when you’re overtired and you’ve had it?” Colton’s gaze flickers with something I’m starting to recognize.
Surprise.
Delight even.
“Yes.” I’m having a hard time keeping my pulse in check. “There’s a method to my madness.”
Dean plucks the black plastic part that I’m assuming forms the haunted house’s foundation from the pile. “You do it the same way we do, Lainey. That’s funny!”
I manage a wobbly smile. “LEGO nerds, unite.”
“Who you callin’ a nerd?” Colton says.
“You,” I reply. “And me. And Mister Brainiac here.” I gently nudge Dean with my elbow.
“Nerds are cool now, Dad.”
Colton smiles warmly at his son. “Only because you’re one. All right, guys, let’s get started on this house.”
Dean sneaks an arm underneath his dad’s to steal the instructions. “Dad, you do the porch. Lainey, you do the walls. I’ll start on the roof.”