Total pages in book: 248
Estimated words: 236036 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1180(@200wpm)___ 944(@250wpm)___ 787(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 236036 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1180(@200wpm)___ 944(@250wpm)___ 787(@300wpm)
It would be all worth it in the end.
“Don’t stress. I’ve got this. Look, I’ll tie it around my waist.” She tapped her temple. “Up here for thinking, sugar.”
“Maybe I should climb up,” he suggested.
“Yeah, that’s not happening. I might make some crappy decisions when it comes to my own safety, but I won’t put yours at risk. I’ve got this. Don’t worry.”
Casey tied the rope around her waist and started climbing the tree. The only issue was that the branches weren’t always that close together and she wasn’t the tallest sunflower in the garden.
Finally, she heaved herself up over the biggest branch.
That’s when she made a mistake.
She looked down.
Now, she wasn’t actually scared of heights. She really had climbed a lot of trees in her younger days. But the moment she looked down, a dizzy spell hit her. And then the wind whipped through the tree, making the branch shake.
Actually, that might be her shaking.
Not good.
Really, really not good.
“Are you all right, Casey?” Wyatt called out.
“Who me? Yeah, of course I am, sugar.”
She wasn’t.
“Are you going to tie the rope over the branch?” he asked.
“Sure am.”
As soon as she figured out how to let go of the branch and sit up.
Come on, Casey.
You have this.
Nope. She didn’t have this. She really, really didn’t have this. A small whimper escaped her and she closed her eyes, breathing in deep.
“Casey?” Wyatt’s voice started to wobble.
Shit.
She had to remember that he was just a kid. He couldn’t help her. And she was supposed to be in charge here.
“I’m all good. I’m just catching my breath after that big climb,” she said.
“I don’t know, Casey. You’re holding on pretty tight. Are you scared?”
“Me? No.”
“You’re not allowed to lie,” Wyatt told her.
Shoot.
He was right.
“Fine, I’m a bit scared,” she admitted.
“I’m going to get Papa.”
“No, wait, don’t do that! We don’t need your Papa. I’ve got this all under control.”
Chapter Sixteen
She had this under control?
He was pretty sure he had never seen anyone who had something less under control. And she’d told Wyatt not to go get him?
Jeb moved closer to his son and stared up at the small woman clinging to the branch of the large oak in his backyard.
“I didn’t call him!” Wyatt called out to her.
“Huh?” She opened her eyes, staring down at Jeb. “Shit.”
“Don’t swear,” he said automatically.
“Shit. Sorry. Crap. Urgh, can’t seem to stop.”
“I have a way to stop you,” he threatened.
Fuck.
What kind of threat was that? He wasn’t even sure.
You cannot threaten or flirt with Casey. She works for you. She’s your son’s sort-of nanny.
Although he was starting to think that out of the two of them, Wyatt was going to be the one looking after Casey.
What had he been thinking, hiring her? Was he really going to trust her with his son?
“What?” she asked. “What does that mean?”
“Nothing,” he said. “Come down from there. Now.”
“I’m pretty sure that she can’t come down, Papa. She’s stuck,” Wyatt told him.
“What the hell were you trying to do?” he snarled up at her.
“Don’t swear,” she scolded.
Jeb huffed out a sigh. “Don’t get sassy with me, young lady. You’re in trouble.”
She gasped so dramatically that he was scared she might fall off the branch. She let out a small squeal as she slipped, tightening her arms and legs around the branch.
For fuck’s sake.
“Don’t be mad at Casey, Papa,” Wyatt told him with a frown. “She was just trying to hang the swing up. You said you’d put one there but you never did.”
Shit.
Wyatt was right. He had said he’d hang a swing there. But instead he’d built a playground miles away. Because he thought Elise would want her name on something for everyone to see. That had always been her thing.
She’d never do anything that she couldn’t boast about and be congratulated over.
However, Elise wasn’t here anymore.
“You’re right, Wyatt.”
“I am?” Wyatt said, sounding surprised.
“Yeah, you are. I should have put a swing up before now. I’m sorry.” And he felt ashamed that someone who’d only known Wyatt for a few days had tried to do something that he’d said he would do ages ago.
“Oh. Okay. Yeah. What are you going to do about Casey? I think she’s scared of heights.”
“I’m not scared of heights,” Casey said. “I’m just slightly nervous. I don’t understand. I used to climb trees all the time. I just got up here and felt a bit . . . a bit . . .”
“Nervous,” Jeb supplied.
“Yeah, nervous. That’s the word I was trying to think of.”
Jeb shared a look with his son.
“Maybe we should pull over the trampoline, Papa. That way she can jump down onto it,” Wyatt suggested.
Casey let out a high-pitched squeak.
Jeb shook his head. “No, I don’t think that’s very safe. There’s only one thing we can do, unfortunately.”
Casey felt Jeb climb out onto the branch she was clinging to.