Total pages in book: 70
Estimated words: 70004 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 350(@200wpm)___ 280(@250wpm)___ 233(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 70004 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 350(@200wpm)___ 280(@250wpm)___ 233(@300wpm)
We were both sharing the same blanket, and his body heat was keeping me warm and toasty.
My belly hadn’t stopped fluttering with butterflies since he’d sat down.
It’d only gotten worse the more comfortable he got. The more he loosened up, the more he let himself touch me.
Innocent touching, yes. But touching nonetheless.
I was a hot mess, and Romeo had no freakin’ idea.
Unfortunately, the touching was about to come to an end, because I had to pee. I’d been holding it for over thirty minutes now, but if I didn’t go, I’d be chancing fate.
“Press pause,” I ordered as I dug myself out of my cocoon of blankets. “I have to use the bathroom.”
Before he could move, I crawled over his long legs—my, did he have some great muscle tone—and stood up.
As I did, my shirt rode high, revealing my belly.
My belly and my tattoo.
I tugged it down quickly and hurried to the bathroom, doing my business and washing my hands before coming back.
“Are you hungry yet?” I asked curiously.
“I don’t think I’ll ever be hungry again,” he said from his sprawl on the couch.
I moved around the side of the couch and fell back into the nest of blankets.
Only once I was sufficiently back where I wanted to be did I look at him.
He was smiling. “Comfortable?”
“More than,” I murmured. “You can press play now.”
He did, but only after he stared at me for a few more long seconds.
The stare was enough to make me shiver.
Luckily, he turned away right when that shiver tore down my spine.
I was asleep when the sound of a snowplow started to come closer and closer.
At first, I didn’t open my eyes.
I was too dang warm and comfortable to move.
The low afternoon sun was persistent, though.
I reluctantly peeled open my eyes, and the first thing I saw was a wide chest.
I blinked in confusion until I leaned my head back and saw that I’d somehow turned and taken to using Romeo’s chest as a pillow.
He noticed my movement and looked down. “Your friend’s dad is here with the plow. Apparently almost all of the roads in the area have been cleared.”
Instant sadness hit me at that news.
I wanted to stay here forever.
I liked it here.
Brawny liked it here.
But that wasn’t ever something that would happen for me.
Romeo was too hot.
I was too not.
I pushed up, raising my arms up high over my head to stretch out.
“What time is it?”
“Just after five,” he answered just before my phone rang.
Romeo reached for it, disentangling our limbs, and handed it to me.
I answered it, seeing Vito’s name on the screen.
“Hey, Vito,” I called.
“Hey, darlin’,” he said. “Want a ride home?”
My shoulders slumped.
No, I most certainly did not want a ride home.
I wanted to stay exactly where I was, with who I was with, and live happily ever after in this little cabin in the woods.
Except, Romeo had made absolutely no move to indicate that he wanted me to stay.
In fact, he’d been the perfect gentleman. I had no inkling whatsoever that he felt anything for me besides friendship.
“Oh, yeah. I guess I could ride with you back home.” The words felt bitter on my tongue. “Can you give me five minutes?”
“Sure thing, doll face,” he said, then continued to clear the snow around Romeo’s driveway.
“Leaving?” he asked.
Was that a hint of sadness in his voice? Or did I just want it to be there?
“Yeah, he’s going to give me a ride back home,” I murmured. “Not that I have a truck or anything to get me to work tomorrow.”
“I’ll give you a ride,” he offered. “We get there around the same time.”
I smiled. “That’s okay. I think I can borrow something from Cody. She has an old Jeep that she usually only uses during the summer. But it’s perfectly sound.”
Kind of.
It had a terrible heater, had only a ragtop, and you froze when you drove it during the winter. Hence Cody getting a new car that wasn’t a decade old.
“I’ll give you a ride,” he said instead of giving me that out. “You can use her Jeep if you need to, but we’re both going to the same place. We’re both leaving and arriving at the same time. And I literally have to drive past your road to get to the yard.”
I bit my lip for a long second before replying, “If you’re sure.”
“I’m sure,” he said as he got up and stretched. “Your clothes are in the dryer still, I think. And I don’t really know what Cody was thinking when she packed your bag, but it’s all freakin’ summer clothes.”
That was Cody. Thoughtful, but not practical.
I headed to his laundry room and said, “Let me just change in here so you can have all your clothes back.”
“Keep them,” he suggested. “They’re warmer than yours.”
I scrunched up my nose. “I don’t think…”