Total pages in book: 103
Estimated words: 97875 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 489(@200wpm)___ 392(@250wpm)___ 326(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 97875 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 489(@200wpm)___ 392(@250wpm)___ 326(@300wpm)
When he spotted her, he took off his hat and executed a quick bow, before slapping the ballcap back down over his messy bed head.
Skylar shook her head at him, but at the same time, she was noticing how the wind blew the material of his sweatpants up against his thickly muscled thighs. How the strap of his duffel bag journeyed between two hefty pecs, needlessly making them more prominent. She’d been pondering those pecs, more than she should have, because her breasts had made the unfortunate mistake of grazing them when she kissed him in a fit of temporary madness. They were hard as iron.
And all that pec pondering had led to mouth reminiscing.
It was a very nice mouth.
A very smoothly confident mouth that obviously got a lot of exercise.
Instead of stopping at the passenger door, Robbie swaggered past the window of her white 2017 Honda Accord, knocked on the trunk, and waited.
Waited for what?
A . . . hug, maybe? Should she get out and give him one?
Don’t you dare acknowledge that ticklish strain in your nipples.
“Are you going to open the trunk or does our journey end here, Rocket?” Robbie shouted through the rear windshield.
“Oh!” Red-faced, she sprung the trunk open, slapping at the air-conditioning controls to turn up the air. “Sorry,” she muttered a moment later, when he sprawled into the seat beside her, taking up way more space than anyone who’d ever occupied that side of the Honda. Dina could never. And those thighs were even more prolific up close.
Had he smelled like this on Saturday? Like musk and cinnamon?
No, she would have remembered. How long would her car smell like this after their week together ended? For some reason, knowing any part of him might linger was . . . daunting? Why?
Didn’t matter.
Main takeaway: as far as fake boyfriends went, she could do a lot worse.
“Hey,” he said, grinning at her from beneath the brim of his hat. “Miss me?”
“No, but I’m looking forward to it.”
He let out one of those brief cracks of laughter. “This is so us, right? Starting off this adventure with contempt. Setting the tone.”
Skylar implored the ceiling for patience, then put the Honda into drive. “Are you going to be this annoying the whole hour and a half drive?”
He flashed his teeth. “I’ll put my unique charm on the back burner for now. We’re going to need the full ninety minutes for you to educate me on your town, your family. You.” She felt his attention travel down the side of her profile. “If we’re going to be convincing, I’ll need to know more than just the casual details.”
Skylar had a lot more to discuss with him than backstory on this trip, but she needed to work up the courage first. “You live in a nice building.”
“Yeah, thanks. Mailer and I went in on a condo together.”
“Mailer, as in . . .”
“My teammate, wingman, buddy. Henry Mailer. We have separate bathrooms—that’s the key to a successful marriage.”
“I’ll try and remember that.” She glanced over at him. “Is it common for a professional athlete to have a roommate?”
“It’s more common than you think. First year in the league, nothing feels stable enough yet to put down roots. Everyone upstairs is watching to see if you live up to expectations.” He made himself more comfortable in the seat. “Mailer and I have a deal that whoever moves out first has to pay the other back for their half of the condo. Just in case one of us gets traded. Or . . . other horrible things that shan’t be named.”
“Like a career-ending injury?”
He clutched at his chest. “Jesus, woman. You of all people should know you’re not supposed to put that possibility out into the universe.”
“Sorry,” she muttered, genuinely chagrined, because he was right. She did know better. She blamed her lack of tact on the topic weighing heavily on her mind. How she’d bring it up. How he would react. “For what it’s worth, you’ve obviously had numerous blows to the head and you’re still playing.”
“Good point,” he said without missing a beat. “Mailer and I also co-own a truck, but he has custody this week.”
“This sounds like a totally normal friendship with healthy boundaries.”
“Thank you for noticing,” he said, smiling unironically. “What about you? What’s your living situation?”
“I live alone.” She rolled her lips inward to wet them. “I’m kind of meticulous when it comes to my surroundings. I need things to be in their place. For instance, I can’t fall asleep if someone else is watching television in the living room. I just need everything and everyone to be settled and in their place in order to relax. It made the first year of college, when I was living in the dorm, pretty difficult.”
“Yeah, I can imagine.” He was watching her thoughtfully, as if running back through that explanation more than once. “A messy outdoor competition must be pretty hard for you, then.”