Total pages in book: 90
Estimated words: 90315 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 452(@200wpm)___ 361(@250wpm)___ 301(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 90315 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 452(@200wpm)___ 361(@250wpm)___ 301(@300wpm)
Yeah, baby, my dick would wreck you, and then you’d beg for more.
That’s definitely a line I can’t cross with this woman, no matter how much I want her.
“Come on.” Without a second thought, I reach for her hand, and she pauses, as if surprised by my touch. “You okay?”
“No, I’m fine.” She slides her palm over mine, and I link our fingers. “I’m just . . . You know that hug earlier?”
“Yeah.”
“It was nice. I don’t remember the last time someone hugged me. I guess I needed it.”
Stepping in front of her, I tip her chin up so her lavender gaze meets my own. “What do you mean?”
“What do you mean, what do I mean?”
“You haven’t been hugged?”
She bites that plump lower lip and glances down at my chest.
“I mean, of course I’ve been hugged. Just not in a long time. Sometimes a person just needs to be touched.”
“Why?”
“Because hugs feel good.”
“Not that. Why haven’t you been hugged?”
She starts to pull away, but I hold on firmly, keeping her hand in mine.
“My parents aren’t warm and fuzzy. Chelsea definitely isn’t a toucher.” She shrugs those shoulders again. She’s back in my hoodie, and I was right. She looks fucking adorable in it. “It’s okay.”
It’s not fucking okay.
But instead of saying that, I grab the keys to the side-by-side that’s sitting by the four-wheeler and lead her outside.
“You have all kinds of fun toys,” she says as she gets in the passenger seat.
“We’re on a ranch. We either get around on one of these, or on a horse.”
“You have horses?”
She doesn’t know anything about this place.
“Yeah, about a dozen of them. Ryker and Willow have a bunch of chickens. We have cattle that we sell for the beef.”
“Did we eat one of your cows this morning?”
“Of course.” I wink at her as I pull away from the house. “The eggs are from here too. Those are the Bitterroot Mountains.”
“They already have snow,” she says, admiring them. “When will it snow down here?”
“Could be anytime, but it won’t stick until December. Then, we won’t see grass again until April at the earliest.”
“I love snow,” she says with a happy sigh. “I like being cold. I hate summer.”
“You hate summer?”
“Okay, that’s a strong word, but I’m not one of those girls who loves to lay out and get skin cancer and get hot or stung by bees. I don’t like to sweat.”
“You jog every day.”
“That’s different. When I jog, I’m sweating because I was productive. In the summer, it’s just sweat. I don’t like it.”
“You always used to go to Mexico with Chelsea in the summer,” I remind her. “We went at least three times.”
“Chelsea likes hot weather. Not me.”
“Then why did you go?”
When she doesn’t answer for a minute, I glance in her direction. “Because I never tell her no.”
“Never?”
“Even when I definitely should. Anyway, I prefer the cold, because then you can get cozy inside. Are you still able to train people in the winter?”
“I train people all year round,” I confirm. “Whether it’s forty below or a hundred and ten, we’re training.”
“Put me down for a balmy seventy degrees. Otherwise, I’ll tap out.”
I smirk, enjoying the fuck out of her. I had no idea she was this funny.
“What’s that old wall over there?” she asks, pointing off to the right.
“Ruins. We don’t know for sure what it used to be. Ryker, Willow, and I used to play around there all the time when we were kids.”
“I’ll come check it out sometime.”
“We can go look now.”
I turn the wheel and steer us over to the old rock building that crumbled a long, long time ago.
Lena hops out and walks over, runs her hand over the wall.
“It makes me wonder who built this. Was it a home for a family? Was it a storage place for food? An outhouse?”
“Little big for an outhouse,” I reply.
“It’s pretty cool.” Shoving her hair off her face, Lena turns back to look at the mountains again.
She’s enamored with them.
“I want to draw them from here. Maybe from everywhere.”
“You can do that.”
We get back in the little vehicle, and I set off for the barn. Aiden’s walking out of it as we approach and waves when he sees us get closer.
“Hey,” he says with a smile. “I saw the pile of loot in there. I didn’t know you liked to shop so much, Gid.”
“It’s cathartic,” I reply and then grin when Aiden laughs. “It’s all for Lena. Where is everyone?”
“Most everyone’s inside,” he says. “Storm’s coming later, so we’re getting ready for it.”
I nod and see Ryker step out to join us.
“Do you need my help?” I ask him.
“Nah, we have it covered.” He turns to Lena and offers her a smile. “I’m Ryker. We didn’t get to meet yesterday.”
“Lena.” She holds her hand out to shake, but I see the way she tenses, as if she’s waiting for Ryker to go on the offensive the way Willow did. “It’s nice to meet you.”