Total pages in book: 155
Estimated words: 144435 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 722(@200wpm)___ 578(@250wpm)___ 481(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 144435 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 722(@200wpm)___ 578(@250wpm)___ 481(@300wpm)
"Forty-one is old enough for a midlife crisis," my sister says, a smile in her voice.
"I'm not old," I growl, though let's be honest. After sorting and loading cattle all day, I feel every one of those forty-one years. "Answer my question."
"You're beginning to sound like Cam," she complains. "Maybe you both need to get out more. You're both turning into grumps."
"Cleary."
"What?" she cries.
"What author is here, baby sister?"
"Oh, a bunch of them. Zoey Hart, Mina Chance, Clover Thompson, Paige Turner, Cassia Murphy, and Emerald Lee," she says, rattling them off. "They're staying at Big Bear for the week. Isn't it exciting?"
Cassia is here. Why didn't she say anything? I want to hope she's here because of my emails, but I'm guessing the fact that she didn't clue me that she's in town isn't good news for me. She didn't want me to know.
Too bad for her. One way or another, she will be meeting me. I intend to see to it.
"Big Bear," I mutter, already making plans to make it happen. "Is that the place up near the main road?"
"Yep," Cleary says. "I'm going to see if they'll autograph my books tonight."
"How long are they staying?"
"A week, I think. Why?" My sister grows suspicious.
"Just trying to figure out how long I have to worry about you landing in jail," I lie, striding bare-assed naked into my bedroom.
"Only tonight," she says, sweet as pie. "I promise to go back to being boring again tomorrow. But I'm not passing up this chance to get their autographs. No one I like ever comes here."
"Behave," I warn her. "If Cam has to come down off the mountain to visit you in jail, he'll be pissed about it."
Cleary giggles. "Maybe I should get arrested. At least it'll get him off the mountain."
"Behave," I snort, yanking on a pair of boxers.
"Fine, but only because I planned to do that anyway," she says. "Love you, big brother."
"Love you too, baby sister."
The phone disconnects.
Huh. Looks like I won't have to kidnap my curvy little author after all. She's already here. The fact that she didn't tell me doesn't sit well with me, but I intend to get to the bottom of it first thing in the morning. If she's still worried that I'm a crazy man who spends all day locked in his mama's basement playing video games and knitting for kittens, she won't be for long.
I hope she's ready for me, because I'm not letting her leave until she knows exactly what it feels like to be loved hard by a real cowboy.
Chapter Three
CASSIA
"Wow, this place is fancy," I mumble to myself as I step into the resort restaurant. The setting sun sends bright rays of light filtering in through large windows at the front of the room. A massive live edge wood bar wraps around the back of the room, expensive bottles of alcohol neatly displayed on wooden shelves behind it. Combined with the vintage-style lighting hanging from above and the log walls, the entire restaurant exudes peace and relaxation…exactly like the rest of the resort. I should have suggested this place way before now.
"Back here!" Paige says. Her hand shoots into the air to wave even though there's no way I'd miss her crazy blonde curls. She and the girls are tucked into a booth in the back corner. They're the only group of all women here.
I giggle and head toward them. I'm not sure if everyone else had a productive day, but they're all smiles. Probably because they don't have a grumpy cowboy giving them dirty sex dreams.
"Sorry I'm late. I got lost." I scrunch my nose up. "Did you know this place has two gyms? It's vacation. Who needs one gym, let alone two?"
"I ordered you a shot," Emmy says, smiling at me when I slip into the empty seat on the bench beside her.
"A shot?" I quirk a brow, looking skeptically at the tiny glass of clear liquid in front of me. Last time I had shots, I didn't even make it to three before I ended up on the floor. I'm not very graceful. "Of what?"
"Liquid courage," Emmy mutters, making Mina laugh. "We're talking about sex."
Emmy sits with her legs crossed at an awkward angle, one hip higher than the other. She avoids my gaze, but her cheeks are pink, and I wonder if we should slow her down. If she keeps knocking back shots, who knows what else we'll find out about her?
Yesterday, she confessed that she's a virgin like me and Clover. Paige and I caught her right after she had an awkward encounter with the maintenance guy who came to fix something in her cabin. Apparently, she talked him into helping her work out the mechanics of a sexy scene. Though, I doubt it took much convincing to get him to agree. Emmy is beautiful. Any man would be lucky to have her. Like me, Emmy tends to avoid men though.