Total pages in book: 80
Estimated words: 77941 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 390(@200wpm)___ 312(@250wpm)___ 260(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 77941 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 390(@200wpm)___ 312(@250wpm)___ 260(@300wpm)
“It’s good we like each other better as adults.”
“Yes, it is. You have to come visit. Are you sure you can’t make it for the festival?” He couldn’t wait to show her Cloud Nine and the rest of Frostwick Harbor.
“I don’t see how I can, but if I’m able to arrange something, I’ll do it.” Kate had a demanding job as a junior attorney in a prestigious firm, and she struggled to get time off.
“All right. If not then, then later is fine.”
“Okay. I really do want to see your shop and have one of your famous drinks.”
It helped that she believed in him. “They’re not quite famous yet.”
“They will be.”
CHAPTER 7
When Rhys got home after closing down Frost + Foam, he reheated pasta from the night before and sat down to watch Parks and Rec, one of his comfort shows. But he couldn’t get into it because the book Jonah had chosen for him was calling from his backpack. It wasn’t at all what he would normally read, but he couldn’t help being curious about it. What made Jonah so sure he would like it?
Rhys didn’t like sappy nonsense. Every year, he did his best to avoid watching those ridiculously cheesy Christmas movies Jonah and Tessa were obsessed with.
He turned off the TV, pulled out the book, and lay down on the couch to read, hoping he wouldn’t fall asleep there.
His mouth dropped open when, not twenty pages in, the main characters were ripping each other’s clothes off, and then… oh my God… he wasn’t even sure bodies could contort that way.
This was not at all what he was expecting, and it wasn’t just the sex, though he might need to turn the fan on if he was going to keep reading. The characters felt so real, and he needed them to figure out how to be together.
When Rhys was halfway through the book, he paused to look at the time. It was later than he’d thought. He should get ready for bed, but he didn’t want to stop reading. The characters in the book were perfect for each other, even though they were so different, and the way they each understood exactly what the other needed without having to be told had melted Rhys’s heart. The men tried to fight sleeping together again after their initial hookup, but they couldn’t stop thinking about each other. When they got trapped at a cabin during a blizzard, they wanted each other desperately. When they finally gave in, the scene was explosive.
Rhys knew he wasn’t only going to finish the book; he wanted to read more in the series. It would be embarrassing as hell to tell Jonah how much he loved it, but he could handle that. What he wasn’t sure he could handle was the way he kept imagining the cowboy character as Caleb. It had to just be the description of thick hair and a perfect beard and the way his smile made the other guy feel warm all over.
It couldn’t be because Rhys never stopped thinking about him. Or because part of him wanted to go back to Cloud Nine tomorrow and tell Caleb he did want to work together, even though he knew better. The less time he spent around Caleb, the less chance Caleb would find out why he made Rhys so nervous.
He forced himself to put the book down long enough to get ready for bed, but once he was under the covers, he opened it right back up and raced to the end. When the characters finally confessed their love to each other, he had to wipe tears from his eyes.
He almost cried again when he saw the time and realized how little sleep he was going to get. But as tired as he was, he couldn’t fall asleep. He lay there in the dark, unable to stop thinking about the book and replaying every erotic scene with him and Caleb as the characters.
Eventually, he kicked off the covers. He was hot and sweaty, and his cock was painfully hard. No way in hell was he going to be able to sleep like that.
Giving in to what he needed, he slid a hand down his stomach and wrapped it around his cock. As he dragged it slowly along his shaft, he tried not to think about Caleb. He tried to imagine the cowboy in the book, as if he looked nothing like him. Then he tried picturing the last man he’d been with. The guy had been hot and one of the best hookups Rhys had ever had, but that didn’t matter tonight. Caleb was all he wanted.
He imagined Caleb kneeling between his legs, watching him, eyes wide, pupils huge as he encouraged Rhys to keep going, to move his hand faster, to show him what he liked.