Total pages in book: 80
Estimated words: 77900 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 390(@200wpm)___ 312(@250wpm)___ 260(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 77900 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 390(@200wpm)___ 312(@250wpm)___ 260(@300wpm)
I open my eyes and meet each one of theirs before saying, “She didn’t recognize me. I was just Reid.” Knox and Landry both hum their agreement. They know what it’s like to find ladies who don’t have a single fuck to give about the zeros in our bank accounts.
“Are you sure?” Baker asks. If anyone is going to be skeptical, it’s going to be him. He’s the one sharing his son with a one-night stand, but that’s a story for another day.
“I’m positive. No hint at all, and we went back to her room. Not mine. She even tried to pay for her drinks.” I don’t tell them that we slept together, but I’m sure they can read between the lines.
“So, what’s the issue here?” Knox asks. “Are you missing her that bad? Call her, man. We have a few weeks left before training camp starts. Go see her. Wherever she is.” His eyes glance over to where his wife is now holding Camden, and a goofy smile lights up his face.
“Yeah, about that. I don’t have her number.”
“What?” Landry asks.
“We didn’t share last names or numbers. Hell, I guess her name might not even be Bellamy, but her eyes were honest. The things we talked about. It wasn’t just surface level, although there was some of that, too.”
“Tell me you didn’t slip out on her,” Knox says.
“Nope. She got the slip on me,” I confess. “I thought I had more time. I thought I’d wake up with her in my arms, just how we fell asleep, and I could tell her that I wanted to see her again, but I didn’t get the chance. Guys, I’m telling you, she was unlike anyone I’ve ever met before. Not getting her name or her number will be the biggest regret of my life.”
“What about sleeping through her sneaking out?” Foster twists the knife that’s already tearing me up inside just a little more.
“Yeah, that too. We were up late, and I guess I was either dead to the world or she was quiet as a mouse as she slipped out of her room.” I don’t tell them about her thong or the wake-up call. Those aren’t important, at least not to this conversation. Those pieces of her, of our time together, are just for me.
A wake-up call might sound lame to hold on to, but she cared enough to make sure I was up. If I were just someone she was never going to see again, someone who didn’t mean anything, she wouldn’t have done that, right?
“So, what are we going to do?” Baker asks me.
“What do you mean? I already tried to get the hotel to tell me who she was, but I failed. The guy wasn’t breaking the rules for me. I didn’t press because I don’t need that headline circling the globe.”
“Good choice,” Foster agrees.
“There’s nothing I can do.” I shrug.
“You could hire a private investigator,” Landry suggests. “She was attending a wedding there, as well, right? There has to be a way for someone to find out who she is.”
“Yeah, but if she wanted him to know, she would have told him,” Foster counters. “There was a reason she slipped out while he was sleeping.”
“I hate to admit it, but Foster’s right. I don’t want to invade her privacy like that. Besides, maybe it’s a fate kind of thing. If we ever cross paths again, I won’t let her go so easily a second time.”
“You think that will happen?” Foster asks, furrowing his brow. It’s almost as if his mind is somewhere else, as if the question is about more than me and my dream girl.
“I don’t know, but I’d like to think so. She’s the only woman I’ve ever met who’s made me want to know everything about her, to spend every minute with her, and that was all within a handful of hours.”
“What happens if you meet someone?” Knox asks.
“Yeah, you never know when someone is going to enter your life that changes things,” Landry agrees, glancing over his shoulder where his wife is now getting her turn with Camden.
“I won’t.” There is conviction in my tone. “Guys, I’m telling you… she’s my dream girl. We have so much in common. The things we want out of life, weddings, kids, music, food, all of it. And we’re compatible in other ways, too. As in no one in my past exists before her.”
“I met a girl like that once,” Knox says, his voice smug. “I married her.”
“Same,” Landry agrees.
“Yeah, so if I’m lucky, I’ll get to see her again, and when I do, I’ll make damn sure to get her name.”
“And until then?” Baker asks.
“He gets through the day,” Foster answers for me.
There’s something there with him. He keeps dropping these subtle hints, but none of us press him. Foster is one of those people who won’t open up until he’s ready. He knows we’re here for him when he is.