Total pages in book: 78
Estimated words: 75592 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 378(@200wpm)___ 302(@250wpm)___ 252(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 75592 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 378(@200wpm)___ 302(@250wpm)___ 252(@300wpm)
It was fake, it was fake, it was fake.
But the way my heart started to skip around sure felt real.
“Tessa, will you fake-marry me?” Rook asked as I pressed my hands to my face the way I’d seen countless women react to a surprise proposal.
I watched as Rook flipped open the top of a navy blue jewelry box to reveal the ring that would be sitting on my finger for the foreseeable future.
It was like he’d snatched my vision of the ideal ring right out of my mind.
It had a simple white gold band. But featured a large kite-shaped stone that I figured was a green sapphire. Though I honestly didn’t know much about stones. To each side of the main stone were five little diamonds in the shape of an X.
It was unique and fun and just… exactly what I would have wanted.
If this was real.
The thing was, it sure as hell felt real as Rook slid that ring out of the box and onto my finger.
My damn hand was actually shaking.
I reached down, placing my hand with my new ring on the side of his neck, and pulling.
Rook got to his feet, smiling down at me as I beamed up at him.
And, God, none of it felt like an act.
Until his finger kept clicking that damn remote.
“Let’s really sell it,” Rook said, his thumb and forefinger kicking up my chin.
I had no idea what he meant for a moment.
Then his head was lowering down.
My heart tripped into overdrive, slamming against my ribcage as my belly went liquid.
Then his lips were on mine.
And there was no faking.
My body responded instantaneously. I swayed into him as my hands slid up his arms to loop around the back of his neck.
A needy little whimper clawed its way up my throat and slipped out between my lips as Rook’s lips slanted over mine again, deepening the kiss.
A shiver worked its way up my spine, then spread through me.
In response, Rook’s arms went around me, pulling me flush against him.
My breasts crushed to his chest, drawing a soft moan out of me.
It wasn’t real.
But it felt real the way my pulse skittered, the way my belly flip-flopped, the way my lips took all he offered, then demanded more.
And the hardness pressed against my belly sure felt real too. As real as the clawing desire building between my thighs.
Rook’s tongue teased the tip of mine before, suddenly, his mouth pulled away. Then his hand went up, grabbing the back of my neck, and forcing my head down onto his chest.
I took a small amount of comfort in the fact that his heartbeat was just as sped up as mine, that his breathing was ragged.
I felt his hand at the small of my back, clicking away at the damn remote, reminding me that this was all for show. Even if our bodies had gotten confused.
Squeezing my eyes tight against another rush of wetness at the part of me that wanted nothing more than for some part of this whole thing to be real.
I turned my head into his neck like a woman in love. While reminding myself what happened to girls like me who got involved with bikers.
As soon as Rook was done taking his damn pictures—including a sweet one where he’d pressed a kiss to the top of my head—I pulled out of his arms and walked to the edge of the hill.
I crossed my arms over my chest as I stared out at the colors that seemed just a little bit duller than a few moments before.
“That should do it, I think,” I said, voice hollow.
“Do you want to… keep hiking?” There was something unsure and tentative in Rook’s voice. Likely in response to my own distance.
“We should probably head back. You never know when Nancy is going to show up.”
“Okay…”
With that, Rook picked up his camera and tripod, then started down the hill.
I followed behind, nearly tumbling three times, but managing to keep my footing.
We walked in painful silence for almost three full hours on the way back out of Death Valley.
“Do you want me to drop you at the clubhouse?” I asked, keeping my gaze on the road.
“Going somewhere?”
“I think I’m going to pick up a few jobs.”
“Why?”
“What else am I going to do?”
“Okay…” Rook let that hang for just a moment. Then, “Babe, you okay?”
“Yep,” I said, popping the p a little harder than I meant to. “I’m just a little… antsy today,” I admitted.
“Even after that hike?”
“Well, like… mentally antsy,” I explained.
“Oh. We could… hang. Talk about it.”
“I want to be distracted, not talk.”
“Alright. I get it. But I’m here if you want to talk. Or, I dunno, play cards and… not talk,” he said as I pulled into the clubhouse parking lot.
“Thanks.”
“You want to come in for another coffee? Some food?”