Total pages in book: 110
Estimated words: 102185 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 511(@200wpm)___ 409(@250wpm)___ 341(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 102185 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 511(@200wpm)___ 409(@250wpm)___ 341(@300wpm)
“I didn’t have a reason before.”
“And now you do?”
Leaning forward, I kiss her, then lick my lips just to taste her again when I lie back down. “You’re giving me one.”
Her smile falters for the briefest of seconds before she retrieves it to put back on her face. “I hope so. You’ve broken the dam wide open. Now that I’ve been with the great Twenty-two, I’m going to need a lot more of that action.”
“You know how to make a guy feel good, Ms. Dover.”
Rolling back again, she raises her hands. “Only telling the truth.” She turns to get out of bed but stops and looks back. “Will you stay the night?”
“What about your son?”
“You can leave early before he wakes up.”
I sit up and lean toward her. Kissing her shoulder blade, I reply, “How can I refuse an offer like that?”
She smiles as if there’s a silent understanding. There is. I like that everything doesn’t have to be said. Maybe it’s being older and supposedly wiser, but I want to believe we don’t have to complicate the feelings growing between us. Cricket goes to the bathroom, and when she returns, I take my time cleaning up and taking care of business before coming back to bed.
When I lie down, I open my arm for her to snuggle in. She does, resting her head on my shoulder. “Six thirty. Jacob gets up at seven.” Placing a kiss as if it’s a promise she’s making me, she rests back down and closes her eyes.
I lie awake long enough to hear her breathing even out and feel her heart steady in her chest. Her soft sleeping sounds bring a comfort I didn’t expect. My eyelids close, and sleep takes hold of me.
It’s the gasp of death that startles me into sitting straight up. “What is it?”
“It’s eight!” she shouts, catching herself by ducking as if that will lessen the sound of her voice carrying. She pushes against my arm like she can actually move me. “Get up. Get up. Get up.”
Shit. I’m barely awake, much less functioning, but I drop my feet to the floor and stand with a fast rub of my eyes. “Okay. I’m up.” Looking around for my stuff, I find a piece here and a boot there.
Snapping her fingers doesn’t help, but neither does the high-alert mode she’s shifted into. She opens a drawer and grabs a long T-shirt that hits her mid-thigh. Recognizing the design, I say, “I was at that rodeo.”
“That’s great, but you need to hustle out of here. Go through the window.”
“The window?” Last night is still hazy from sleep deprivation. “What story are we on?”
“The first.”
Thank God.
A lady’s voice and then her son’s sneaks under the opening to the door, causing both of us to freeze where we are. As soon as it goes quiet again, she moves closer to me. “Oh my God, Griffin.” Panic strikes her pretty features, making them sharper. She points at the window again. “You have to go.”
“I don’t even have my pants on.”
“You need to go right now,” she demands just above a whisper. “My son could walk in at any moment.”
Pulling on my boxer briefs, I say, “Lock the door.” It was locked last night, so I’m not seeing the issue. That is until I look over to see the lock unlatched. “Shit.”
“Shh. Keep your voice down. Please.” Her hands are in front of me like she’s afraid to touch any part of my body but wants to. “I’m so sorry to end it like this.” She paces away from me with the back of her hand to her forehead. “I’ll make it up to you. I promise.”
“I’m holding you to that.” I give her a little smirk when she stops to look at me again. It’s not the first time I’ve jumped out a window, but it’s a first to hide from a kid instead of a gun-toting father. Tucking my socks into my boots, I grab the boots and jeans and move closer to the window. She props it open and pushes out the screen.
I’m about to slip on my shirt when her hands press to my back. “Go. Go. Go,” she insists, practically shoving me out the window.
“Okay. Okay. Slow your horses. I’m going.”
I’m about to climb out when she adds, “I had a good time.”
I chuckle with one leg out the window. What a time to be alive, but I’m happy to take the ego boost. I turn back, and say, “Give me a kiss for the road.”
She does without hesitation, then bats me playfully away with a gorgeous and devious smirk of her own sitting proudly on her face. “You’re the worst.”
Waggling my eyebrows, I laugh. “And the best you’ll ever have, babe.”
“I’ll give you that.” She laughs but then quietens with a glance at the door. When she turns back, she whispers, “Now get out of here, cowboy. I’ll talk to you later.”