Total pages in book: 254
Estimated words: 240032 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1200(@200wpm)___ 960(@250wpm)___ 800(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 240032 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1200(@200wpm)___ 960(@250wpm)___ 800(@300wpm)
“Why is he an idiot?”
Matti’s expression left me feeling more suspicious than I already was. He looked constipated for a second, grimaced, then finally opened his mouth. “I wasn’t going to say anything, and Sienna and I talked about it, and we agreed to let things happen naturally, but….”
“You sure are dragging this out,” I muttered.
“You didn’t sense his reaction to you that first day,” my best friend just about blurted out.
“Explain.”
He gave me another classic Matti smile that might have fooled somebody else. It was his “look how cute and innocent I am” face. “See….” He trailed off again.
“Dang it, Matti, quit dragging it out.” I was freaking bracing myself here.
“Listen, listen….”
I leaned back against the tree and threw my hands up in the air.
Matti laughed. “Nina, listen to me. Two seconds after I thought about you and Duncan moving to the ranch, I thought about how you were going to need to marry someone. Right after that, I thought ‘hey, she should marry Henri,’ but I didn’t bring it up because he’s not a martyr. He’s not going to marry someone because they need him. He isn’t that generous.”
I felt my face going a little hot because I’d learned that the hard way.
“I’d hoped, but I figured chances were slim. I didn’t want you to be disappointed if he told us all to fuck off,” he explained while I brought my cell back down so I could peer at his face.
And he’d still told me to do it anyway, but I let him keep going.
My best friend’s face was sober as he kept rambling. “But you didn’t smell what Sienna and I did when he first saw you. Those first ten minutes.” He whistled low. “I don’t ever want to scent that off him again, but I know how he felt, and so did she, and that’s why I told you to marry him, Big Jaws. Because you can’t hide that, and I don’t know what the fuck he’s thinking.” He paused, then whistled again. “He’s always been real uptight. He’d be the last person I’d expect to have some biting kink, but you did it, and he didn’t hate it.”
My mouth opened a little, and I tried to process what in the world he’d just admitted. What it meant. Or how it made me feel.
But I’d known this MFer felt something!
And that thought had barely entered my brain before another reality smacked the initial thought aside. It took the wind out of my sail almost instantly, too. And that brief little flash of hope, of awe, disappeared, and I slumped.
On the screen, he tipped his chin up at me in question.
I gave him a half-hearted shrug. “Whatever he might feel, it isn’t enough to get him to… you know. I told you. I’ve brought it up more than once.” I paused. “Except, the other day, he did something I thought was sneaky. A few guys from the ranch showed up for breakfast, and right afterward, he started rubbing his face against my hair and my cheeks and everything.”
Matti’s face was almost incredulous. “I told you, he’s a—”
My body became instantly aware of magic, the sensation getting stronger by the second, and I held up my finger, cutting him off.
He knew the drill and shut up.
Sure enough, heavy footsteps crunched over gravel before I heard a familiar voice. “I’ll see what I can do, but I can’t promise anything.”
I raised my eyebrows at Matti, aware he would know based off my expression who was coming. I wasn’t wrong when Henri walked right by where I was sitting, phone up to his cheek as he listened to whoever was on the other end. He got two steps past me reclining against a big tree off to the side of the clubhouse before he stopped and looked over his shoulder. He blinked, the phone still up to his ear.
I smiled at him, and he turned his whole body to face me. I flipped my phone toward him, letting him see who was on the screen. Matti must have made some kind of gesture because Henri’s eyebrows dropped before he sighed and grumbled into his phone, “Like I said, I can’t make any promises, Margaret.”
Margaret wasn’t someone I’d met yet, but Randall had mentioned her before, and I was fairly certain she was a senior member of the community.
I turned my phone back.
“Call me later,” Matti said in a voice lower than the one he’d been talking to me with.
“I will. Love you, bye.”
“You too, bye,” he replied, flashing another Little Matti smile before his face vanished and my background image—baby Duncan with a stick in his mouth—appeared.
Tucking my feet beneath me, I pushed off the trunk and stood up.
Henri held up a rough-looking index finger.
He wanted me to wait?
“Yes, I’ll get back to you… as soon as I can… yes… yes… sure.” He kept talking as I brushed off my butt and spent a moment taking him in. Dressed in a long-sleeved T-shirt, dark jeans, and boots, he seemed to me like he had the day off.