Total pages in book: 93
Estimated words: 90464 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 452(@200wpm)___ 362(@250wpm)___ 302(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 90464 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 452(@200wpm)___ 362(@250wpm)___ 302(@300wpm)
A knock at my door makes my head snap up. Thinking it’s Rachel, I quickly get up from the bed and open for her.
I’m surprised to see Easton. “Oh. Hey.”
A smile tugs at the corner of his mouth, and it makes me think of the ‘partial’ kiss.
“Rachel is taking a nap,” he says. When he steps into my bedroom, I quickly move backward. After he shuts the door, he asks, “How do you feel?”
My tongue darts out to wet my lips before I murmur, “I’m okay.”
When he reaches for my cardigan, my heartbeat speeds up, and I’m engulfed in a hot wave of shame.
“You can stop wearing this,” he says while tugging it down my arms.
I feel super self-conscious about the light marks on my bicep, but then Easton brushes the pad of his thumb over the area. I glance down at where he’s touching me, and tingles rush through me.
My eyes fly back to his face when he says, “I’m sorry I made you fall.”
I let out a nervous chuckle. “Accidents happen.”
His thumb brushes over my skin again, and I become aware of the fact that there are only a few inches of space separating our bodies.
Needing to put his mind at ease, I add, “I’m really okay. Please don’t worry about me.”
Easton lowers his hand to his side and stares at me until I begin to feel incredibly awkward. Worried that he’s upset about what happened, there’s a tremor in my voice as I ask, “Are you okay?”
He takes a deep breath before nodding. For a moment, it looks like he wants to say something else, but then he steps away from me and opens the door again. “Let’s head downstairs.”
Following him out of the bedroom, I suck in a desperate breath. When we take the stairs down to the first floor, I hear Frances, the housekeeper, in the kitchen. Every time we’ve interacted, she’s been very nice to me.
Frances smiles when she notices us. “What would you like for dinner? I can prepare the meal, then you can just warm it up when you’re ready to eat.”
Easton glances at me. “Any preferences?”
I quickly shake my head. “No, but Lainey mentioned she’s craving pizza.”
“Pizza it is, then,” Frances says while letting out a chuckle. “That child would live on pizza if we gave her half a chance.”
“Please make one without pineapple,” Easton mutters. “I have no idea how Lainey can stomach fruit on pizza.”
“You’ve never liked fruit,” I say with a teasing tone.
“Especially not when it’s warm on pizza.” I’m surprised when Easton takes hold of my hand and pulls me toward the sliding doors. “Let’s sit outside.”
Honestly, I’ll sit anywhere he wants me to.
I shake my head at my silly thoughts and take a seat on one of the lounge chairs on the veranda. Again, Easton surprises me by pulling his chair right next to mine before sitting down.
It’s nice spending time with him, and even though I love him with all my heart, I know deep down there will never be anything more than friendship between us. But it doesn’t stop me from cherishing these precious moments I get with him.
He turns his head to look at me. “If I’m not mistaken, Lainey starts spring break next Friday. I want to arrange a day where we do everything Rachel loves.”
“I like that idea.” I sit up a bit straighter and move slightly in my chair so I can face him. “What do you have in mind?”
“We can watch that movie you both loved in school. The one with the vampires.”
“Twilight?” I let out a chuckle. “That’s one of my favorites. Rachel just tolerated watching it a zillion times for me.”
“Oh.” His eyebrow lifts. “Let me think.” His gaze drifts over the backyard before settling on me again. “We could arrange another spa day?”
I nod enthusiastically. “She enjoyed the one we had on Monday.” I consider other things we could do, then ask, “Maybe a day at the beach?”
“Yes.” Easton pulls his phone out of his pocket, and I notice he opens a weather app. “Sunny days for the next week. We can have a barbeque as well.”
“We can end the day by playing a board game. She always loved kicking our butts with Monopoly.”
“That’s because she cheated,” he mutters.
My eyes lock with his. “Then we let her cheat to her heart’s content.”
Suddenly, his phone rings, and I glance at the screen. As he accepts the call, I stand up so I can give him privacy, but his hand shoots out and grabs hold of my wrist.
“Hey, Sylvia,” he answers while indicating with a nod of his head that I should sit back down again.
I do as I’m told, overly aware of his fingers around my wrist.
“I don’t care what the fucker says. I refuse to work with him,” he growls.