Total pages in book: 112
Estimated words: 105697 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 528(@200wpm)___ 423(@250wpm)___ 352(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 105697 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 528(@200wpm)___ 423(@250wpm)___ 352(@300wpm)
“I grew up with nothing but hockey gear. Everything and anything was sold to keep me playing in hopes of hitting the jackpot one day.”
“And you hit it.” Her patience is worn and threading through her words. I don’t blame the urgency she feels to fix the problem. It’s her fallback from what I’ve already learned. “Problem solved.”
“I would have rather had a family.”
“Me too.”
Shit. I shouldn’t have gone there, not with her. She had the perfect life. I had an angry father who took out his failures on his only son. Yeah, not the same thing. “I’m sorry.”
A beat doesn’t pass before she’s reaching forward to hug me. Slipping onto my lap, she needs this maybe as much as I do. To be close to someone without an expectation of more than comfort feels foreign to me, but I feel it with her. I hold her, knowing this might be the only time, and relish this amazing woman in my arms by kissing her shoulder.
I may not know everything I want about Summer, but I know I can trust her. She’s good inside and out. “Summer?”
From against my chest, she whispers, “What?”
I remember my father begging for his cut of my pay. Every two weeks, like clockwork, he showed up. Two years straight. He always called it a loan and would turn around to call me a sucker for falling for it again.
She’s not him. She’s what’s good with the world. What better investment is there than that? I do what everyone always told me not to, and ask, “What if I loaned you the money?”
CHAPTER 13
SUMMER
“You can’t do that.”
I stand, needing room to roam and think through this ludicrous idea with plenty of space to lay out my thoughts to examine them better. Surely, he’s drunk, though I know darn well one beer wouldn’t have clouded his judgment enough to make such a wild offer.
“Why not?”
“You barely know me, that’s why not.” I start pacing, seeking a stride that feels right for a situation like this. There’s not one. So I walk without purpose to get the shock of Daniel’s offer out of my system. “These things don’t happen to me. It’s like winning the lottery and losing your best friend.”
“What does that mean?”
“Good always comes with bad, and I’m not prepared for what the opposite of this luck will be.”
“Okay. Okay.” He’s off the bench and blocking my path. Catching me before I dart around him, he holds me still and lowers to eye level. “I wasn’t trying to make things worse for you, but I can confidently say that I don’t regret the offer. I know enough about you and your intentions to save this town to want to help.”
My shoulders ease under the realization that I’ve been heard. My heart, my dreams, and my goals. A man with a million other reasons not to give the time of day to a small-town girl a world away from his own was listening. The reassurance in his tone lets me know he understands my concerns. “You still can’t offer a stranger hundreds of thousands of dollars without strings attached. This is not what most people do, Daniel.”
How do I manage my feelings from the reality of being in debt to him? We just met, and he’s throwing money at me like he’ll somehow get it back. There’s no way for me to earn enough to support my family and pay off a loan like that. So as much as I love the feel of him holding me like I’m the only woman in the world that matters to him, I can’t take both risks at once. It’s either my heart or my head. This is when logic needs to prevail.
Give it a rest, heart.
“I’m not most people.” He sure isn’t. His gaze softens as he catches mine.
I’m still not sure how he broke through my carefully built walls with unattainable standards to match, but here he is like he conquered the whole damn fortress. “I’m learning that the more we spend time together.”
But looking at him sends my heart racing again. There’s no restraining a genuine reaction. I cup his face, loving the prickles from the dusting of scruff on my fingertips. “Why are you doing this?”
Reaching over my arms, he cups my face with a grin that can only be construed as he’s lost his damn mind, and replies, “Because I want to and because I can.”
“But it makes no sense for you. This isn’t a good investment, so why waste your money?”
“Are you trying to talk me out of it?” he asks under muted chuckles.
“Yes.” I can’t manage a smile even from seeing his. The pressure to take the offer and run weighs heavy on my chest. “I can’t owe you the rest of my life. I’ll never be able to get out from under that debt.”