Total pages in book: 105
Estimated words: 100202 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 501(@200wpm)___ 401(@250wpm)___ 334(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 100202 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 501(@200wpm)___ 401(@250wpm)___ 334(@300wpm)
“Arms around my neck,” he ordered, and I immediately complied.
He pushed off with his left hand and brought us both up to a standing position. Holy fucking strong much? His hands were off me before I could even process just how much I liked being pressed against him.
“We won!” Max and Sutton practically bounced with happiness.
“You did,” Weston agreed, putting his hand up for a high five, which Sutton gave.
“See?” Jeanine whispered, having stood when I wasn’t looking. “Protective.”
I muttered something in agreement, and a whole other game started. Theo and Jeanine took to the mat against the reigning champions, and I sat back and watched, my gaze returning time and again to where Weston stood along the wall. He was so relaxed here, so…at ease.
Was it because we were with his friends? Or had coming back to Penny Ridge made him more tense than usual over the last couple weeks?
It was after ten when we finally left, piling into Weston’s truck to drive home.
“I like your friends,” I told him as we pulled out of their driveway.
Jeanine and Theo waved from the porch.
“They’re pretty great,” he agreed. “And you held your own with Jeanine.” Another half smile graced his face. “She can be tough when she’s defending the people she cares about.”
“Funny, she said the same thing about you.” We took the turn out of their neighborhood and started up the road that led to the resort. “You’re different there.”
“How so?” He kept his eyes on the road as we began the climb, taking the curves like he’d driven them thousands of times—because he had.
Sometimes it was easy to forget that this was just as much his home as it was mine. That while I had ten years here, he’d had over twenty before I arrived.
“You’re just more relaxed.” I settled back against the seat and peeked in the rearview mirror. Sutton was out cold. “It was nice to see you loosen up a little.”
“When I’m with them, it’s easy to feel like we’re just back in New York.” He swallowed and his jaw tensed.
“Easy to forget that you’re here?”
His nod was quick. “Something like that.”
Change the subject. We might have been roommates, but he obviously wasn’t ready to dig into that topic yet. “I was hoping I might be able to ask you a favor?”
“Sure.” He focused on the winding road, which made it way easier for me to find the courage to ask.
“You’re basically here to open up the backcountry, right? More big mountain skiing?”
“Exactly. Starting the heli-skiing operation will bring the resort to the next level.”
“Is there any chance you might take me up with you once or twice when you have a group of skiers?” I fidgeted with my hands.
“You want to ski the backcountry?” He glanced my way for a second before looking back to the road.
“No. Nothing like that. I’d like to take some landscape shots from the air. Just something out of my comfort zone.” Something that might have a shot of getting into the local gallery. I wasn’t going to say that out loud. Not yet. Then I’d end up admitting I’d been rejected, and that would be even worse than the actual rejection. It shouldn’t have mattered, but I didn’t want him to see me as a failure.
“No problem.” We passed the resort and kept driving up the mountain. “Just let me know when and we’ll make it happen.”
“Thank you,” I whispered. My chest tightened at just how easy it had been to ask for something, and how quickly he’d given it.
We pulled into the driveway of our house a few minutes later. We both hopped out and then stared at Sutton’s sleeping frame in the back seat as Weston opened her door.
“I don’t want to wake her,” I admitted.
“I can carry her up for you.” His gaze locked with mine and a corner of his mouth rose in a playful smile. “It will be a violation of rule number one, though.”
I answered him with a smile of my own. “I can live with that. Thank you.”
My stomach fluttered as I watched him scoop my daughter into his arms, carrying her like she was something precious and breakable. Then I ran ahead of them to unlock the door and stood back as he carried her inside, walking straight up my staircase, her hair falling back over his arms.
He looked like he’d done it a million times.
My heart freaking melted.
This was bad. This was so, so, so bad. I knew this feeling. I avoided this feeling like the plague, this sweet yet frantic pulse that screamed teenage crush louder than sensible mom.
I liked him.
6
Weston
* * *
“You sure?” I asked Reed, balancing my phone between my ear and shoulder as I whipped up some scrambled eggs. It was ten o’clock on Saturday morning, which meant Sutton and Callie would be up at any moment.