Total pages in book: 196
Estimated words: 186555 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 933(@200wpm)___ 746(@250wpm)___ 622(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 186555 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 933(@200wpm)___ 746(@250wpm)___ 622(@300wpm)
Because he really was. My own nine-year-old white knight.
“Tavio!” his mom called out.
My little friend turned to me and blinked up with pretty brown eyes. “I gotta go. Bye!”
“Bye,” I replied, watching as he made it over to her effortlessly.
Shit.
Taking a deep breath, I eyed the packed snow covering the gentle hill and sighed.
I could do this.
Bend my knees, keep my weight balanced, toes up, toes down—
I sensed the presence coming up behind me before I saw it. As it came to a stop just a couple feet away, I took in the big figure in a dark blue coat and black pants. Goggles covered half his face, a helmet covering all of his hair… but I knew that jaw. That mouth.
“Rhodes?” I gasped as the man lifted the goggles over his head and onto his helmet.
“Hi, Buddy,” he said with a small smile, his hands going to his hips, his gaze roaming my face.
I beamed, and my soul might have as well. “What are you doing here?”
“Came to find you and Am,” he said, like we were meeting at a restaurant instead of at the ski resort.
“Amos took one of the other lifts since they just opened it and he actually knows what he’s doing,” I told him, taking in the rough stubble covering his cheeks. He looked tired.
But happy.
I’d missed his moody butt.
“I know. I saw him already. He’s the one who told me you were down here.” His small smile lifted into a bigger one that tickled my chest. “I thought you would have taken snowboarding lessons with a pro.”
He was messing with me again. I groaned and shook my head. “I had a nine-year-old helping me, does that count?”
His laugh was pure, surprising me even more.
Someone was in a good mood.
Or maybe he was just really happy to be home.
“It’s harder than I thought it would be, and I can’t figure out what I’m doing wrong.”
“I’ll help you,” he said, not giving me a choice, not that I would have said no in the first place.
I nodded at him way too enthusiastically, so happy to see him and not bothering to hide it. He might not have called me his friend again, but we were friends. I knew that at least for sure.
Rhodes waddled over, oblivious to how he made me feel, stopping right at my shoulder. “Let me see your stance, angel face. We’ll go from there.”
* * *
It took three runs down the hill before I finally managed to make it without busting my ass more than once. From the way I pumped my fist in the air, you would have figured I’d won a gold medal, but I didn’t care.
And from the way Rhodes smiled at me, he didn’t care either.
I’d been surprised by how patient of a teacher he’d been. He’d never raised his voice or rolled his eyes, other than the one time he used his Navy Voice on a teenage boy who knocked me over. But he had laughed a couple times when I’d lost control, freaked out, and bailed, which had then resulted in me busting my ass. But he’d also been the one to tug me up to sitting, wiped my goggles off with his gloved hand, and then helped me to stand.
“I need a break,” I told him, rubbing my hip with my glove. “I have to pee.”
Rhodes nodded before bending over to release his boots from the snowboard.
I bent over and did the same.
Finished, I picked up my board and followed after him. There was a small building I’d seen when we’d arrived with a sign for restrooms and concessions. Leaving our boards in one of the racks, I headed toward the bathrooms, used it, and by the time I got done, I found Rhodes sitting at one of the tables on the small deck surrounding the concession stand with two cups in front of him. Music played softly through small speakers.
But it was the woman sitting in the chair opposite of him that had me pausing.
She was pretty, about my age if not younger… and from the smile on her face, flirting her ass off.
Jealousy—pure-blooded jealousy—sprung out of nowhere inside of my stomach, and honestly, it surprised the shit out of me. My chest went tight. Even my throat felt a little funny. I could probably count on one hand the number of times I’d ever been jealous while I’d been with Kaden. One of those times had been when he’d gone on his fake date; the other time had been right after we’d split up and he’d gone on a date a month later. And the other two occasions had been when his high school girlfriend had shown up at his shows, and that was only because Mrs. Jones had liked her, I’d determined one day.