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)
“That sucks.” I looked at him. He’d shoved his hands into his dark jeans.
“It was as old as this apartment is,” my landlord explained.
I smiled faintly. “Did Amos bail on you?”
“He went back inside about half an hour ago, saying he had to use the bathroom.”
I grinned.
“You’re back home early,” Mr. Rhodes added out of nowhere in that serious voice of his.
“We only had dinner.”
Even though it was dark, I could sense the heavy weight of his gaze as he said, “I’m surprised Johnny didn’t ask you to go out for drinks after.”
“No. I mean, he did, but I told him I’d been up since five thirty.”
The hands came back out of his pockets as he crossed his arms over that swimming-pool-sized chest. “Going out again?”
Someone was chatty tonight. “No.”
I was pretty positive the lines across his forehead deepened.
“He checked out the waitress’s ass every time she walked by,” I explained. “I told him he needs to work on that next time he goes on a date.”
Mr. Rhodes shifted just enough under the light that I saw him blink. “You said that?”
“Uh-huh. I messed with him about it nonstop for the last half hour. I even offered to ask her for her number for him,” I said.
His mouth twitched, and for one split second, I caught a hint of what might be a stunning smile.
“I didn’t know you were best friends growing up.” That was really all I’d freely gotten out of Johnny about Rhodes and Amos. I hadn’t pressed. That information alone had been interesting enough.
Rhodes tipped his head to the side.
“What about you? Do you go on dates?”
The way he said “No” was like I’d asked him if he’d ever considered cutting off his penis.
I must have flinched at his tone because he softened it when he kept talking, looking right into my eyes all intense when he did. “I don’t have time for that.”
I nodded. That wasn’t the first time I’d heard someone say that. And as someone who had… not even been second best… it was fair. It was the right thing to say and do. For the other person. Better to know and accept what your priorities were in life than waste someone else’s time.
He worked long hours. I saw how late he came in some days and how early he left on others. He wasn’t exaggerating about not having time. And with Amos… that was an even higher priority. When he was off work, he was home. With his son. As it should be.
At least I had no ideas in my head about this hot guy. Look but don’t touch.
With that in mind… “Well, I don’t want to keep you. Have a good night, Mr. Rhodes.”
His chin dipped, and I thought that was all I was getting, so I started moving toward the door, but I only managed to take about two steps when his rough voice spoke up again. “Aurora.”
I looked at him over my shoulder.
His jaw was tight again. The lines across his forehead were back too. “You look beautiful,” Mr. Rhodes said in that careful, somber voice a heartbeat later. “He’s an idiot for looking at anyone else.”
I swear to God my heart just totally stopped beating for a second. Or three.
My whole body froze as I felt his words burrow deep in my heart, stunning the hell out of me.
He moved toward the middle of the garage on the outside, those big hands grabbing hold of the door’s lip.
“That’s really, really nice of you to say,” I told him, hearing how weird and breathy my voice came out. “Thank you.”
“Just speaking the truth. ‘Night,” he called out, hopefully oblivious to the destruction the verbal grenade he’d just launched at me had caused.
“Goodnight, Mr. Rhodes,” I croaked.
He was already pulling the door when he said, “Just Rhodes is good from now on.”
I stayed frozen there for way too long after the door had closed, soaking in every word he’d spoken as he headed to the main house. Then I started moving, and I realized three things as I went up the stairs.
I was pretty sure he’d checked me out again.
He’d told me to call him Rhodes, not Mr. Rhodes.
And he’d waited for me on his deck until I’d unlocked the door and gone in.
I wasn’t even going to try and analyze, much less overanalyze, that he’d called me the b-word earlier.
I didn’t know what to think about anything anymore.
Chapter 16
I was excited about my hike that morning, even though I’d had to wake up at the crack of dawn to do it.
I’d still been squeezing in jumping rope a few days a week, longer every day it seemed like, and I’d even gone as far as wearing a light backpack sometimes while I did it. Was I anywhere near ready to do Mt. Everest? Not in this lifetime or the next unless I developed a lot more self-control and stopped being scared of heights, but I had finally convinced myself I could handle a difficult hike. The four-mile one we’d done had been rated as intermediate, and I’d survived it. All right, barely, but who was keeping track?