Total pages in book: 67
Estimated words: 62620 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 313(@200wpm)___ 250(@250wpm)___ 209(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 62620 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 313(@200wpm)___ 250(@250wpm)___ 209(@300wpm)
That’s it.
Additionally, I’m leaving town soon and Starling is firmly entrenched in Bad Dog. She’s told me roughly ten thousand times how happy she is to be home now that she’s finished with college.
What kind of dick would want to ruin that by putting moving on the table—or a hassle-filled, long-distance relationship?
A big dick, that’s who. And not in the good way.
Additionally, additionally, Starling is too young for me. Five years might not seem like much on paper, but in reality, Starling is a babe in the woods compared to my been-around-the-block self. She grew up sheltered, with a protective mother who insisted both her daughters play by the rules. As a result, Starling’s never ridden a motorcycle, stayed out past midnight, gone winter swimming in the lake on a dare like every other teen in Bad Dog, or made out with someone she wasn’t dating.
And she’s only had one serious, long-term boyfriend, a douchebag she met at college who cheated on her and broke her sweet heart.
Despite her quick wit and smartass sense of humor, Starling is sweet. Sweet and innocent and looking for Prince Charming, not a jaded man who probably wouldn’t know how to love a girl like her, even if he tried. And I don’t intend to try. After Ashland, my ex, ripped my world apart with her breed of “romance,” I swore off relationships for good.
Casual is my thing and will continue to be my thing until the day I die, old and alone and still blissfully emotionally intact.
None of the love-gone-wrong songs prepare you for just how deeply a bad relationship can rock your world. Ashland caused me more than heartache. She damaged my connections with my family and played with my grip on reality. I’m pretty sure making me crazy was her favorite pastime, and I’d rather fly solo for the rest of my life than risk something like that again.
Sure, my logical side says Starling isn’t the kind of person who enjoys destroying people for sport, but you never can tell. Ashland didn’t show her true colors until several months into the relationship, when I was already in so deep it was hard to know who to believe—my inner voice or the woman who had stealthily crept into my psyche and started pulling the strings.
Which, in hindsight, isn’t only crazy, but…embarrassing.
I pride myself on being a man who knows his mind and steers his own ship. My entire life, I’ve marched to the beat of my own drum, no matter what my parents, my siblings, my friends, or anyone else had to say about it.
Despite my 3.8 GPA in high school, I didn’t go to college, choosing to lean into my love of vintage motorcycles and open my own repair shop, instead. In tenth grade, I stopped going to church and refused to rethink my choice, no matter how much my mother begged me to join the rest of the family for Christmas mass. College and organized religion didn’t feel authentic for me, so they had to go.
At twenty-eight, I’m still not one-hundred percent sure what I’m here on this planet to accomplish, but I know it isn’t to betray that strong, steady voice inside. That voice is the truest thing I’ve ever heard and the only voice that’s never steered me wrong.
That voice knew Ashland was trouble, but my dick didn’t want to listen.
Nope, my dick had to go bounding after the cute blonde in the tiny pink shorts like a puppy chasing a ball into an alligator’s mouth. And like that same dumb puppy, my dick kept running back to Ashland, wagging his tail, and begging for attention, no matter how many times she proved that she couldn’t be trusted.
But dogs are like that—loyal and loving to the end, no matter how unworthy their owner might prove to be.
It’s embarrassing.
I was embarrassing, but never again.
Which is why I have to hold my sexy boss at a distance.
Just seeing Starling’s name on my phone was enough to put a bounce in my step as I moved away from the rest of my bowling team to listen to her message, for fuck’s sake. God knows what I’d do if she were actually here right now, if she’d taken me up on my offer to come bowl and was sitting with my buddies, drinking beer, and cracking jokes and looking hot as hell as she bends over to roll a ball down the lane. I’d probably be sporting a semi and glaring at every man who dared to look her way, acting like a territorial asshole instead of a friend and colleague.
That’s why, even if Starling Baxter threw herself at my feet and begged me to give her a good, no-strings-attached fucking, I wouldn’t do it. I know better than to risk getting attached to a woman who’s already got me all mixed up inside.