Total pages in book: 99
Estimated words: 93002 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 465(@200wpm)___ 372(@250wpm)___ 310(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 93002 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 465(@200wpm)___ 372(@250wpm)___ 310(@300wpm)
All it had taken was a few hours in the car with him, and my body didn’t care about any of that. I’d wanted to ignore him, but sitting that close, his arm beside mine on the console, I’d been far too aware of him. He radiated heat. Or maybe it was just me, feeling him every time he was close.
It had been like that back then. I’d feel a tingle go down my spine, and there he’d be, across the crowded lobby of the inn. We’d share a smile, a second of eye contact, and it felt like he’d kissed me from a hundred feet away.
Sitting beside him in the car had been too much. My body didn’t care that he was a liar, and I hated him. My body remembered the orgasms. So many orgasms.
No man had ever kissed me like Forrest. When that bastard laid one on me at the bank, he’d known exactly what he was doing. I’d started it, making up the story about being his fiancée and kissing his jaw. I shouldn’t have done it—the kiss, not the story.
Once I figured out that the key was Buck, I’d known the code was personal for Forrest’s father. I’d had a feeling there might be a stipulation about family, so I’d grabbed the diamond solitaire from my jewelry box. It was bad luck, but it was the only ring I had that could pass as an engagement ring. My father had given it to my mother when she’d pressured him for marriage after she got pregnant with me. Prentice had no intention of leaving Darcy, but he’d bought my mother the ostentatiously boring diamond to shut her up. Forrest would never have chosen such a generic ring, but no one in Willow Springs knew that.
So, the fiancée story was a good idea. But the kiss on his jaw was not. I’d forgotten. I didn’t know how. It felt like every moment of our short relationship was engraved on my heart, but I’d forgotten the warmth of his skin, the way he smelled. And then he’d kissed me back.
It was only a press of his lips, barely more than a peck. For an endless moment, I’d lost myself, leaning into him, feeling instead of thinking. No more than a moment, but it had been enough to remind my body of everything I was missing.
I hadn’t had sex in a year. At first, I’d been too hurt, too angry to want anything to do with any man. And then I’d looked around and hadn’t seen anyone who seemed worth the effort. I’d met handsome men. Charming men. I organized things for Quinn’s guide business. Plenty of hot guys came through there. Rugged, outdoorsy men. Polished executives who loved to fish. Whatever I thought my type was, I had my pick. Nice men. Funny men.
None of them had sparked the tiniest bit of interest. I’d started to wonder if that part of me had shut down, had broken. And then I’d shaken Forrest’s hand to seal our deal. The second his skin touched mine, I knew that while my heart was still thoroughly broken, my body was very much in working order.
I’d woken the night before from a dream of Forrest, of the two of us stretched out on a blanket in the summer grass. I was draped over his chest, looking up at a mockingbird perched on his shoulder. Stupid brain.
Meow. I looked down to see my black cat, Shadow, sitting at my feet.
“Are you ready for breakfast, baby?” I asked, putting my toothbrush away and leaning down to scoop her up. Shadow belonged to me and my sister Parker equally, but she spent most of her time at my side when I was home. Parker and I had briefly shared a kitten as young children. We’d discovered her lost on the Manor grounds and hidden her from Prentice. When he found out, he gave the kitten to Parker in an attempt to drive a wedge between us.
Prentice had never liked when his children bonded. He wanted us to live in fear—of himself and each other. Sometimes, his scheming worked. It had certainly driven Ford and Griffen apart, but it hadn’t worked on Parker or me. Parker snuck the kitten into my room every night until one day, the kitten was gone. In the end, Prentice always got his way. After our father died, Parker took me to the shelter, and we came home with Shadow. This kitten wasn’t going anywhere.
Shadow had grown out of her kittenhood, but she was still small. Sweet-natured, she rarely meowed except when her belly was empty.
“I don’t have any food up here, sweetheart,” I said, nuzzling the top of her head as I walked to the door of my room. I usually kept a stash of her canned food in my room, but the day before, I’d used the last one. “We’ll have to go down to the kitchen to find you some breakfast.”