Total pages in book: 160
Estimated words: 155405 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 777(@200wpm)___ 622(@250wpm)___ 518(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 155405 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 777(@200wpm)___ 622(@250wpm)___ 518(@300wpm)
I drift close and lean my head on his shoulder. “I like that,” I say softly. “I obviously grew up on a budget, so we have had vastly different experiences with money. When you don’t have enough, it’s stressful, but because of your dad, you do, and… I think it’s really healthy that you’re able to see when enough is enough, to be able to stop and let yourself actually enjoy it. I didn’t know your mom, but I bet she would be proud to hear you say that.”
His fingertips graze the side of my hand, then he grabs it, and my tummy flutters as he links our fingers together. Generally, he spends a lot of time smirking, but when his lips tug up this time, all I see is tenderness etched across his face.
Then he turns his head and drops the cutest little kiss on the tip of my nose.
My heart seems to free fall down an empty elevator shaft and a smile I can’t suppress steals across my face.
But before I can say or do anything, before I can respond at all, Melissa comes walking back over to us without the outgoing pup. She clasps her hands together and looks from Landon to me. “All right, are we ready to work?”
Reluctantly, I pick my head up off my shoulder and take a step away from him. “We sure are,” I say.
“You guys have any particular talents I can put to use?”
“She’s good at everything,” Landon says. “I’m pretty strong.”
Blushing, I mutter, “I am not good at everything.”
Melissa smiles. “How are you with computers?”
“I’m no coder, but I’d say I’m pretty good with them.”
“We could use some help updating the website if either of you are proficient at that sort of thing. We like to post our adoption numbers for the year, and currently we still have last year’s up. It’s just something I never seem to have time for. Of course, we keep the adoptable pets photolisting up to date since that’s the most important thing, but we do have a whole litter of puppies, a six-month-old female, and a senior male that need to be photographed and listed. They also need to be posted to socials. If you’re any good at filming videos, some of our volunteers will take videos and set them to like… Sarah McLachlan music to get the hearts engaged online.”
I chuckle. “I can do all that. I’m a pretty good writer, so I can write up their bios as well if you tell me a little bit about them.”
“That would be wonderful.” Since I have a bunch of tasks to get started on, she turns her attention to Landon. “Do you have any interest in dog walking? We have a German shepherd mix that pulls, so a lot of my girls won’t walk her, but you look like you could handle her.”
He shrugs. “Sure.”
“When you get back, can you hold the puppies while I take their pictures for the website?” I ask him. “If we can’t lure them in with Sarah McLachlan, maybe we can give them false hopes of meeting the muscled hunk snuggling the puppies in the pictures online.”
“You are ruthless,” Melissa says. “I love it.”
Landon smirks. “Yeah, sure. Let me walk this damn dog first, then I’ll let you objectify me.”
I lean in to give him a kiss. “Thank you, baby.”
He smirks, squeezing my side before letting go. “You can thank me later.”
Chapter Forty
Parker
Since Thursday is the day Mom spends most of at the dance studio, Hayden typically works late that day. Expecting to have the house to ourselves, I tell Landon we should take advantage of the camera his dad hasn’t had fixed yet and go for a swim.
We enjoy playing in the pool for a while, but having me in a swimsuit is apparently too much temptation for Landon to resist. He won’t stop trying to grab me—and sliding his fingers beneath the fabric to touch my pussy when he catches me—so I finally splash him in the face and tell him I’m getting out.
I’m towel-drying my hair when he comes up behind me, locking his arms around my waist and pulling me back against him.
“Don’t even think about it, buddy.”
“Oh, I’m thinking about it.” He kisses my neck. “What good is it having the house to ourselves if I can’t fuck you in places I can’t when the parents are here?”
My skin warms at the imagery he inspires. “It’s too stressful. The whole time, I would be thinking about your dad walking in on us. Is that what you want?”
Making a faint noise of disgust, he says, “Well, you killed it. Good job.”
I look back and flash him a smile. “We should have smoothies and watch that house flipping show.”
His fingertips graze the small of my lower back, knocking out some of the strength in my knees, then his hand slides down so he can grab my ass. “We could probably do that.”