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)
“Wow. Strong opinions about someone you’ve never met.”
“I have all the information I require to know he’s a jerkface and he would deserve it.”
She nods, looking up at the ceiling. “I can’t argue that.”
“So, it’s decided. You’re moving in.”
She cracks a smile. “I appreciate the offer—”
“Plea,” I correct. “I’ll bribe you if need be.”
Her smile widens slightly. “But I can’t. That was my mom’s dream home. My dad had it built for her. I know it’s just a house, but that house is all I have left of them. Every memory lives there. The flowers my mom planted with her own hands still grow in that garden. I can’t just… give it up to those awful people,” she says, shaking her head. “I know that legally, it will never be mine again, but I have to be its caretaker for as long as I’m able. It would kill me to leave and watch them destroy it with their careless ways and unquenchable greed. They would… they would kill the last living parts of my parents, and I just can’t let that happen.”
I sigh. It’s not like it’s news to me that Hannah still associates her house with her dead parents and clings to the remnants of the life they had together, but someday when I ask, I still hope she says yes. “You deserve more than memories, Hannah.”
“I know,” she says softly. “And someday I’ll have more than that. But in the meantime, I’m perfectly content with my choices.”
“Well, wherever I live, you can always come there if you ever change your mind.”
“Thank you. I appreciate it.”
“I guess we should get up now,” I say sadly.
“I guess so.”
“How do you feel about saunas? I haven’t seen it yet,” I say as I reluctantly rise and climb to my feet. “But allegedly there’s a spa room down the hall with a sauna.”
“A spa room?” she asks with interest. “What does that even entail?”
“I don’t know.” I walk over to the mini fridge in here and grab us two waters, passing one to Hannah. “Why don’t we go find out?”
Turns out, I didn’t need to grab us waters in the gym; there’s a mini fridge in here, too. There’s also a juice bar, a massage table, and an in-ground hot tub.
Hannah insists on giving me a massage even though my back is feeling better just in case it’s not “all the way better,” and this will be my second massage this long weekend—which is two more than I’ve had in my whole life prior.
I joke about my new rich girl life and Hannah points me toward a bathroom and tells me to strip down to my comfort level and then we can get started.
Undressing in the spa bathroom provides a different experience than quickly pulling clothes on in my walk-in closet upstairs so we could come down to do yoga.
Here, I can see bruises the size of Landon’s fingerprints all over. I’m fair-skinned, so I bruise very easily, but the story my skin is telling is one that feels much more dramatic than what actually happened.
If I let Hannah give me a massage, she’ll be focusing on working different parts of my body. It’s hard to imagine she wouldn’t see a lot of these bruises. The massage would even give her an opportunity to study them closely before she even brought them up to me.
Shit.
I can’t let her get that close.
Licking my dry lips, I try to ignore my racing heartbeat and look around the room for inspiration.
Big, white fluffy towels are folded neatly on the counter for anyone who wants to enjoy the sauna and get the maximum benefit.
On impulse, I take off my panties and wrap a towel around my body. I know the sauna room is darker anyway, and it will be steamy. Hannah won’t be looking at my body the way she would for a massage, and the towel is huge so it covers most of it if I wrap it right.
Yep, this will work.
I take my hair down and put it back up more tightly, then I wash my hands and head back to the spa room.
“New idea. My back feels fine now. Let’s skip ahead to the sauna.”
“Are you sure?”
I nod. “As tempting as it is, I just had a massage when Mom and I went to the beach resort. I probably shouldn’t mislead my body into thinking my new rich girl life comes with multiple massages each week.”
Hannah cracks a smile and walks over to put back the lotion she picked out. “All right. I’ll go change.”
I smile until I see her off, then my smile drops and I sigh heavily.
I’m growing tired of lying to the people I love, and this is only the second week.
My serenity from yoga is slipping away, so I try to reclaim it, clearing my thoughts of Landon and everything associated with him.