Total pages in book: 132
Estimated words: 128801 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 644(@200wpm)___ 515(@250wpm)___ 429(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 128801 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 644(@200wpm)___ 515(@250wpm)___ 429(@300wpm)
But I’d climbed out of bed resolved. Losing Ryder was not an option I could entertain, whether we went back to friends or decided to see where this went. Either way, we were going to have to suck it up and figure this thing out like adults.
It hadn’t felt as easy as that, though, when I’d emerged from my room at five-thirty and he was already gone.
Anger had pulsed.
I wasn’t about to stand for letting Ryder be a coward.
I wouldn’t let him.
Wouldn’t let him just…disappear like he had before.
We might have crossed a line, but we’d crossed it together.
I was so lost in my thoughts that I screeched when a hand landed on my arm.
I whirled around.
Paisley cracked up, pressing a hand over her mouth to try to stop the cackling that had everyone in the shop shifting their heads to see what the uproar was about.
“Oh my God, you should see your face right now.” She pointed at me.
I attempted to straighten myself out. Gather all the stampeding thoughts up before they ran too far out of control.
I resituated the skirt of my red and black floral dress. “What did you expect when you snuck up on me like that? Are you trying to give me a heart attack?”
“Um, it’s the light of day and there are fifty other people meandering around in here. But you were so lost in your thoughts I’m pretty sure you were here all by yourself. Or maybe you were with one special person…” She drew out the last.
Pure suggestion.
Heat flashed across my face before I could stop it.
Paisley’s eyes went wide. “Wait, what, did you?”
I couldn’t even speak she had me so flustered, my attention darting around to make sure no one could overhear.
When I didn’t answer, Paisley grabbed me by the wrist, and she pulled me through the store and down the hall that ran the side to the restrooms.
It was quieter back here, no one around, but she still kept her voice muted when she started to speak. “I came in here to see how your date went, and I completely expected you to tell me it was kind of lame and you were in bed by nine. I was not expecting your face to light up like a Christmas tree.”
“It did not light up like a Christmas tree.”
Okay, maybe. A Christmas tree that had completely gone up in flames.
“You are the liariest liar ever. You think I don’t see that blush. It’s covering every inch of you. Fess it up right now.”
A customer came out of the women’s restroom, and neither of us spoke until she’d made it to the end of the hall and out into the store.
Then Paisley squeezed my wrist again. “Did you and Brad totally hit it off? Tell me he was good and took care of my bestie. The guy has big hands, so I was thinking that maybe there was going to be something good for you underneath those dress pants. I told you I was looking out for you. I want every detail.”
Nerves rattled, and I bit down on my lip, my chest pressing full as I whispered, “Brad and I did not hit it off.”
Dinner was nice, like I’d told Ryder, but there’d been no real connection, and when he’d dropped me off at Ryder’s door, we’d both decided we’d be better off as friends.
Lines creased at the edges of her green eyes, and she angled in farther, attracted to the secret. “Well, something hit you off.”
A war went down inside me. I’d kept my feelings for Ryder a secret for so long that admitting them somehow felt like a betrayal, but I didn’t think I could physically keep the confession from Paisley.
Not after the way he’d made me feel.
I could still feel his touch burning through my senses.
I glanced down the hall before I returned my attention to her, voice so quiet I wasn’t sure she could even hear. “Something happened with Ryder last night. After I got back.”
“What?” She screeched it so loud I was pretty sure everyone clear out in the dining room had heard.
“Would you be quiet? I don’t need the whole town to know.”
“Right, right, sorry. But what do you expect me to do when you just hit me with that juicy detail from out of nowhere?”
“Well, it was definitely from out of nowhere.”
“What happened? I am dying right now, Dakota.” She flapped my arm all over.
I hesitated for a beat before I began to explain.
“I walked in on him the other night while he was…” I widened my eyes and tipped my head to the side twice, which I was pretty sure was the universal sign for masturbating.
“Oh my God, did you see his dick?” At least she kept that low enough that the entire restaurant didn’t hear.