Total pages in book: 90
Estimated words: 85950 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 430(@200wpm)___ 344(@250wpm)___ 287(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 85950 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 430(@200wpm)___ 344(@250wpm)___ 287(@300wpm)
Chapter 13
Cash
I know she probably thinks I lied last night when I skipped her family meal, but Chandler needed some time off, and I offered to take his shift instead of calling in our reserve officer.
Technically, we could both be off at the same time and the county would cover for us, but that would mean fielding a call with the sheriff bitching at me. I’ve had enough disappointment in the last couple of days.
None of that matters. The issue right now is how awkward it’s going to be when we see each other again. I guess, in a way, I am avoiding her.
I knew this would happen. I knew that we wouldn’t match up in the bedroom, but I let hopes, wishes, and dreams guide me into saying yes to this wild-ass plan of hers. She regretted it before it even started, I think, and it makes me a horrible person for not pulling the plug.
I’m trying to figure out what I’ll say to her the next time we meet when fate puts a test right in front of me with her car being parked outside of That’s Another Story, the local bookstore owned and operated by Sage Douglas.
I could easily just drive on by, but that’s not what we do. I’m off work, and with it being so late in the afternoon, she’s closed the bakery for the day. We don’t have many days where our schedules line up. We make time for each other in the evenings, but there’s seldom a time we see each other before the sun goes down.
I pull my truck up across the street, the angled lines of the parking area dictating where I can park.
I know exactly where she likes to hang out in the store, but that doesn’t stop Sage from pausing her conversation at the register with another customer to point me in that direction, as if she knows exactly why I’m here. She’s right, of course, but I hate being seen as predictable.
The far back corner of the store has turned into what Adalynn has called a perfect reading oasis more than once. She loves it here so much, she tried to turn her spare bedroom into a little reading nook, but she said it just didn’t give off the same vibe. I’ve spent countless hours unsuccessfully trying to find a candle that smells like a bookstore after she complained that her reading area at home was lacking that very thing.
The sight of her doesn’t shock me. She’s sitting in a high-backed chair, legs crossed, with a book held out in front of her. I spend a moment just watching her. It’s something I don’t get to do very often because more times than not, she knows I’m close long before I come into her line of sight.
Right now she’s so entranced with the story she’s reading that I think an alarm could go off and she wouldn’t even notice.
Her cheeks are flushed, but the room isn’t warm. It’s a little on the cool side, honestly.
I drop my eyes to the front of the book but it’s too far away for me to read the title.
The night before last, she looked unimpressed. She couldn’t even make eye contact with me when before then, she always looked in my direction. The look she has in her eyes right now as her pretty pink tongue sneaks out to wet her lips is what I was hoping to see when I stood in front of her naked.
She’s turned on. Whatever she’s reading is making her hot.
I vow a lifetime of torture and cold showers to my cock when it threatens to voice his own opinion of how she looks right now.
After turning the page, she lifts her hand to her chest, her fingers toying with the tiny locket there. It was a gift from me a handful of birthdays ago. As far as I know, the only time it hasn’t been hanging around her neck was the time it got snagged in her hair and the chain broke.
She’s never opened the locket because I purposely glued the damn thing shut all those years ago. I needed to tell her how I felt but didn’t have the courage to risk losing her with the confession. It brings me peace every time I look at the small piece of jewelry hanging in the dip in her throat.
I could stand here all day and just watch her, but she looks up when someone else walks by.
Her eyes widen at the sight of me standing there, and I allow myself to believe that her smile is real when her lips curl up in the corners.
“Hey,” she says as I walk closer.
I keep my eyes on her even though I can see she’s trying to hide the book by putting it down by her hip.