Total pages in book: 111
Estimated words: 106806 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 534(@200wpm)___ 427(@250wpm)___ 356(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 106806 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 534(@200wpm)___ 427(@250wpm)___ 356(@300wpm)
“And if she doesn’t want either of us?”
“Then the race is on, brother,” he says, but there’s something sad and resigned in his eyes that belies his words. He’s already let her go.
Maybe he can teach me how to do that. I’ve been lying to myself for years, believing it was just a matter of time before I stopped missing her, telling myself that it was never as good as I remembered it, that I’d exaggerated our connection in my memories.
Now I know better.
“You still flying out tonight?” Alec asks, wiping a few stray crumbs from the table.
“I have to, unfortunately. But I’ll see if I can track Savvy down before I go.” Track her down and what? Beg her to come with me? Make all the same bold declarations she wasn’t swayed by last night? I’ll have to figure out something.
“Unfortunately, that won’t be possible,” Rose says, strolling toward us from the entrance. She drags a chair from an empty table and sits between me and my brother. “She left town early this morning, but I’ll be sure to text her and let her know you two managed a civil conversation. She’ll be proud, I think.”
“Where is she?” I ask, already standing. Maybe it’s not too late. Maybe I can catch her at the airport or—
“She has some really awesome ideas on getting heavy weights into women’s hands, and Jared’s business partner is meeting her in Atlanta to make her an offer before their competitor could.”
“That’s incredible,” Alec says.
“So maybe you could both give her some space while she works that all out, m’kay?”
I narrow my eyes at my sister. “What are you up to, Peony?”
“I was just wondering the same thing,” Alec says.
“I’m just saying The Rage will be old news in no time once Diva Fitness gets Savvy on board,” Rose says. “Do you have any idea how strong that girl is?”
I grin all out now. “So fucking strong.”
CHAPTER FORTY-ONE
SAVVY
I’ve been staring at Oliver’s hotel room door for two minutes, just trying to work up the nerve to knock.
I lift my fist and rap on the door three times, my heart in my throat. On the other side of the door, steps pad lightly toward me, and when he pulls it open, longing takes my gut in its fist and squeezes.
He’s barefoot and bare-chested, and the top button of his jeans is undone. In one hand, his knuckles are nearly white where he grips the door, and in the other, he’s holding a glass of bourbon. “Savvy. What are you doing here?”
I swallow hard and hoist my shopping bags in the air. “Come on. We don’t have much time. I need you to try these on.”
He looks me over again. I swear, he can see not only beneath my cotton sundress but inside me. This man has always been able to see me, even when I didn’t want him to.
“Can I come in?” I ask when he continues to stare at me.
He shrugs and gestures into the room. The room is no Four Seasons suite—we don’t have anything like that in Orchid Valley—but it’s neat. Tidy. The king-size bed is draped in the kind of fluffy white duvet that seems to beckon. Or maybe that’s just the natural result of being in the same room as Oliver and so close to a bed.
Rose texted from the airport to tell me he’d decided to stay in Orchid Valley another night.
Alec told him the engagement was fake, so Oliver is staying another night, but he thinks you get back in the morning, so tonight is your chance to make your move.
“Should I make you a drink?” he asks.
I nod and watch him pour two fingers of that same amber liquid into a crystal glass.
My fingers brush his as I take it. I drain it in two swallows, hoping it might calm these frayed nerves. It burns going down, but the warmth in my chest leaves me looser. Braver.
“We don’t have much time,” I say, shoving the shopping bags toward him. “Hopefully it all fits. My personal shopper helped.”
He takes the bags and peeks inside them. “Your personal shopper? What is this?”
“Listen, the less you know, the better. Just put on the clothes, walk into the bar down the street, and . . .” I shrug. “Make meaningful eye contact.”
He coughs out a laugh. “These clothes are for me?”
I look at my watch. “Yes, but you need to hurry.”
He flips the bags upside down, spilling the contents onto his bed before sorting through them. “A T-shirt, a pair of jeans . . .” He lifts a pair of boxer briefs out of the pile. “You know I already have underwear, right?” he asks, and relief floods through me. He gets it.
I lean against the wall, trying to resist the urge to get as close as I can to him. I’m feeling reckless. I don’t need bourbon to get intoxicated around Oliver. Having his eyes on me was always enough to make me lose my sense. “Yes, but my shopper wanted to make sure you had the right kind. Flash the waistband of some tighty-whities in front of my friends and I’ll never hear the end of it.”