Total pages in book: 43
Estimated words: 41373 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 207(@200wpm)___ 165(@250wpm)___ 138(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 41373 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 207(@200wpm)___ 165(@250wpm)___ 138(@300wpm)
“Damn. You’re pretty good at that,” Shane said.
He leaned over to set up his next shot and I stayed beside him.
“Here,” I said, putting a hand to his elbow gently. “Lower that arm. Just a little.”
He glanced back at me the moment my hand landed on his skin. My hand felt warmer than his upper arm, but he definitely didn’t seem uncomfortable.
“Thanks,” he said.
“No problem. Now visualize what you want,” I said, near the side of his head. I put a hand on the small of his back, giving a soft downward pressure. “Don’t arch too much. Your bridge looks great.”
He smelled faintly like pine. Almost like a Christmas tree, honestly. Either he had the best body wash on the planet or he’d actually been working with a real pine tree today, because his scent was incredible.
He cracked the ball and took a shot, missing his intended pocket by a few centimeters.
“Shit.”
“Great try,” I said. “Really.”
I didn’t hold back for my next few shots. After Shane and I took two more turns each, I ended up winning the game.
I did a little forward bow for Shane.
“Didn’t know I was up against a master of the game,” Shane said.
“Hey, you could have won,” I told him. “You’re better than you think.”
He shook his head then grabbed his whiskey on the rocks, taking a sip. “Nah. I don’t tend to win much.”
“You do owe me something now, though,” I told him as we both leaned up against the tall table.
I liked this bar a lot—I’d been expecting a typical Tennessee dive when I came in here, but instead I’d found an old bookstore that had been converted to a bar, surrounded by dark wood bookshelves.
In this nook, Shane and I had our own nice view of the rest of the place and the bar a little further away, but we were in our own little space. Dim pendant lights hung from the ceiling, casting us in a glow.
“I do owe you,” he said, his blue eyes meeting mine.
“So,” I said. “What’s got you sad, tonight?”
He shrugged, shaking his head. “Well, I’m sad because of the Fixer Brothers.”
I lifted my eyebrows. “I don’t know what I expected you to say, but it certainly wasn’t that,” I told him. “You’re sad because of some home renovation TV show?”
He nodded, forlorn. “It’s my favorite show. Tonight I found out they’re having a contest asking anyone in the States to apply to be featured, but… it’s only for couples. And I’m not in a relationship, to say the least.”
I bit the inside of my cheek. “Tough.”
“And even if it wasn’t my favorite show, I certainly can’t afford to fix up my house on my own.”
“What do you do for work?”
“I work at the front desk of the inn down the street,” he said. “Which really just means I do odd jobs all around the inn, because Harvey’s old, and he’s owned the place for his whole life. I was only supposed to work there for one summer after college, but now I’m 26, and well—shit. Whiskey makes me ramble. Sorry.”
“Good thing I enjoy your rambling,” I told him.
“You like my rambling, and you liked that I looked sad?” Shane asked.
“My grandparents are friends with old man Harvey, actually,” I told him. “They’ve told me about him and the inn.”
As Shane told me about a few stories from the inn, pure, white-hot envy pooled somewhere deep in my stomach.
I ran my fingers over the base of my martini glass as I watched him speak.
One thing was certain: I was never going to lie to anyone.
My grandparents did live nearby, and I had been staying with them since getting here. Like me, they were very tight-lipped about my parents having ended up in a luxury prison in New York. I knew word might spread around town eventually, but for now, I was able to hide out.
My parents got caught embezzling—fucking stealing—millions of dollars from innocent acting students and their parents in New York. And since I’d always been their golden child, helping them run the acting school, I was very much seen as guilty by association.
Sorinelle Acting School had been my whole life. Practically since I’d been born. All my friends had been made there, and after attending it, I started teaching classes there full-time years ago.
Now it was gone forever. In a flash.
I’d never done anything wrong. I hadn’t even known the crimes my parents were committing, every day. But by association, I was now a blacklisted outcast back in the city to anyone who’d been involved with the school.
Shane’s life here in tiny little Bestens, Tennessee at the inn sounded amazing in comparison.
He took a sip of his drink now, nodding at me.
“So, yes,” he was saying. “I do a lot of odd jobs all around the place.”