Total pages in book: 59
Estimated words: 54852 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 274(@200wpm)___ 219(@250wpm)___ 183(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 54852 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 274(@200wpm)___ 219(@250wpm)___ 183(@300wpm)
“I do.” I pulled him to me and gave him a hard kiss. “Don’t fuck anyone else.”
Smiling, Harrison wiped his mouth. “You’re sexy, all possessive and direct. And I have no intention of fucking around. I like what we’ve got going.”
“Me too.”
Much as I would have liked to kiss Harrison all day, we had a chicken coop to build and not a ton of daylight left while his mother minded the bookstore along with the clerks. The late afternoon sun beat down on us as we placed the posts. We made a good team, with Harrison holding boards steady while I did the screwing. He never complained about how long things took or how awkward certain holds were.
In fact, I was the first one to groan and wipe my face with a bandanna. “Man. It’s hot today.”
“I know. You might actually talk me into ice cream tonight. And I have AC in the bedroom.”
“Ice cream? Living dangerously.” I laughed before taking a long swig of water from my bottle. “And is that an invitation to spend the night?”
“Can you?” Harrison’s eyes went wider.
Usually, I either left his place late, or he slept over at mine. It wasn’t that I’d never spent a night away from the farm, but somehow something always seemed to go wrong when I did. I liked being close by for emergencies. But it also wasn’t fair, making Harrison come to me all the time.
“Maybe,” I hedged, looking away before setting the water bottle down. “We’ll see. I’d have to leave super early in the morning.”
“I know. I don’t mind the drive.” Sounding sympathetic, Harrison touched my arm, which made me all the guiltier. “And the fan at your place isn’t so bad.”
“Yeah.” Picking up my drill, I avoided meeting his kind gaze. He was understanding now, but how long would someone like him want to put up with a farmer’s crazy, never-ending hours? Hell, even I chafed at the lack of flexibility sometimes, and I loved this life. But that sort of thinking wasn’t going to get me anywhere, so I forced more lightness into my tone. “At least the bookstore has AC, right?”
“Yes. The apartments have window units, but the bookstore and wine bar have central AC. If we didn’t, there would be no way that I could stick it out. My blood isn’t hearty enough for the weather August is threatening to bring.” He laughed, but I couldn’t bring myself to fully join in.
All my doubts magnified. If he found summer hard, what was he going to think of winter?
“But give you central air? That’s enough to keep you happy?” I tried for joking, but my tone came out a little harsher than I intended.
“Well, that and other incentives.” Harrison’s shrewd gaze swept over my body, lingering in all the places that counted until his meaning was clear.
“Good.” I liked that, liked being a reason he was happy here, but I also well knew that I couldn’t be the only reason.
“As I was telling my friend the headhunter—”
“You have a friend who’s a headhunter?” My neck prickled. I’d already been on edge, and now I was doubly so.
“Friend from law school, yes.” Voice casual, Harrison paused to take a drink of his water. “She specializes in placing senior-level attorneys. And she called recently to see if I’d be interested in an in-house counsel opening in Boston.”
“And you said?”
“That’s the same voice you used for telling me not to fuck around.” Harrison laughed and didn’t sound particularly put out. “Like I said earlier, I’m far too busy for other…opportunities. And that’s exactly what I told Jill. The job sounded tempting, but I’m not looking to disrupt a good situation here.”
I wasn’t entirely sure I bought that, but I nodded anyway. “Yeah.”
“Someone has to save my mother from her better impulses.” Gesturing at the half-done coop, Harrison said, “Besides, if I were a lawyer again, I wouldn’t have an early peek at the new book in that series I turned you on to. Boxes just arrived.”
“That’s not all you turned me on to.” Slightly reassured, I tried to turn my restless energy toward anticipation for later, sneaking a pat on his ass before getting back to work. “Okay, now we work on the cross braces.”
“Just tell me where to hold.” Harrison crouched beside me, ready as ever to help.
“I have some suggestions.” I made my voice low and sexy.
“Good.” His return look was even warmer than the sun beating down on us, but I still couldn’t shake those prickly doubts from earlier. I wanted to hold onto him, but it felt like he might already be slipping from my grasp.
Chapter Twenty-One
Harrison
“I think these birds get more square feet than I had in my bedroom back in Manhattan.” I stepped back to admire our—okay, Finn’s—handiwork. The coop was almost complete, thanks in large part to Finn having had all the boards precut before he arrived. In truth, he probably didn’t need me at all, but I was touched that he’d wanted to spend time together.