Total pages in book: 71
Estimated words: 72669 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 363(@200wpm)___ 291(@250wpm)___ 242(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 72669 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 363(@200wpm)___ 291(@250wpm)___ 242(@300wpm)
The grey heel of the sock was up against her calf, making it more than obvious that the socks weren’t hers.
“You ready?” I tilted my head
She looked at me, then downed the rest of her drink before tossing it into the sink.
“Yep,” she said. “I like your house.”
I looked at the empty place
The only thing I had was a recliner, TV and dishes in the main room.
I didn’t even own a pot.
I took my laundry to my mom’s house once a week and she washed it for me.
The bedroom had my clothes in a dresser, one set of sheets, and a single pillow.
It wasn’t much, but I’d never needed much.
And the one thing I wanted to have wasn’t here, so why bother to make it pretty when I didn’t have to?
“It could be better,” I admitted, holding open the door for her to exit.
She went ahead of me, giving me a whiff of my shampoo on her hair.
“You smell like me,” I growled at her back.
She looked at me over her shoulder.
“You wanted that, or you wouldn’t have brought me here,” she said.
I shrugged. “Yep.”
She grinned and walked to the bike.
I stopped her with my hand. “You can take the truck,” I pointed at truck that Aaron had helped me restore.
Her eyes widened.
“Is it finished?” She asked with awe.
I nodded.
She’d helped me work on a lot of it.
Had helped me pick out the colors of the outside and the interior.
Had gone with me to junkyard after junkyard.
She’d helped me take seats out of old, broken trucks and then put them into mine.
Had observed as Aaron and I had removed the engine out of another and dropped it into mine.
The only thing she’d never witnessed before was me starting it up.
And I hadn’t either.
“How long have you had it fixed?” She whispered excitedly.
“Aaron put the finishing touches on it a year or so ago,” I hooked my finger in my pocket. “I’ve never even heard it started up.”
She blinked. “Why not?”
I shrugged. “It felt like something we should’ve done together. I didn’t want to experience it without you with me.”
Her face melted and she walked to me, being careful of both her stomach and her hand.
“You’re going to trust me with your baby?” She whispered softly.
I smiled.
“I trust you with my heart. Why wouldn’t I trust you with my truck?” I asked, dropping a kiss down onto her upturned lips before I ushered her to the driver’s side door.
“Now you get to start it up, just like you made me promise you ten years ago when we started working on it,” I said.
It’d been idle.
She’d said it as a joke.
Don’t you dare start it up without me here to witness it.
And I hadn’t.
I’d waited for her…and now we were both going to hear it together.
She squealed in excitement as she jumped into the seat, then put on her seatbelt, not being careful in the least of her belly.
That didn’t stop her excited bouncing, however, it just made her look funnier while doing it.
She patted the steering column for the keys, didn’t find them, and started searching for them.
She found them the first place she looked, the tape deck, and shoved them into the ignition.
It didn’t do anything.
I laughed.
“Battery’s probably dead on it,” I said. “You’re gonna have to pop the clutch.”
She looked at me like I’d spoken something foreign to her.
I laughed.
“You can do it. I know you know how,” I pointed out, going around to the front of the truck.
Her eyes were huge as she looked at me through the windshield.
“Get it in second,” I ordered her.
I heard, more than saw, her follow my directions.
“Now you’re already on a pretty good hill, but go ahead and keep trying until it goes,” I instructed.
She nodded.
“I’ll give you a push,” I placed my hands on the tailgate. “Now take the parking break off.”
She did and she started rolling backwards almost immediately.
I gave it a good shove, and she popped the clutch with ease.
It didn’t start.
She popped the clutch again and the truck started with a loud roar.
I grinned as the motor caught.
The rumbling growl of the truck thundered in my ears.
What had my smile widening was the look of glee on Masen’s face.
“It works!” She yelled loudly through the open window.
I nodded and walked to her. She’d stopped at the bottom of the driveway, bouncing in her seat once again.
“You okay to drive it?” I questioned her.
She nodded quickly.
“Yes!” She cried. “A thousand times yes!”
“Good,” I said, leaning in and pressing my lips to hers. “I’ll meet you at your place.”
She drove like a bat out of hell, and I enjoyed the heck out of it as she did.
Mostly, it was the look on her face, the way the excitement practically radiated from her as she moved through traffic.
I moved right along behind her, following in her wake.