Total pages in book: 82
Estimated words: 77930 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 390(@200wpm)___ 312(@250wpm)___ 260(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 77930 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 390(@200wpm)___ 312(@250wpm)___ 260(@300wpm)
I showed Emmett over to the dining area where he’d noticed the old clock that I’d inherited from my grandmother. It was apparently a collectors item, which I hadn’t even known. Emmett told me all about the antiques that he collected, and I was shocked as the next half hour melted away. I’d thought that it would be a juggling act for me to make conversation with Emmett, but he was clearly used to it.
When the construction crew and camera crew showed up out front and started to filter inside, my nerves perked back up again. I turned to see a flash of blue-dyed hair outside and my stomach dropped like I’d missed a step on the stairs.
Shawn and Nathan came in first.
“Emmett,” Shawn said as he came inside. “I didn’t expect you to be here so early. Good morning.”
“It’s a pleasure to be here. Adam’s been showing me around.”
Nathan got caught up in a conversation with Emmett, Shawn took me aside in the hallway.
“I’m so sorry,” Shawn said. “Was Emmett here for very long? Most of these bigwig business types only stop by for ten minutes, but he seems deeply interested.”
“It was okay,” I said. “He was here for a bit, but we got talking about a few things.”
Shawn nodded. “I know you’re not big on chatting with strangers. I apologize, really.”
I was caught off guard. Did Shawn really think I was that hopeless with talking to new people? I mean, he was right, but a thread of guilt wound itself around me. I didn’t want to be pitied, even if I was open about my social anxiety.
“I was happy to talk to Emmett,” I said, standing up a little straighter. “He seems like a great guy.”
Shawn gave me a nod. “Beautiful. Before we get started for the day, would you mind going out front and giving Chase a hand? He brought in donuts and pastries for everyone.”
“I’m on it.”
But by the time I looped back through the house and got to the front yard, I saw that Emmett had gone out and already offered Chase some help. He was walking alongside Chase, each of them with a stack of pink boxes in their arms.
“Morning, Adam,” Chase said, his eyes landing on me.
“Morning,” I said, squinting in the sun. “Need any more help bringing in boxes?”
“We have it covered now,” Chase said. “Have you met Emmett?”
“Just this morning,” I said, rounding back and holding open the front door for them to walk in.
“Last night, Chase and I were talking about how good the pastries at McKinnon’s are,” Emmett said, flashing me a smile. “Ever been?”
“McKinnon’s?” I asked.
“It’s a little French pastry place hidden away behind the hardware store on Maple Ave,” Chase said. “I can show you sometime.”
As they placed the boxes in the dining room, my head was spinning.
Emmett and Chase had been talking last night? While I’d been at home alone, agonizing over what I’d done at Chase’s apartment, he’d been hanging out with Emmett?
Looking at the two of them now, it made so much sense. They were both great talkers, personable guys, and very good-looking. In fact, Chase and Emmett hanging out made a lot more sense than Chase hanging out with me.
Something inside me deflated like a popped balloon.
“My favorite one is the apple turnover,” Chase said, opening one of the boxes.
“That one’s always been my favorite, too,” Emmett said with a smile. “Have you ever tried making them at home?”
“Yes, and it failed miserably,” Chase said. “It wasn’t flaky enough.”
“The secret is to just get pre-made puff pastry,” Emmett said. “It freezes well, and no one would ever know.”
“Very sly,” Chase offered.
I bit the inside of my cheek. I kept waiting for a moment to join in the conversation, but it didn’t come. I had never baked much or anything at home before, and as Emmett and Chase started talking about trendy restaurants down in Denver, I was fully lost.
The two of them seemed to get along like old friends.
“Adam!” Charlie called out as he appeared, coming in from the back deck. “Carla is looking for you in the backyard.”
“Be right there.”
As I walked through the house I heard the sound of Emmett laughing at something Chase must have said, and a pang of jealousy hit me in the chest.
And I realized all at once what had happened. The one thing that I really, really had been trying to avoid. I’d been nervous about Chase since he’d watched me come the other night, nervous about what clothes I wanted to wear around him today, and nervous when he’d arrived.
And now I was jealous of him getting along so well with a fancy businessman?
It could only mean one thing.
I had a full-blown crush on Chase.
A crush that had crept up on me like a lion striking prey, quickly and viciously. And if there was anything I’d learned about crushes, it was that I fell too hard and too fast. If I’d learned anything about Chase, it was that he didn’t do relationships, and didn’t let himself fall for any one person. He liked to play the field. To keep his options open. And he could flirt with anybody like a goddamned pro.