Total pages in book: 112
Estimated words: 107687 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 538(@200wpm)___ 431(@250wpm)___ 359(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 107687 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 538(@200wpm)___ 431(@250wpm)___ 359(@300wpm)
I press my lips together as I sigh deeply, my eyes drifting shut. Much to my dismay, Dimitri knows I’m dying inside, and he grins like he just scored a fat trick. No, a hat trick. Thank goodness I didn’t say that out loud. He wouldn’t let me live that down.
But that is the least of my issues. Like I knew she would, Louisa speaks up. “So, I’ll say it. Who are you?”
Dimitri looks at my older sister. “Janie didn’t tell you? I’m her roommate.”
I don’t open my eyes; I don’t even move. I just stand there and feel everyone’s gazes on me. Maybe if I don’t move, they’ll think I went to sleep and leave me alone.
“Her roommate. A guy,” Louisa draws out. “A good-looking guy, at that.”
Dimitri chuckles as I die slowly. “Thanks. You’re very beautiful yourself.”
Yup. I don’t like that at all.
“Though, I wouldn’t expect anything less, with you being Janie’s sister,” he adds softly, knocking his shoulder into mine.
Is he calling me gorgeous?
I don’t know. I don’t react since I’m playing dead.
“Her much more experienced older sister,” Louisa supplies, and my eyes whip over so I can cut her a glaring look.
I really don’t like that.
Dimitri chuckles as Eliza’s brows are in her hairline. “Is this your boyfriend?”
I gawk at her, and soon I’m stammering, “No. No. Absolutely not. There was a mix-up with housing, and we both got assigned here.”
“And you didn’t ask for another assignment?” Louisa asks, surprise swirling in her gaze. “He’s a guy.”
“I’m so glad everyone knows I’m a guy,” he jokes, sending me one of those easy smirks.
They must not be affected by his smirk, because they just grin, while I want to melt into a puddle of goo and die.
“We grew up where men and women weren’t allowed in the same area unless they were married,” Eliza informs him. “Hell, even on your wedding night, you didn’t move in together. It was a week after—” Her voice breaks off when I shake my head, begging her to shut the hell up.
Dimitri’s gaze moves to me, and I refuse to meet his eyes. He probably thinks we’re weird—or hell, I don’t even want to know what he thinks. Instead, I distract myself with his tight shorts that are cutting off the circulation along his thighs, or even his tank. His biceps are in abundance, and I know my sisters are checking him out. Hell, I am.
“I didn’t know that. Janie hadn’t told me about it.”
Louisa shrugs. “We really don’t talk about it with other people. It wasn’t the best part of our lives.”
I meet her gaze. “Are you done?”
She looks as if I’ve cussed at her. “I’m just telling him not to be in his feelings that you didn’t tell him about it because of all the—”
“Louisa,” I say, my tone harder than I wish it were. “Just drop it.”
“That’s unfortunate, Janie, but I’m excited to discuss it further with you.”
“I’d rather be a goalie without the equipment, thank you,” I snap, glaring at him.
“You’re not from here,” Louisa says. “Your accent is very, um, thick.”
I am going to kill her. The way she says thick is downright wicked. I glare at her as Dimitri says, “I grew up in Russia. Bilingual.”
“Oh wow!” Louisa says. “That’s one of the only languages I didn’t learn.”
“You speak more languages?”
Eliza nods. “We are both fluent in French, German, and Spanish.” Then she looks at me, and I shake my head violently. She presses her lips together as Dimitri’s gaze moves to me.
“Janie, it’s cool. I like getting to know you. Can you tell me why she wears fuzzy socks in the middle of a Tennessee summer?”
Eliza grins. “We lived in a barn—”
“Eliza, please don’t bore him with stuff that doesn’t matter.”
“Please do. It does matter. I want to know,” he says simply, and I press my lips together for a moment.
“We lived in a barn, and it was cold—a lot. I used to say I wanted fuzzy socks to keep warm, and it was one of the first things I bought when I left home.”
“You weren’t allowed to have them or something?”
I clear my throat. “No, we had a very strict dress code.”
“A home?”
“It was barely a home and more a Nazi camp,” Louisa seethes, rolling her eyes, and I can’t believe she just said that. “We had to wear dresses, even when it was cold.”
He makes a face. “A Nazi camp?”
My eyes widen at the pure embarrassment coursing through me, and I know Eliza sees it.
“Why do you call her Janie?” Eliza asks, and I throw my hands up.
“Okay. No one talk to him,” I announce, but no one listens to me. “You two go to the car!”
With an unstoppable and impossible grin, Dimitri explains. “Austen, with an E. Like Jane Austen. I assumed that’s who she was named after the first time I met her. She’s so much more than a Jane, so I call her Janie.”