Total pages in book: 146
Estimated words: 143842 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 719(@200wpm)___ 575(@250wpm)___ 479(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 143842 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 719(@200wpm)___ 575(@250wpm)___ 479(@300wpm)
“I’m pretty sure that man’s smile is permanently tattooed on his face, and it doesn’t have a thing to do with me.”
Except something about that didn’t ring true, and my thoughts kept flashing to the way his expression would dim and all that carelessness would fade away. When he’d suck me down into some kind of darkness that lurked in the deepest part of him, like he too would get caught up in that summer.
Like maybe it had mattered.
But this was Cody Cooper we were talking about.
The man couldn’t seem to remain serious to save his life.
“You just go on telling yourself that,” Lolly drawled, “but if a hottie like you moved in next door to me, I’d be smiling, too. I bet I know what would make him smile even wider.” She wagged her brows.
I refused the visions that wanted to assail me. The ones that had forever wondered what that might be like. If that summer had gone down differently.
That was attraction for you.
Errant.
Inopportune.
No thought of the heart even though that was where you felt the strike of it.
“You’re ridiculous, Lolly,” I told her, forcing lightness into my tone.
“Nothing ridiculous about it.”
“You and I both know it would be ridiculous to get tangled in the likes of that. That man would chew me up and spit me out, and then I’d be stuck living next to him for the next God knows how long. My life is too complicated right now. No use in adding fuel to the flames.”
Flames that would likely consume, and there was no pretending that Cody wasn’t gasoline.
All of it was the truth, not that I would ever let him touch me, anyway.
“Oh, but the chewing would be so nice.” Lolly grinned.
I shook my head and stood as Cody came in pushing my nightstand on the hand-truck.
The air shifted the way it did, growing thick and somehow light, like the man was radiating the sun all while casting me in shadow.
“Where’s this one go?” he asked, so casual, like his presence wasn’t wreaking havoc on the brittle pieces inside me.
“You can leave it right there.”
“Already have it inside. No point in that.” His mouth tipped up at the side.
“Might as well show him to your room.” Freaking Lolly, thinking she was cupid when she had no idea the type of arrows a man like him carried.
But whatever, he’d already forced his way inside. I might as well let him finish the job.
Awkwardly, I gestured toward the primary that was through the double doors on the other side of the kitchen. “Right in there.”
“Ah, you’ve got the same room as mine.” That golden gaze sparked in some kind of mischief, a silent affirmation that he’d caught me peeping on him last night.
So freaking embarrassing.
He guided the hand-truck down the little pathway between the kitchen and table before he disappeared through the bedroom door.
I itched, unsure, before I hurried to follow him.
He went directly for the right side of the bed, like he already knew that was the side I slept on, even though it was made.
He moved around to slide the nightstand off the hand-truck, his muscles straining and his tee shirt stretching over the definition of his back as he maneuvered it into place.
Then he straightened to his full height, dragging a massive palm up his face and through his hair as he turned to face me.
“That should do it,” he said.
My teeth clamped down on my bottom lip, and I shifted in discomfort.
I couldn’t stop staring at him.
A giant in the middle of my room.
Handsome as hell and dangerous to my sanity.
Blowing out the strain from my lungs, I wrung my fingers together. “I honestly don’t know how to thank you.”
Sure, he’d offered to do it.
Okay, insisted on it.
And even though I didn’t want to be indebted to him, appreciation pulled heavy at my chest. It hadn’t been an actual lie that I had movers set up for the weekend, only the movers were me.
“You don’t have a thing to repay me for.” His voice was gravel. A bait.
Uncertainty shook my head, suddenly unsure if there was a way to put a finger on him. If everything I thought I knew about him was true at all. “You just unloaded an entire truck. By yourself.”
A hint of that arrogance curled through his expression, though there was something softly goofy about it, like he wasn’t taking himself seriously when he raised his right arm out to the side and flexed it. “What do you think all these muscles are for?”
His stupid biceps bulged, and I fought the way my throat suddenly felt thick.
“I’m sure you get plenty of exercise doing the work you do.”
“Among other things.” The teasing insinuation was clear.
I bit down on the inside of my cheek.
Cocky. Freaking. Cowboy.
But there was no stopping the heat that crawled up my neck.