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)
Exasperation shook my head.
Such a player, feeding me those lines.
“I don’t need you coming around here toying with me. I have work to do, the same as you.”
“I thought you might want to have lunch with me.”
Air huffed from my nose. “I don’t think that’s a good idea, Mr. Cooper.”
His eyes crinkled at the corners. “And why not? Everyone has to eat.”
“Because I know the type of games men like you play, and I don’t have time for that.”
Not the time or the space or the inclination to get my heart trampled. He could. So easily. Just him standing there felt like he was peeling back a scab to reveal a wound. Worst was the way my reaction to him felt like I was committing a mortal betrayal.
He rocked back on his heels, head canting to the side. “And what kind of games might those be?”
I scoffed. “Don’t act like you don’t know exactly what I’m talking about. I don’t do one-night stands, Mr. Cooper.”
I froze when I suddenly felt another presence cut into the atmosphere, and I turned my attention to the left to find my father standing in the middle of the yawning stable doors. Protectiveness lined his features as his attention jumped between me and Cody.
Cody followed my line of sight, and the second he saw him, he went rigid, like we were teenagers who’d been caught in a sordid position. He edged two steps back, sucking in a deep breath before he tipped his head my way. “I’ll see you around, Hailey.”
He waltzed off, heading for the far door at the end of the stalls, though he pulled off his cap and squeezed the brim together as he passed by my father. “Mr. Wagner,” he said, voice a low rumble that tumbled through me.
“Cody,” my father returned, probably a little cooler than necessary. I could still remember my father’s warnings. Stay away from him, Hailey. That guy is trouble. The real kind of trouble. I mean it when I say I don’t want you anywhere near him.
But I’d been little more than a child then.
Eighteen, though I might as well have been a twelve-year-old suffering a crush. God knew the paltry number of experiences I’d failed to rack up by then.
I didn’t realize my stare was stuck on Cody’s retreating form until my father cleared his throat.
When I looked his direction, he was standing two feet away.
I could only pray my tongue wasn’t hanging out.
I pinned the brightest smile on my face which wasn’t all that hard to find. “Hey, Dad. What are you doing here?”
His returning smile was easy as he leaned in to peck a kiss to my cheek. He wore jeans and a striped button-down with the top two buttons undone. His style was always that of polished casualness, oozing power without having to exert it. “I have an appointment with the horse buyer and thought I’d swing by to see my favorite girl first.”
I leaned in for a hug, and he wrapped his arms around me, holding me close the way he always did.
“I’m really glad you did,” I whispered. God, I loved that I was here. That I was able to have these moments with him again. I didn’t realize how much I’d missed it until I was standing right here.
He pulled away, though he held onto me by the sides of my shoulders as he studied me, blue eyes soft as he took me in.
My father was as handsome as they came. Brown hair thick and wavy, only the slightest bit of gray teasing at his temples.
He was also smart.
Determined.
Crazy successful.
I respected the crap out of him.
“How is the new job treating you?” he asked.
I let my gaze wander the stables, again struck with the satisfaction that brimmed. “It’s amazing, honestly. I love it here.”
“Good to hear.” Concern pinched his brow. “They aren’t working you too hard, are they? I can have a word with—”
“Absolutely not. I can handle myself.”
I swore, there’d never come a day that he didn’t think of me as eight years old. The proof of it came in full force when he angled his head down the long row of stalls where Cody had disappeared, voice curling with disgust. “And what the hell is he doing here?”
“He’s just a contractor who’s working a landscape project. He came to get my approval to start digging out around one of the pastures. I can handle him.”
And now I was lying to him like I was sixteen. Pathetic, considering I was twenty-four, had a child, had been married and seeking a divorce.
Maybe lying to my father about men came naturally since I’d spent so much time hiding the truth of my marriage from him. The truth of who Pruitt was. At first, I’d not wanted to believe it myself before it’d become a dirty secret.