Total pages in book: 19
Estimated words: 17129 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 86(@200wpm)___ 69(@250wpm)___ 57(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 17129 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 86(@200wpm)___ 69(@250wpm)___ 57(@300wpm)
Trying to think of something else, I avoid his gaze and tune in to the conversation happening around me. I can’t help smiling. Watching the smiles and hearing the vibrant conversations is a welcome change from the life I grew up in.
My sisters and I grew up Amish. Confined by beliefs and a loyalty to our parents. Living this new life, really it is a new world, with my sisters, I now know our lives weren’t just simple and void of color, but it was stunted and unfeeling. Every day was the same thing, same words spoken, same vows before each meal, same mundane existence and if it weren’t for my now married sister Sadie, we would all still be there.
Ever since she married Jasper nothing has been the same and that is amazing. He is a gentle, patient and giving man and he has embraced my other sisters and myself as his own. He is very protective over us, often growling at the ranch hands for looking too long at all of us and he spoils us crazy. There is nothing we could even contemplate doing or having that he won’t bend over backwards to get.
I have to admit, when Sadie brought this idea to us, I thought she had finally succumbed to something unholy, but I knew I didn't want to live at home without her. So, instead I completed the ad as well and I am always praying I find someone as loyal and loving as Jasper.
Lately, however, my mind has been less on my future, unknown husband and more on Jude. I saw him the first time the day we got here at the little reception held at the ranch for Jasper and Sadie. I thought he was handsome then, but I was not as boisterous as I am now and certainly more comfortable in my own skin. Literally.
The second time I saw him, we were in town going to the fabric store and he was walking out of the bank. I tell you no lies when I say my entire body inhaled and didn’t exhale until he was out of sight. It was made worse by the fact that his attention was also on me and the way he stopped in his tracks, licked his lips and looked me up and down, I could physically feel every gaze like he was burning me from the inside out.
After that encounter, it's like wherever I am, he shows up. Each time he says nothing to me, but I can feel him watching me, nonetheless. Lately, his expressions have been less composed. Almost like he is running out of patience for something. I feel like there is a winding clock pointing an arrow in my direction. Honestly, I just hope the other of that arrow is him.
Chapter One
Jude
This has been a test. Here I am yet again sitting inside of Jasper’s house for another fucking get together, watching he and his wife and now Geeb and his wife Ada, in wedded bliss while the object of my carnal lust and obsession is sitting on the opposite side of the table, is ogled by men far less deserving of her innocence.
Less than three months ago I came here to the mini reception my buddy Jasper threw for his new bride and met each one of her five sisters. All of them are pretty in their own way. Hannah, sweet innocent, sexy, delicious Hannah, set my fucking hand on fire when she shook it. It was like being in an earthquake but you're the only one to feel it.
I held on to her hand longer than I intended but I couldn't let it go when she wouldn’t even look at me. Finally, feeling guilty for trying to push her too soon, I released her hand, but I didn’t let go of the need. No, that just grew, bigger, bolder and more desperate.
I saw her again when she was in town with her sisters and this time, the raven-haired beauty, looked right at me. We both stopped for a moment, engulfed in each other's gaze. I swear I could feel her little eyelashes sliding up my chest as she kissed every inch of it. From a distance I could hear her breathing become shallow. I tried but I couldn't take my eyes from hers though I was late for a meeting. She finally broke the trance, skittering into the fabric store after her sister. That was the moment my mind was made up. The fight I was putting up crashed and burned and I went to the one person who could make my desire a reality.
“I want Hannah,” I say to Lloyd, standing in the doorway of his office.
“Good afternoon to you too, friend. How nice of you to stop by. Is there something I can do for you?” His sarcasm is annoying right now when what I am saying to him is urgent.