Total pages in book: 107
Estimated words: 100873 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 504(@200wpm)___ 403(@250wpm)___ 336(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 100873 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 504(@200wpm)___ 403(@250wpm)___ 336(@300wpm)
“That’s the difference between us, Daniel,” she said. “You’re a team player and I’m out for myself.” But she moved so he had room to stretch on the mat next to her.
“BS, Caitlin.” He did a few moves that looked more like yoga than anything else. “You’re on the relay team. Or is that another Caitlin Moonbell River?”
She glared at him. “M,” she gritted out. “We only ever say Caitlin M. River unless we wish to be decapitated.” Jacqueline had still been in love with Clive when she gave birth to Catie, hence the fact Catie had the hippiest middle name to ever hippie its way into the world.
“Do we?” A wild grin before he dropped to the floor to do push-ups. He was wearing a sleeveless gray tee, but she could see the fluidity of the muscles moving in his back, the curves of power in his biceps, the way his thighs and calves were tightly, heavily muscled.
Jeez, Catie, snap out of it. This is Danny.
Clenching her jaw, she continued with her cooldown but couldn’t stop from asking, “Your tat finished?” All four brothers had tattoos that celebrated Samoan culture. Though Gabriel and Sailor hadn’t been born into it, Joseph was the man they called Dad, and they wore their tattoos with pride. As the youngest, Danny had been the final one to start the ink, and last she knew, it was still in progress.
“Yeah, it’s done. Wanna see?” Bouncing back to his feet with the ease of an athlete at the top of his game, he pulled up the edge of his workout shorts to reveal one superbly muscled thigh circled by an intricate tattoo that had been done piece by precise piece. Dots and angles and lines that formed a one-of-a-kind piece of art.
Catie found herself reaching out to touch, snatched back her hand before he could realize what she was doing. She’d never live down petting Danny’s thigh. “Your uncle does amazing work.”
“Right?” He beamed and dropped the edge of the shorts before she got her fill. “Worth every bit of pain. I’ve been talking to him and Dad about getting more ink down the road.” He touched his upper chest. “Maybe on one of my pecs.”
As he went back down to the floor to finish his push-ups, Catie took a deep breath and told herself she was losing it. Because she’d been checking Danny out. Ugh, this whole abnormal situation was obviously getting to her. She’d have to keep on top of herself not to give in to the fake dating thing and start to think it was real.
It wasn’t that she thought Danny was a bad guy. No, he was one of the good ones. But well, it was Danny. The bane of her existence. And a man who honestly deserved a lover far more emotionally balanced than Catie. He was so wholesome and normal, and she wasn’t.
Forget her parents, losing her legs hadn’t exactly helped with her sunny disposition either. She was moody and grumpy, and yeah, she’d scare Danny off in five minutes flat if they actually tried to get together for real.
Nope. Nope. Nope.
Even if they hadn’t been so wrong for each other, she loved his family too much to mess things up by making it uncomfortable between them. That would be an absolute horror show. The two of them avoiding each other at barbeques and pretending everything was normal when it so obviously wasn’t.
No, thank you.
“The call went better than I thought it would,” Danny said, switching to do raised-knee crunches, his breathing even despite his pace. “I was worried Dad might not approve, but even he got in on the bets.”
“You have a wonderful family, Danny,” Catie found herself saying, her mind continuing along its earlier train. “Don’t ever take them for granted.”
A pause, Danny glancing up at her with a slight flush on his cheekbones before he looked away and continued on. “I know they’re amazing,” he said. “I lucked out.” Sincerity in every word, and yet…
She frowned, sure she was missing something. That was when her phone, which she’d brought in so she could stream her music, pinged with an incoming text. Picking it up, she found a message from Laveni: I’m sneaking a break while Suz covers for me. Only have five minutes. Call now or I shall fly over there with my thumbscrews. Are you two really a thing?
Catie had no secrets from her best friend, so she stopped what she was doing to step out. “Going to talk to Veni.”
“Tell her that ice water gave me a head cold. I hope she feels guilty.”
Grinning, she wandered into the living room as she made the call.
“I knew it!” Veni crowed when Catie confessed that the hookup rumors weren’t true. “So why did you sneak off with him?”