Total pages in book: 95
Estimated words: 92708 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 464(@200wpm)___ 371(@250wpm)___ 309(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 92708 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 464(@200wpm)___ 371(@250wpm)___ 309(@300wpm)
“So maybe even less than a year.”
“I think six months will do it.”
“Okay then. I’ll marry you.” I reached over and tapped my coffee cup to his. “Congratulations, you closed the deal.”
“I always do.” He looked straight ahead again, one corner of his mouth crooking up. “Wife.”
EIGHT
devlin
God, she looked cute in my sweatshirt.
And she smelled good too. The sweet vanilla scent of her perfume mingled with the bitter aroma of my black coffee, and when I took a sip from my cup, I swore I could taste her.
No. I couldn’t go there.
Today wasn’t about getting her naked, it was about getting her to trust me. To believe in me. It was about showing her I wasn’t the con artist she thought I was and convincing her to make a bid for Snowberry Lodge using my playbook. The more I thought about it, the more determined I was to keep it out of Black Diamond’s hands. I’d been up well into the night going over the financials, looking at similar renovations that had been done at other resorts, studying the winter tourism stats for this area.
That is, when I wasn’t wondering if Lexi was down the hall sleeping naked.
Dirty thoughts aside, I’d come to the conclusion that Snowberry could survive. It needed serious work, but there was an opportunity to offer an alternative to the giant corporate resorts catering to families with kids. We could appeal to adults looking for romantic getaways, girls’ trips, guys’ weekends. I had a feeling Lexi was going to fight me on that, but I’d deal with that later.
First, we had to tie the knot.
Then we had to convince everyone it was real.
“So let’s talk,” I said. “In case anyone asks, what made you fall in love with me so fast?”
“Desperation.”
“Come on,” I prodded. “You have to find something about me attractive.”
She sighed heavily. “Fine. You have a nice face.”
“That’s it? Try to be more specific.” I was just fucking with her, but she actually answered the question.
“When we first met, your eyes made me want to go swimming.”
“Swimming?”
“They looked like the ocean,” she said with a shrug.
“Thank you.” I glanced at her. “That’s actually very sweet.”
She took another sip of her coffee. “That’s all you’re getting. You’ve reached the bottom of my sweet barrel.”
Laughing, I signaled and merged onto the highway. “Well, I took one look at you from across the room and said, that is the girl for me.”
“Oh yeah?”
“Absolutely. My brothers will back me up on that.”
“Okay, but the question isn’t going to be about the night we met. It’s going to be about how we managed to fall in love long-distance in less than three weeks. We live like five states apart.”
“It’s more like two states and a chunk of Canada,” I countered.
She slapped my leg. “You know what I mean!”
“I do.” Chuckling at getting a rise out of her—it was so easy—I thought for a moment. “I think what happened was that we got to know each other as we negotiated back and forth. We started talking all the time. Texting. FaceTiming. Then I secretly flew out to visit you, and we realized we were soul mates, blah blah.”
“Soul mates, blah blah? That’s not going to cut it. I need more info.” She put her coffee cup back in the holder, reached into her bag and pulled out her phone.
“What are you doing?”
“I’m looking for something,” she said, typing, then scrolling. “Aha! Here we go. Juicy questions to ask your crush.”
“Your crush? Is this for teenagers?”
“Number one. Who’s the last person you held hands with?”
I laughed. “Held hands?”
“Just answer the question, please.”
“Probably Sara. Or one of the other kids in Camp Lemonade.”
“Romantically,” she pressed.
“I guess my ex-girlfriend, McKenna. Although I’m not much for public displays of affection.”
“I love them, for the record.”
“Of course you do.”
“When did you and McKenna break up?”
“Last December.”
“How long were you together?”
“A couple years, off and on.”
“Why’d you decide to be permanently off?”
I tipped up my coffee cup, unwilling to let Bob Oliver into the conversation and ruin my good mood. “We were just wrong for each other. Wanted different things.”
“Such as?”
“She wanted to get married. I was more focused on my career.” I gave her a sappy look. “Until I met you, kitten.”
She scrunched up her face like she’d stepped in dog shit. “Nope.”
“Doll face?”
“Try again.”
“Boo thang?”
“Try harder.”
“The old ball and chain?”
She laughed. “Try it and see what happens. So what should I call you?”
“Daddy, of course.”
She snorted. “In your dreams.”
“What about you?” I asked. “Did you always want to get married?”
“Yes. In fact, I was engaged once.”
I decided not to mention her grandmother had already spilled that tea. “What happened?”
“He was an operations manager at Snowberry. But he got an offer from a big resort out west last year, and he took it.”
“That must have been tough.”