Total pages in book: 90
Estimated words: 87142 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 436(@200wpm)___ 349(@250wpm)___ 290(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 87142 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 436(@200wpm)___ 349(@250wpm)___ 290(@300wpm)
I scoffed but couldn’t halt the smile spreading across my face. “Guess you’ll never know.”
He flicked his tongue over his lower lip and studied me. “The first is easy. You’re a Ravenclaw with that incredibly sexy brain of yours. And your hair is all Ariel, but you spend your days trapped with a beast, so I might have to go with Belle.”
“You’re ridiculous.” I tilted my face up toward his.
“I’m right.” He lowered his just a fraction, his attention shifting to my mouth.
“Now it makes sense,” Peter said, popping the little bubble Nixon and I had found ourselves in again.
“What does?” Jeremiah asked.
“Is he how you got the job?” Peter challenged, nodding toward Nixon.
“No.” Nausea washed over me.
Nixon’s muscles turned to stone under my fingertips, and his weight shifted, reminding me of a jungle cat preparing to strike.
“Yeah, okay. You’ve been out of college, what? Four years?” Peter smirked, which was oddly disgusting considering how sexy the same expression was on Nixon’s face.
“You’d better not be implying what I think you are,” Jeremiah growled.
“And all four years she’s worked for us.” Nixon’s hand flexed at my waist. I locked my elbow over his fingers like that would provide some modicum of barrier to any impending explosion. There were hundreds of cell phones in this crowd. “I’m going to say this once. If you’re implying that she got to where she is by sleeping with me, let me assure you, that’s not the case. I met her after she was hired, and I didn’t have the balls to make a move on her until recently because, as you can see, Zoe is clearly out of my league.”
Peter swallowed.
The nausea evaporated, but my chest swelled at Nixon’s words, even if they were only for Peter’s benefit.
The microphone shrieked into the speakers, causing a crowd-wide cringe.
“Oh, sorry about that!” Laura apologized from the stage of the amphitheater. “Hi, everyone! I’m Laura Whitcomb, but you already knew that.” She flashed a smile, and the crowd chuckled.
“You’re way hotter,” Nixon whispered in my ear.
“Stop,” I whispered back.
“Thank you all for coming out for the seventy-ninth annual Fall Festival!” She clapped, and the crowd followed suit. “Now, there’s two hours left to get your cake bids in, and the Legacy Fire Department has assured me they have more hot dogs on the way, but I just wanted to tell you we’ve already doubled last year’s donations!”
This time, I joined in with the applause. There were so many good causes being represented tonight.
“We don’t have any more entertainment scheduled for tonight before the auction results, but I happen to know that Nixon Winters of Hush Note is in the crowd. Isn’t that amazing?”
Cheers sounded all around us.
“Oh shit,” I whispered, my shoulders deflating. “Nixon, I’m so sorry.”
A muscle in his jaw ticked. Nixon was normally cool with being publicly outed as long as it was on his terms, but these weren’t his terms, and this situation was far from normal.
“What do you say we ask him to play something just for us?” Laura lifted her hands.
The cheers around us only intensified.
“She didn’t,” I hissed. I couldn’t even remember the last time Nixon had performed sober…or solo. I turned to Nixon. “I will take care of this. Stay with Jeremiah.”
Without waiting for his answer, I stepped out of his arms and slid through the crowd. The chill bit at me without Nixon’s warmth, but my anger was hot enough to burn the hair right off Laura’s head.
I marched up the steps at the side of the stage and crooked my finger at her.
“Oh! Zoe Shannon is here to give us his answer!” She abandoned the mic and walked toward me with a self-satisfied little smile I wanted to swipe right off her face. “Well?”
“You can go fuck yourself,” I said with a smile of my own.
Laura blinked at me. “What?”
“You heard what I said. You didn’t even ask him, and you think he’s going to, what? Pull a guitar out of thin air and perform because you said so?”
“He can play Peter’s guitar,” she answered with a shrug. “And come on. It would make tonight unforgettable.”
My eyes narrowed. “Because you’re chairing the festival committee.”
“Co-chair with Peter’s mom. So what? You brought a rock star home.” She lifted her eyebrows.
“The answer is no. I understand that you’re not familiar with the word, so listen again. No. And I’m not even going to put him in the position of saying it. I’m saying it for him.” With every scenario I’d run through regarding Nixon finding himself in the spotlight in my tiny town, I’d never expected the actual spotlight.
“Are you serious?” Laura challenged.
“As a heart—”
“Shannon.” His voice hit me straight in the heart. We were back to the last name, putting us firmly on professional footing. I’d failed him.
I turned to find Nixon standing two steps below me, making us eye level. My family waited right behind him. “I told her no.”