Total pages in book: 138
Estimated words: 133682 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 668(@200wpm)___ 535(@250wpm)___ 446(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 133682 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 668(@200wpm)___ 535(@250wpm)___ 446(@300wpm)
“To a better man,” Fable adds with an emphatic nod.
There’s a beat. Then, an “I see.” It’s like her Libra brain is weighing this new intel. “So it’s fake, but you’re actually going to the wedding together?”
“Yes,” I say.
“And traveling together?”
“Yes.”
“So the way I see it, it’s not really a lie. She is your plus one,” Mom says as I cut the engine.
“I am,” Fable says, with obvious pride.
“Well, I’ll keep your secret, but I can’t imagine anyone will be suspicious. You two seem like you actually like each other.”
She signs off, and I look at Fable with her gorgeous copper hair, her pretty pink lips, her creamy skin, her bold and bright attitude. Her spirit. Her energy. Her heart.
Little do they know it’s becoming a lot more than like.
“Popcorn?” I ask as we walk down the aisle of snacks at this roadside gourmet-ish shop.
“Well, it is a road trip,” she says.
“Three and a half to four hours. That makes it a road trip?”
She’s emphatic as she nods. “Yes, it does. And road trips require snacks. What do you like? Oh, right. Chocolate.” She stops in the sweets aisle. “Hold on—fancy chocolate.”
“I can’t help it if I have good taste,” I say, then let my gaze linger on her a little longer.
Her hand seems to flutter over her chest as she grabs a bar of salted dark chocolate. “You do. Also, snacks are on me,” she says, and she swings past me to head to the counter.
I dart out a hand and catch hers, tugging her toward me. Shaking my head, I say, “They’re not.”
“Wilder,” she says on a plea.
“You already stepped up and told my mom. I am buying the snacks and that’s just that.”
“Bossy,” she mutters.
I smirk. “Does this surprise you?”
“Not in the least.” Then she murmurs under her breath, a little sensually, “Sir.”
Well, then. There’s a whole lot of info delivered in that tone. I can’t not ask, “So not only does it not surprise you, it sounds like you don’t mind it either?”
She tips her chin up at me, challenging me with, “What do you think?”
I don’t think. I do. I slide my thumb along her pretty chin. God, it feels so good to touch her again. “That you like to give me hell. That you like to keep me on my toes. And that you love to give me a hard time.”
She leans into my touch, almost like she’s saying with her body don’t stop. “And I think you love all those things too,” she says in a husky voice that gives a little hint of her desire.
My thumb travels up to her cheek. She moves with me, her breath gusting across those gorgeous lips. “You’d be right,” I say, heat flaring inside me.
I could stay here all day like this, touching her face and trading quips. But we’re in a convenience store on the side of a road. I force myself to let go of her.
I take the food, buy it, and return to my vehicle with her. I slide back behind the wheel and turn on the car as she rips open the popcorn.
“Wait. Is it okay to eat in here?” She gestures to the dust-free dashboard and the heated passenger seat.
“Yes, of course.”
“Are you sure? It’s a nice car and everything.”
“And I can clean it if need be,” I say.
“From handyman to cleaning man,” she says, seeming amused, then she dips her hand into the bag and pops some in her mouth. She offers me the snack. I grab a couple kernels, then put the car in drive and head off, returning to the highway. Once we're cruising along the highway on our way to the small mountain town I turn on a Christmas station, then return to what she did earlier with my mother as Destiny’s Child sings about Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. Fable took a big leap and trusted my mother with our secret—and she did it for me. “That was thoughtful of you, Fable. What you did with my mom,” I say, with some vulnerability.
“It just made sense,” she says, almost downplaying it.
But I won’t let her think it was no big deal. It was a big deal. “No. It was more than that. It meant a lot to me. The fact that you wanted to. That it mattered to you to tell her. I was…touched.”
She parts her lips, possibly to make light of it again, but she seems to stop herself. “Good. I’m glad. You’ve done so much for me already. I wanted to do something for you—something you wanted,” she says, her patent honesty hooking into my heart, making it soften even more for her. I didn’t think that was possible. And yet, it’s happening.
“It makes things easier. And you were right—I didn’t want to lie to her. Thanks for…” I pause, searching for the right words. “For making things easier for me.”