Total pages in book: 81
Estimated words: 75699 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 378(@200wpm)___ 303(@250wpm)___ 252(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 75699 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 378(@200wpm)___ 303(@250wpm)___ 252(@300wpm)
“Sure. Why not? Guess we can’t spend the entire weekend in bed.” Giving me a toothy grin, Declan leered at me.
“Well, we could.” I glanced toward Declan’s room, but Oz barked and paced toward the patio door.
“I don’t think he’s ready for us to go back to bed.” Declan laughed as I let Oz out to do his business. “Let’s do the puzzle instead.” He started to set aside the paper bag but paused as an envelope fluttered out. “Whoa, what’s this?”
“A cheesy card.” My face went hotter than an autoclave sterilizer. I’d seen the card in the gift shop and thought of Declan immediately, but as he opened it, I had second thoughts. The Valentine’s card depicted a cartoon couple of older dudes on a vintage motorcycle, with a mercifully blank interior free of sentiment neither of us was ready for. I’d added a small bag of conversation hearts and scrawled a drawing of one saying. “Be mine?”
As Declan stared down at the card and candy, I shifted my weight from foot to foot, increasingly certain I should have added a “for now” or “for the weekend” qualifier, but then Declan smiled broadly.
“My first real Valentine’s card. I love it.”
“Good.” I bent down to give him a soft, relieved kiss. I’d been accused of being too mushy before, so I was glad Declan appreciated my efforts.
I helped him clear the breakfast nook table, and we started working on the puzzle. We made a good team, Declan coming up with an order of operations and me happily finding him edge pieces while we hunted potential clues for the puzzle’s hidden mystery.
“You’re good at problem-solving.” I smiled at him as he linked together several more pieces. He was cute when he concentrated with the tip of his tongue stuck out the corner of his mouth and his brow wrinkled.
“Thanks. Tell that to every math teacher I ever had, but I’m good at strategy.”
“Your race record shows that.”
“It does.” Declan’s blue eyes went cloudy as he nodded. Breaking eye contact, he glanced down before brightening. “Hey look, these pieces fit together to make another clue.”
“Good work.” I made my voice overly enthusiastic because Declan clearly wanted to shift the conversation away from racing.
“I like this puzzle.” Declan pushed himself up from the table to refill his water glass. “It was a great idea.”
“I’m glad.” After he set his water down, I pulled him onto my lap. He let out a little squawk.
“We’re gonna break the chair.”
“Nah. These things are sturdy enough to survive a house full of teens.” I tightened my embrace before kissing him.
“Mmm. Okay, worrying less about falling.” Chuckling, Declan kissed me back. I slid a hand up the back of his hoodie as he deepened the kiss. Shutting my eyes, I lost myself in the magic of making out with Declan. The kitchen was sunny with late afternoon sun. The outside world was chilly, but things were getting plenty heated indoors.
Until the backdoor creaked.
Declan rocketed off my lap right as Oz barked and Maren burst in, muttering to herself.
“Maren?” I couldn’t seem to keep the distress out of my tone. Meanwhile, a bright-red Declan launched himself back into his own chair. “What are you doing home?”
“I could ask you guys the same thing.” She gave us a pointed look. Yep, she’d totally seen the kissing. She wore the typical college kid uniform of a sweatshirt and leggings as she toted a stuffed backpack and a full laundry bag. “I thought no one was home this weekend.”
“We are.” I sighed. “But it’s your house too, of course.”
“Yeah, but I don’t suppose you could pretend not to see me?” Dropping her bags, she offered a tight smile before adjusting her messy bun.
“What’s wrong?” I asked, shifting from thwarted lover to concerned faux-uncle. Yeah, I wanted more time alone with Declan, but Maren mattered too, and she and I had always gotten along well as two take-charge people pleasers.
“Promise not to laugh?”
“Absolutely.” I steeled my expression. No matter how ridiculous, I could save my laughter. If I’d learned nothing else about teens and young adults, it was that they took everything super seriously.
“I might have a Valentine’s date tonight.” Maren managed to look both petrified and pleased.
“That’s great.” I stood to give her a quick hug.
“I guess.” She leaned against me. “It’s weird, right? Really weird?”
“It’s not weird if you’re happy,” Declan said sagely. I wished the dude could take his own advice, but I shot him a grateful look nonetheless.
“Diesel sent me this.” Maren fished a stuffed animal out of her bag. It looked to be an axolotl, which I could only identify thanks to Wren.
“It’s cute.” Declan was clearly lying, but Maren smiled shyly.
“Diesel gets me. And he wants to take me somewhere as a surprise tonight, so I came by here to get ready.”