Total pages in book: 84
Estimated words: 80562 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 403(@200wpm)___ 322(@250wpm)___ 269(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 80562 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 403(@200wpm)___ 322(@250wpm)___ 269(@300wpm)
“I could ask you the same thing. You know cougars need love, too, right?”
“Yeah?” I ask. “Then why didn’t you marry her.”
“Well, marriage is a scam. She was like twenty years older than me. Do you think I was qualified to care for her cats if she kicked the bucket a few weeks after we tied the knot? At her age, the grim reaper could’ve come knocking any day.”
Maddox snorts with laughter. “That’s so messed up, dude. You were just defending her! What happened to ‘she was only eighteen years older than me’.”
“Hey, man,” Carter says matter-of-factly. He sets Amelia down, who immediately charges Maddox again. “Death waits for nobody. I was happy to make her night, but I’m not about to be the father to three cats. I couldn’t even keep that succulent Mia gave me alive.”
“You killed it? You said it was doing fine!” Mia complains.
“Uh,” he says, as if just now remembering Mia is in the room. “Did I say it died? I meant it ran away…”
“If you’re done over there,” Paisley calls. “We could use the groom-to-be. I need to hold these colors up to your face and make sure none of them clash with your complexion.”
I sigh and drag myself over.
Paisley has about six hundred shades of blue laid out and the same number of whites.
“White and blue?” I ask. “Seems safe enough.”
“White and blue?” she asks, fingertips to her chest in outrage.
“That’s French blue,” Paisley corrects, pointing to the swatch Caroline’s holding. “And that’s ivory.”
“Right, okay. Seems good.” I clap my hands. “Case closed!”
I take one step away from the counter before Paisley grips my sweater and stops me. “Not so fast, big guy.”
Caroline smirks at me while she struggles to keep Walker from eating the little color swatches.
I scoop him out of her arms, grateful for a job I can handle.
Paisley holds one of the blues up to my face, closes one eye, tilts her head, and frowns. “Hmm… I don’t know.” She sets it down to pick up another that looks identical to the previous blue, and her eyes light up. “Now this? This might be a keeper.” She turns, holding it up to Caroline, and then shakes her head sadly. “But no… Not meant to be.”
I meet Caroline’s eyes and widen mine slightly, silently asking her if Paisley is serious.
Caroline just lifts a finger to her lips, smiling.
And so my evening continues. The guys go out to the driveway to play a game of pickup hockey once Nolan arrives with Mia. And me? I’m stuck in color swatch hell.
20
CAROLINE
Jake, Cade, and Mikey–Cade’s father–have spent most of the night working on the pipes at the B&B. I had no idea Jake would help, but when we returned from Jesse’s cabin together and found Cade and his dad working, Jake jumped right in.
The optimistic part of me wants to say he’s just being helpful. I want to see it as a sweet gesture by the father of my child–something to help speed up the process of getting the water turned back on and not leaking from my ceilings. But the pessimistic part of me wonders if he’s just avoiding the inevitable point where we’ll be alone again.
I have to admit I was stressed about it. Tomorrow, we’re all meeting at the town center for the beginning of the wedding games. The last time we talked on the phone, we argued about it again. The conversation ended with Jake clearly thinking we should just call the whole thing off and me thinking he was being unreasonable.
And then there was that kiss at Jesse’s cabin. What the hell was that?
Since returning from Manhattan, it’s like we’ve both been trying to cage the obvious sparks between us. But that kiss… none of the sparks were held back. I felt freaking fireworks again. Even now, hours later, I’ve still got pools of desire practically burning through my insides.
But I busy myself around the B&B, mostly trying to stay out of the guys’ way. In part, I’m trying not to slow them down. But it’s also painful to watch them tear the ceiling apart so they can get to the pipes. According to Mikey, he will have to rip out a big section of the ceiling in the lobby and kitchen. Then, he’ll have to remove a large chunk of wall in the kitchen.
Since Jake knows nothing about plumbing, he’s helping pry the wooden boards from the ceiling and then replacing them after Cade and Mikey fix the pipes.
Occasionally, I steal glances Jake’s way when he’s up on the step stool. He’s so damn tall he doesn’t even need a real ladder to reach the ceiling. He’s just using a dinky little step stool and raising his long arms. Sometimes, his sweater rides up high enough that I can see a tantalizing strip of bare skin above the waist of his jeans.