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 texted when I got here a few hours ago. Walker was asleep, and Caroline was dealing with some plumbing issues. She said it’d be easier for me to just wait at Jesse’s until she could come.”
“Oh,” Carter says, eyes darkening. “Plumbing issues, you say?”
“Yeah, why?”
He shares a look with Maddox, and they both shake their heads sadly.
“What?” I demand.
“Well…” Carter starts, making a show of looking reluctant. “I’m just putting the pieces together. She tells you to stay away. She says the kid is asleep. And she says she’s got a guy over in her house right now laying pipe for her? I’m no math teacher, but I think I can solve this equation.”
“He’s right,” Maddox says. “Sometimes, two plus two just equals four.”
“Two plus two always equals four,” I say.
“Usually,” Maddox agrees, as though he’s still leaving the door open for other possibilities.
I get up, chair scraping against the patio deck. “I think I’m getting dumber by the minute with you two.”
“I wasn’t going to say anything,” Carter agrees. “But you have seemed a little dumber lately.”
I reach over to his side of the game, look at where his ship is, and lock eyes with him. “C-7. Direct hit.”
“Oh, sure, Jake. Real mature. It’s one thing to take shots at me, but when you cheat and strike my ships like that? You’ve crossed a line. Those sailors you just sunk had families. Wives and children, dude. Monster.”
Ignoring him, I go inside and join the others. I pause mid-step when I see Caroline coming in with Walker in her arms.
The sight of them together makes my breath catch. Her wild, curly brown hair is tied back, and she’s wearing clear-framed glasses today. Her dress hugs her curves in a way that I think is supposed to be modest, only there’s nothing modest about her body. The hints her dress gives just make me even more tempted to get her alone.
Except I know I won’t because we’ve been in some kind of cease-fire.
“Kiss, kiss, kiss!” Carter starts to chant.
I walk over to her, smiling. It’s not hard to look happy to see her. I am happy to see her. Walker, too. I just…
She lifts her eyes to mine, licking her lips. There’s a heartbeat of hesitation between us that I doubt anybody else would notice. Then she goes on her tiptoes, and I kiss her.
I mean to just peck her, but I can’t help myself once I feel the soft warmth of her lips against mine. I kiss her deeper, slipping my tongue in. She moans softly against me.
“Alright, alright,” Jesse says, clapping loudly. “Save it for the wedding.”
We break apart as everyone chuckles, but there’s a spark of something in Caroline’s eyes. Something I feel, too.
Maybe we’re both ready to end the ceasefire? I’ve got no clue if easing the sexual tension would make things less strained between us, but I can’t imagine it would hurt.
“Oh, honey,” Andi says softly. She gently pulls Amelia’s teddy bear away, which is getting a toddler version of French kissed, as Amelia was apparently taking notes.
“See what you pervs did?” Jesse asks, motioning to his daughter. “Now my daughter is trying to make out with her stuffed animals.
“What make out?” Amelia asks. “Like dis?” she chases after Maddox, who feigns terror and runs in slow motion.
Paisley comes in a moment later, arms full of bags. “Just the people I needed to see!” she says. “I talked to the wedding planner. He asked me to bring some color samples over. Just to get an early feel. You know… a not early, early feel? Since two people are dragging their feet and not locking in anything about the wedding, even though it’s screaming towards us?”
Carter pretends to snore as he scoops Amelia up, holding her at arm’s length while she makes kissy sounds and giggles at Maddox. “Wedding stuff is so boring, Amelia. Don’t ever get married. It’s a scam.”
Jesse whacks Carter on the back of the head. “Don’t listen to him, honey. Carter is just sad that nobody will marry him.”
“I could’ve married that one girl. Remember? She actually asked me to marry her.”
“You mean that woman who was like twenty years older than you? The chain smoker who smelled like cats?” I ask.
Paisley has already dragged Caroline over to the kitchen bar and started spreading out booklets full of colors and pictures of sample venues.
“She was eighteen years older than me,” Carter corrects. “She was trying to quit, and she only had three cats. One of them was just spraying because it was making a fuss about a new perfume she was wearing. The other cats weren’t technically hers,” he adds. “They came in through the cat door and just liked to visit for play dates or something.”
I shake my head at him. “Do you even hear yourself?”