Total pages in book: 103
Estimated words: 100523 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 503(@200wpm)___ 402(@250wpm)___ 335(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 100523 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 503(@200wpm)___ 402(@250wpm)___ 335(@300wpm)
She gasps and nods at the same time. Several times. “Yes, yes, yes,” she blurts out, then adds, “You make me happy.”
My heart floods with joy. That’s all I’ve ever wanted. My pulse beats harder, faster, powered by adrenaline and a wide-open future with my best friend. “Sunshine, you’re the one.”
I lean over the counter and kiss her, and it feels like forever since I’ve touched these lush lips. I never want to go this long without kissing her again. But it’s a first kiss too—the first after I’ve spoken the truth of my heart and soul—that after all these years and four un-dates, it’s always been her.
When I break the kiss, she whispers, “Wow.”
She sounds mesmerized. Intoxicated. Blissed out.
Join the club.
But then she knits her brow. “Wait, did you actually fly down here to ask me on a date?”
I smile. Proud and utterly un-remorseful. “I sure did. After we talked this morning, I called my agent and asked him to cancel my golf game so I could catch the next flight out of Vegas.”
“The one with your sponsor? The one for charity?” She sounds shocked.
“Yeah, the one that I forgot about when I canceled on you.”
She sets a hand on her chest like she needs the double confirmation. “You canceled it? For me?”
“Don’t you get it? I’d do anything for you.” It feels so damn good to finally tell her, to set all these feelings free so we can share them.
She beams, then in a trembling voice, she says, “I’m so in love with you, Carter Hendrix.”
I couldn’t be happier to hear that four-letter word falling from her lips, even if she beat me to it.
I capture her mouth in another kiss, and when I let go, I say, “I canceled it because that’s how a man should treat the woman he’s fallen in love with.”
“I love your girlfriend lessons,” she says as she rushes out from behind the counter, throws her arms around me, and kisses me once more, her whole body aligned with mine. This kiss is tender and gentle, like her voice when she surfaces to whisper again, “I’m so in love with you.”
Like it’s fragile and breakable. And it is. That’s why you have to treat it with care.
I plan to.
But I also need to jet. “I could kiss you all day. But I have a plane to catch. I’ll make a reservation for dinner tomorrow night, then you can invite me over.”
“You have to leave?”
“Well, I canceled my golf game, but I do have practice this afternoon.”
She bursts into laughter. “You flew down here just to ask me out?”
I stare at her, completely serious. “I sure did.”
That earns me a kiss that makes me want to miss all my practices.
When we separate, there’s a customer meandering around the store, a woman about our age who shoots us a knowing look and smiles like she has a secret. “You two are that Date Night couple?”
I wrap an arm around Rachel. “We are.”
She wags a finger. “I always knew you weren’t just friends.”
Rachel smiles. “You were right.”
When I settle into my flight a little later, I send her a calendar invite for tomorrow night. Dinner with Plays Well With Others.
And Seeking Pro Baller Who Loves Chocolate accepts.
44
IN OTHER WORDS
Carter
Jocundity is the word of the day. It means merriment, jocularity, extreme happiness.
I shake my head at the calendar as I crumple up the page and toss it in the recycling bin the next morning. During my run across the bridge, I try to use the word in a sentence, but it’s just too douchey. Who could possibly say that and mean it?
I shift mental gears as I power up the thigh-burning hills of San Francisco, reviewing the day ahead and everything on my to-do list.
Like my first real date with Rachel.
All day, I am aware of time. As I shower after my run. As I pick up Beck. As we review the game film from Vegas. As we work out and go over the playbook for the home game this coming Sunday.
Rachel will be in the stands. I can’t wait to kiss my girl on the sidelines after we win.
But first, there’s tonight.
And later that evening, I check the ticking clock as I get ready to see her at the restaurant in an hour.
I leave my place with a brand-new kind of excitement in my step. It’s not jocundity though. Nor is it the thrill of a date, though I’m definitely thrilled. And it’s not the excitement over sex tonight, but fuck yes, I want to make her come so many times.
This feeling powering me is all new. Maybe I’ll figure out a better word for it by the end of the date.
Once I shut the door behind me, I turn around to find Monroe standing on his deck, holding a tumbler of scotch. He eyes me up and down then sighs in resignation. “From the looks of it, the coffee shop is closed tomorrow.”