Total pages in book: 72
Estimated words: 67982 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 340(@200wpm)___ 272(@250wpm)___ 227(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 67982 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 340(@200wpm)___ 272(@250wpm)___ 227(@300wpm)
“You’re kidding,” she says as her jaw drops slightly.
“Not kidding. But it’s not kittens. It’s of the Grand Canyon. It looks really hard because it’s just all so brown.”
Josie laughs again. It’s just as rich and beautiful sounding as before. “Okay, fine. Buds. Pizza and puzzles, and there’s nothing weird about this at all.”
Before I can assure her I don’t find it weird in the slightest, a slight boom echoes in the distance before the sky explodes with light.
Josie gives a yip of fright as her head snaps toward the town homes across the street and then she gasps as she sees the outward spreading circle of sparkling lights in the sky.
“Fireworks,” she murmurs in awe.
“It’s the Fourth of July,” I tell her. “Figured you hadn’t really thought about watching the fireworks, but they have a nice show over at the shopping complex behind those houses across the way.”
Her eyes slide to me and her voice is hesitant. “You got pizza and had me come over here to eat on your balcony so I could see fireworks.”
“See,” I say with a waggle of my eyebrows. “I’m totally not shallow.”
“Are you expecting casual sex in return?” she asks while leveling a schoolteacher, disapproving-type look at me.
I laugh at her and look back to the sky. “Absolutely not, Josie. This is just for you to be able to celebrate the Fourth. Nothing more.”
Josie gives me a hesitantly sweet smile before she turns her face back to the sky. I watch as her skin glows from the bright fireworks going off, reflecting in her brown eyes. My intentions were just to establish a friendship with her, because I do find her immensely interesting. But I can’t deny that if she were to offer casual sex, I wouldn’t say no.
Chapter 4
Josie
I scroll through the news articles on my laptop, trying to be somewhat of an adult so I know what’s going on around the world. My eyes keep cutting to the jigsaw puzzle that’s about three quarters of the way completed. It takes up most of my kitchen table and I’ve been working on it a little bit each night before bed. It’s a really scenic picture of hot air balloons over grape fields.
So lame.
I sip my coffee and go back to reading the news. After ten minutes, I’m thoroughly depressed and shut the laptop down. I stand from the chair, ignore my puzzle, which is what I really want to do, and head into my kitchen for another cup of coffee. Halfway there, I’m frozen by a knock on my door.
Without knowing for sure, I just know it’s Reed. I’ve got no close friends here who would just stop by, and I know none of the other neighbors. Unless it’s someone selling something, it has to be Reed, and this is a gated community, so there are no unwanted solicitors.
I set my cup on the table as I walk through the living area. My town home layout is similar to his. The units are long and narrow. The main floor is just the living room leading into a kitchen with a powder room to the side. Upstairs there are two bedrooms, one on the front and one on the back. Downstairs is a bonus room that I set up a small office in, but I hardly ever go down there. I prefer to sit at my kitchen table or my couch with my laptop if I have to catch up on reports or respond to emails.
Going to my tiptoes and leaning in, I put my eye to the peephole.
Yup. Hot, charming hockey player on the other side.
So damn charming. Buying pizza and making fireworks available to me. A jigsaw puzzle, which we worked on for about half an hour before large yawns caused him to chase me out of his house.
After a deep breath, I open the door and give him a brilliant smile. “Morning, neighbor.”
“Morning,” he says with an answering smile, then pushes right past me into my house.
“Come on in,” I mutter, but secretly I have to say this is a nice surprise.
Reed chuckles as he walks right through my living room and into the kitchen. I watch bemused as he roots around in my cupboards until he finds a mug and pours himself a cup of coffee.
“Cream is in the fridge,” I say as I walk in behind him and head to the coffeepot to refill my own mug.
“Just black,” he says, and blows over the top of the liquid. He takes a small sip and makes a grunt of what I think is appreciation.
I take mine black too, so I lean a hip against the counter and take a tiny sip of mine before asking, “So, what’s up? Nothing better to do than bug me?”
Reed grins. “Well, I had a date with Porn Star Barbie today, but just wasn’t feeling it.”