Total pages in book: 80
Estimated words: 80969 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 405(@200wpm)___ 324(@250wpm)___ 270(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 80969 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 405(@200wpm)___ 324(@250wpm)___ 270(@300wpm)
Nope. Not going there tonight.
I’m on a date with the best man I’ve ever known.
My past doesn’t even come into the equation tonight.
When the waiter leaves our table with our drink order, I open my menu but don’t look at it yet.
“Can I say something?”
“Will I like what you have to say?”
I lift a shoulder. “Not sure. But I’m going to say it anyway.”
He gestures with his hand for me to speak.
“I do love this restaurant; it’s amazing. But you do know you didn’t have to drive all the way out of town to bring me here. We could have gone to a restaurant in Canyon Lake.”
A frown appears on his brow. But he doesn’t say anything.
“I know why you didn’t. Because you avoid the people in town. But, honestly, I think maybe you … shouldn’t go out of your way to avoid them. I think … well, maybe things have changed now, you know, with us being friends—”
“We’re just friends?” He raises a dark brow at me.
I feel my cheeks heat. “You know what I mean,” I say quietly.
“I don’t think I do, Red. Because I’m very sure that I want to be more than friends with you. I thought you did, too.”
“You know I do. I wouldn’t be here tonight if I didn’t. But I also know that you’re changing the subject.”
He gives me a slow, knowing smile.
I nudge his leg with my foot under the table. “Ass.” I grin.
“That is also true.” He chuckles.
“So, as I was saying, I think, since people have seen us together and seen you with Hope … I just think maybe things have changed—you know, changed … how they see you.”
“People like that don’t change the way they think. And they’re not people that I want to be around.”
“And I agree. They’re narrow-minded sheep, and I’m not saying you should be friends with them. But I just want you to stop hiding in your hometown.”
He exhales a slow breath.
“Just think about it.”
He stares at me for a moment. “Okay.”
“Can I ask something else?”
“No,” he says, but I know he’s teasing. I can tell by the look in his eyes.
“Why have you never left Canyon Lake if you dislike the place so much?”
He leans back in his chair. “I don’t dislike the place. Only the people—barring two now. And where would I have gone if I had left?”
“Where people are nicer,” I suggest with a shrug.
His lips tip up. “Is there such a place?”
“Probably not,” I admit.
“As strange as this might sound,” he says, “sometimes, the devil you know is better than the devil you don’t.”
“I hope that’s not why you’re out with me tonight.”
That does make him laugh. And I love the sound. It has me smiling from ear to ear.
“Definitely not.” He shakes his head, his laughter subsiding. “Although a lot of people from our town might think that’s the case for you—that you’re out with the devil.”
“Well, I’d rather be out with the devil. At least I know what I’m getting.”
“That’s how you see me? Not like a devil, but that you know what you’re getting with me.”
“Yes.” I smile warmly at him. “And I very much like what I’m getting with you.”
“Good.”
“How do you see me?” I ask tentatively.
“Right now?” He suggestively raises his brow.
I playfully narrow my eyes. “You know what I mean.”
“I’ve always known what I was getting with you. And I’ve always liked it.”
“Even when you were being an ass to me?”
“Even then.” He lets out a breath and picks up the saltshaker. “Say this saltshaker is me.” He picks up the pepper with his other hand. “And the pepper is you. To the outside world and even to us at first, we don’t seem like we should go together. I’m brash and hard. You’re soft and beautiful. But we do go together, Red.” He presses the shakers together. “We go together perfectly.”
My heart pauses, skipping a beat, before starting back up at a faster pace.
A smile lifts my lips.
He smiles, too.
And this is the exact moment that I know for sure that I’m in love with River Wild.
I’m in love with him.
“You’re a closet romantic.” I smile, hiding the words that I feel are scrawled all over my face.
He puts the shakers down and eyes me, amusement sparkling in them. “You ever tell anyone, Red, and I’ll deny it until my dying breath.”
“Your secret’s safe with me.” I grin.
The waiter returns with our drinks and asks if we’re ready to order, but neither of us has even looked at the menu. So, the waiter says he’ll come back.
I pick my wine up and take a sip. Then, I read the menu.
I go for the shrimp brochette, and River orders the freshwater trout.
We mostly talk about Hope over dinner—you know, because she’s awesome. And River tells me stories about times that he and his gran had together.