Total pages in book: 145
Estimated words: 146666 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 733(@200wpm)___ 587(@250wpm)___ 489(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 146666 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 733(@200wpm)___ 587(@250wpm)___ 489(@300wpm)
“You’re handsome, too,” she said hastily, not wanting to insult him.
“Good to know. I’ve got to go check in,” Hack told her. “Do you want to come with me?”
Walk outside? In the snow?
She shook her head, feeling ill.
“All right. So you want to stay in the truck?” he asked.
“Yes.”
She’d close her eyes and pretend to be somewhere else.
“Are you sure you’ll be all right?”
She looked over at him. He really was pretty. And ruggedly handsome. With his beautiful emerald-green eyes and short beard. She’d never been a beard person. But on him, it was sexy as hell.
“Yes. I’ll be fine.”
He eyed her worriedly. “I’m going to leave the truck going with the heated seats on. Just promise me that you’ll stay inside.”
“I will. I promise.”
He gifted her with a warm smile. It made her stomach burn. But with need rather than anxiety.
He got out of the truck, and she instantly wanted to call out for him, to beg him to come back. She hadn’t realized until that moment how much of her sanity had been relying on having him with her.
Screeching of tires.
The cries of someone in pain.
Daddy
Where was he? Why was he just leaving her here? It was so cold.
Stop! Stop it!
She was being ridiculous. It was a freaking snowstorm. It wasn’t that night. She was safe and warm inside the truck. She reached into her handbag again and squeezed Wally.
“Here, I made this for you, Greer-bear.” Cash handed her a brightly-colored fluffy worm. Which was kind of weird for a worm to be fluffy. “You tell him all your worries and he eats them.”
She was lying in the hospital bed, foggy after her operation.
“He’ll eat my worries?”
“Yep. Just tell them to him, and he’ll make them all go away.”
“I’m scared he’s not coming back, Wally.”
Munch. Munch. Munch.
“I’m worried he’ll think I’m totally nuts and won’t want anything to do with me.”
Munch. Munch. Munch.
“I’m worried no one will ever love me, and at the same time, I don’t think I can let anyone love me.”
Munch. Munch. Choke.
Okay, he didn’t really choke. But she could kind of imagine him choking on that last part. It was a big one.
The door beside her opened and she screamed, trying to jump sideways only to slam into the middle console. She let out a pained squeak.
“Shit. Sorry, Greer. Are you all right? Did you hurt yourself?”
He was standing in the open doorway, snow falling down around him. It was going to land on her. Her breathing came in sharp pants.
“I . . . I can’t.”
“It’s all right. You’re okay.” He grasped hold of her hands in his. The shock of how cold his were penetrated her fear.
It wasn’t okay, though. It really wasn’t. The snow was coming down fast and hard.
At least they weren’t driving anymore. But still . . . she couldn’t.
“It’s so cold.”
“Shit. Okay, baby. We’re going to move really quickly, all right?”
“I don’t know if I can.”
He cupped her chin in his hand. She expected some sort of pep talk. Where he’d tell her she could do anything.
“What do you need, then?” he asked.
“W-what?” What did she need? When was the last time anyone had asked her that?
“What do you need to make it into the hotel room?”
“I don’t . . . I don’t know.”
“Yes, you do.”
“N-no snow on my s-skin.”
“All right. I can do that.” He undid her belt. Then, grabbing his jacket, he drew it off her and wrapped it around her shoulders and head.
“Good?”
“Yes, thank you.” Not only would it keep the snow off her face, but it would keep her warm too.
Don’t look at the snow.
“I’m going to lift you out now.”
She appreciated his warning as she clutched her handbag to her chest while he picked her up.
Breathe in. Breathe out.
He used his hip to shut the door to his tuck. “Bury your face into my chest. I’ll carry you into the room.”
So bossy.
She should protest. Should insist that he set her down. What if he slipped and fell? She could land on him and really hurt him.
Instead, like the wimp she was, she wrapped her arms and legs around him and clung to him tightly.
“That’s it, Princess Pumpkin. Good girl.”
“Ick.” Princess Pumpkin? That was terrible.
“You don’t like that one? Hmm, what about Snookums?”
Snookums? “Noooo.”
He started up the stairs. Oh God.
“Gonna drop me.”
“I’m not going to drop you, Snookums. I promise. I’ll never let you fall.”
Shit.
If only that was a promise he could actually keep. If he could be there for her all the time . . . then yeah, maybe she would never fall.
“I have you. Just hold onto me. Now, tell me, what’s wrong with Snookums?”
“It’s t-terrible.”
“Hmm. I don’t know. I think that’s the one I’ll keep. Snuggly Snookums. Sweetie Snookums. Sugar-pie-snookum-bum.”
Oh my God. He was ridiculous.
Which she knew was the point. He was distracting her.