Total pages in book: 59
Estimated words: 56672 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 283(@200wpm)___ 227(@250wpm)___ 189(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 56672 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 283(@200wpm)___ 227(@250wpm)___ 189(@300wpm)
16
TRACE
“Trace, this is anything but keeping things under wraps for the time being. I mean, you haven’t talked to Wes, and we’re already going out to dinner.” She pulls on my hand, stopping us from walking through the parking lot. Josie already knows how small towns work; what she doesn’t know is that Cooper is doing me a solid. It didn’t take a lot of persuading to get her out of the house for dinner. Even though she grumbled about the amount of work she’d be doing through the night. Josie has been behind since the move, but not cooking sounded like a great idea since the kitchen no longer had running water and using the sink or shower didn’t sound like any amount of fun.
“I’ve got this. My buddy and his wife own the place. We’re using the back door.” I point to the area we’re heading toward. The shoes on her feet definitely aren’t feasible, dainty, like the woman beside me, though when she doesn’t get her way or has something to say, she’ll do whatever is necessary to get my attention, including digging in her heels, forcing me to quit walking.
“You’ve got this all figured out, don’t you?” Josie says, hand no longer trying to dislodge from mine. After I fixed up the front porch step as much as I could without having a piece of pressure-treated wood available to replace the tread, I suggested we head out to dinner, talk over the estimate, what style she wants, and then head back to her place. As much as I want to spend the night with her, there’s no way it’ll be possible. She’s got a mountain of work, and it seems I do, too, now. Cabinets usually take me a few weeks to build, install, and complete the project. The way she posed the question, asking how long it would take, I could hear the worry in her tone, causing me to push up the time frame, meaning I’ll be working late at night depending on the style of cabinets she wants.
“Yeah, babe, I do. I’m waiting on you to get with the program.” She may have stopped us in our tracks, but I’m caging her in once again, to get my point across. “This is not moving fast; it’s moving at a snail’s pace in my eyes. I’ve wanted you for eleven damn years, unsure if you’d even remember me, then I receive a call saying the one and only Josie Preston bought the Miller house. The minute you opened the door, recognized who I was, didn’t slam it in my face but gave me everything a man like me could ever want instead, you became mine. So, while I’m waiting for you to catch up to speed, I’ll do things your way, keep us quiet until we tell Wes. Alright?”
“Yeah, it does. I mean, I know Wes wasn’t the greatest love of my life, we weren’t together that long, and while I wasn’t completely aware of his more than wandering eyes until we returned to college, what we did still wasn’t right.” My damn kid, fucking up when he could have all this beauty standing in front of me. It all works out in the end. I’m going to be the man who has her mornings, her afternoons, and all of her evenings.
“Good. Now let’s get some food, go over some stuff, and spend a night without worrying about Wes.” I take her hand again. This time if she stops me, I’m going to pick her up, throw her over my shoulder, and carry her into Coop’s. I still might. Josie in a pair of sandals and a short bouncy dress, it’ll give me the perfect opportunity to sneak another feel of her body while also protecting her from the damn mess my crew left behind. I’m going to have talk to the guys. If Gia were to be in the same predicament and Coop wasn’t here, she got so much as a scratch, he'd lose his shit, rightfully so.
“If I haven’t thanked you yet, thank you, Trace,” she confides as we get closer to the back entrance. I let her continue, “I needed this, and you, more than I was willing to admit.”
“You’re welcome. I’m happy to oblige anytime. Now hold on because you’re not traipsing through what’s on the ground. Fucking idiots, I swear. They just leave brackets, nails, and all kind of shit behind.” I pick her up, hugging her to the front of my body. Her legs wrap around my waist, and my hand cups her ass, keeping the fabric down when all I really want to do is slide my palm beneath and feel what she’s got on underneath.
“Trace,” she sputters into my ear. My cock perks up at the way my name rolls off her tongue, legs tightening around me. Jesus, the permanent state of hardness my length has been lately, I’ll be shocked if my zipper doesn’t leave an imprint. I slowly lower her from my body. The distance wasn’t nearly enough. If I had it my way, she’d never leave my arms. Sadly, I know Josie wouldn’t go for that, so when we reach the concrete steps, the time has come to an end. And still, as she’s standing a step higher than I am, it doesn’t put us at eye level, our sizes a complete contradiction.