Total pages in book: 44
Estimated words: 42306 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 212(@200wpm)___ 169(@250wpm)___ 141(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 42306 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 212(@200wpm)___ 169(@250wpm)___ 141(@300wpm)
If I’m lucky, our date will turn out to be a total disaster and we’ll have nothing in common. Just because we have chemistry in the sack doesn’t mean a damn thing. It’s entirely possible I jacked myself up for nothing.
Relief floods through me as I latch onto those thoughts with the desperation of a drowning man. Just as my muscles loosen, she flashes a smile. That’s all it takes for my heart to constrict before twisting painfully in my chest.
Poppy
The knock on the apartment door sends my belly into freefall. I flatten my palm against my lower abdomen, hoping that will settle everything that riots dangerously within. It’s as if there’s a horde of angry butterflies attempting to wing their way to life inside me.
It’s ridiculous how nervous I am about this date. It’s not like I haven’t been on dozens of them throughout the years. But for some reason, going out with Mason feels like a big deal. I have the sneaking suspicion it’s because I like him.
Really like him.
Once I reach the tiny entryway, I inhale one last deep breath before grabbing the handle and yanking the door open. I find Mason standing on the other side of the threshold in the hallway. He’s wearing a navy polo and dark wash jeans. Normally, in class, he wears T-shirts. Once, at the garage, I found him bare chested. I’d be lying through my teeth if I didn’t admit that I prefer him without a shirt, but he looks seriously handsome dressed like this.
“Hi.” That’s all it takes for the butterflies to explode for a second time.
“Hey.” Heat sparks in his eyes as his gaze skims down the length of me. “You look beautiful.”
My hand smooths over the sundress that ends around mid-thigh. I can’t help but remember the night he found me stranded along the side of the road. It was the first time he kissed me. My tongue darts out to moisten my lips, almost as if I can still taste him there.
“Thank you.” What’s funny is that this man has already seen me naked—twice—and yet, I feel nervous and shy around him. Going out on a date shouldn’t be a big deal.
But it is.
Our gazes cling for a long moment. It wouldn’t take much for me to drown in his dark depths. They remind me of still waters. It’s only when you’re wading through them that you realize how deep they run.
He clears his throat. “You ready to go?”
“Yup. Let me grab my purse.” I swipe it off the small table in the entryway.
Mason steps aside as I walk into the hallway, locking the apartment door behind me. Tension crackles in the air as we head to the stairwell and then the lobby. His truck is parked out front of the building. I’m intensely aware of his bigger body beside me as he holds open the door to the pickup and I slide inside. A handful of seconds later, we’re pulling out of the lot.
He flicks a glance in my direction. “I hope you don’t mind if we go to O’Donnell’s.”
I shake my head. It’s an Irish pub located on the outskirts of town. They have the best burgers and homemade chips. Not to mention corned beef and cabbage eggrolls.
Yum.
I slant a look in his direction to gage his reaction. “Didn’t want to take me someplace close to campus, huh?”
Guilt flickers across his expression. “I figured the fewer people who saw us out together—at least for the time being—the better off we’d be. Are you still good with that?”
Reaching out, I lay my hand over his larger one before giving it a squeeze. “I’m just teasing. I understand why we’re not sticking close to Claremont, and it’s fine.”
His muscles loosen. “I still don’t think your father will like this.”
“And I still don’t think it’ll be a problem. If we decide to move forward, then we’ll tell him and see who’s right.”
He huffs out a reluctant chuckle. “I guess we will.”
“For the record,” I say with more confidence than I’m feeling, “I think it’ll be me.”
There’s a moment of silence before he murmurs, “I hope you’re right.”
Me, too.
My father has always had a soft spot for Mason, but I have no idea how he’ll feel about his only daughter dating an older man.
He slips his hand from beneath mine. Just as I mourn the loss of contact, he drops it over my smaller one. My pulse skitters as I stare at our clasped hands. There’s something about the rough callouses marring his palm that sends a shiver dancing down my spine. Mason has the hands of a man who uses them for a living. Not a college boy or someone who sits behind a desk in an office forty or fifty hours a week.
It's beyond sexy.
It takes ten minutes for us to reach the restaurant and another five before we’re shown to a table. I glance around, not recognizing anyone who looks to be my age. As we walk through the dining area, I can tell that Mason is also scoping out the situation, although he’s more covert about it.