Total pages in book: 12
Estimated words: 11120 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 56(@200wpm)___ 44(@250wpm)___ 37(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 11120 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 56(@200wpm)___ 44(@250wpm)___ 37(@300wpm)
“We broke up.”
“You dumped him?” I settle beside her on the couch.
“I… It was mutual.” Her gaze drops away, her shyness tinged with shame. “He wanted more than I wanted to give.”
Heat flares in my chest. “Did he do something to you?”
“I'm okay, Joel,” she says quickly, as if she recognizes there's a monster inside me roaring to be let out. “He didn't do anything.”
I make a note to check if she’s telling the whole truth, or downplaying it to be nice. If Landon hurt her, I’ll kill him with my bare hands.
It'd be so easy. Hang around one of the ratty college bars on a Friday night and wait for him to stagger out drunk. Hit him over the head or choke him out, and secure him in the trunk of a throwaway car. I live on a ton of private land. It’s easy to hide a body in these woods.
“Joel.” She puts her hand on mine, and my murderous visions fade away.
“It’s fine. It just wasn't working out.”
“You're too good for him.” Her hand is delicate, pure, in my dirty palm, but I can’t let her go.
“It's nice of you to say that.”
“It's true. You're too good for anybody in this town.”
Her long lashes flutter. She doesn’t believe me. I shouldn’t touch her but I can’t let this pass.
“You’re perfect.” And she is. Dark hair, dark eyes, pure skin. Lush curves under the bulky sweaters she wears. She zoomed through high school and college, graduating early. She’s only working at the grocery store to pay the bills and help out her aunt. Soon she’ll have her Masters and be done with our small town.
Lainey Stevens is going places. Me? I'm an ex-con, living like a hermit on a deserted mountain. I might as well be a million years older than her. I fix up old cars and sell them at a profit, making enough so I don't have to count coins when I buy ground beef and tomato sauce at Gemma’s store. Lainey’s so high above me she might as well be in the clouds.
But she doesn’t seem to understand that. She shrugs off my compliment.
I grasp her chin, forcing her to look at me. “It’s true. Lainey, listen to me.” I wait until her gaze meets mine. “You are perfect. You are. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.” Our faces are inches apart, her breath sweet on my lips. “Do you understand? Say yes, Joel.”
“Yes, Joel.”
Damn, if that doesn't get me hard.
Her tongue darts out and licks her top lip, glazing it. She has a perfect mouth with thick and curvy lips. I bet her pussy looks the same.
I’m so busy fantasizing about her pussy, I almost miss her little laugh.
“You’re always lecturing me. Remember the last time my car broke down?”
I do, vividly. The summer heat, and her bent over to check her tires, her dress hitching up the back of her curvy calves and delicious rear. She wore a white cardigan and looked modest and sexy at the same time. “You were driving up here with bald tires. You deserved a lot more than a lecture.”
She’s looking at the floor again, instead of at me. “You said if it happened again… I’d be in trouble.”
“I said more than that. I told you if you ever drove on bald tires again, I’d turn you over my knee.” I wait for her to run, screaming. Instead, her breath hitches and her lips curve.
I save us both from the silence. “I’ll take a look at your car before they tow it. I might be able to fix it. Your car and I have a good relationship.”
“You’re always rescuing me.”
I rise, because I can’t sit close to her any longer. My dick makes it too uncomfortable. “Right. You’re going to sit cozy. I’m going to feed you. And in the morning, I’ll trek out to call for a tow. If the roads are good, I’ll take you home. I can try to text Gemma now, so she’s not worried.”
“Okay.” She sounds reluctant. “I texted her too. She won’t be worried.”
Something about her tone strikes me as off, but I don’t think too hard about it. After I’ve fired off the text, I serve her a bowl of beef stew and hover over her to make sure she eats. “You’re lucky I was here tonight,” I say, picking at my own stew. I don’t want to think about what would have happened if she’d been stuck up here alone.
“I heard you tell Gemma you'd be home for Christmas,” she blurts, and ducks her head.
I rock back on my heels, feeling amused that she eavesdropped on me, just like I do with her. I might go grocery shopping more than I need to, just to see her.
I take her bowl and hand her back the book to read while I wash up. I’m mopping up the wet spots where the snow melted on the floor when what Lainey said earlier lands.