Total pages in book: 79
Estimated words: 74298 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 371(@200wpm)___ 297(@250wpm)___ 248(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 74298 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 371(@200wpm)___ 297(@250wpm)___ 248(@300wpm)
“I didn’t know you could be such a cuddler,” I murmured. It felt like heaven under here, in the sheets that smelled like him. To me, anywhere that smelled like him was home.
“Guilty as charged,” he said.
“Is this the kind of boyfriend you’re going to be?”
“What? Cuddly?”
“Cuddly, sexy, fucking me like I’m yours, taking care of me, taking showers with me…”
He hummed behind me. “I’m going to be all this and more,” came his voice, deep and velvety. “I won’t be able to stop being like this, actually, so I think you’d better get used to it if you want to be with me.”
I sighed in his arms, knowing that he was dozing off by the way his voice sounded. I’d heard him getting sleepy like that so many times over the years, while camping or on drunken nights when we passed out on the couch near each other. I never could have dreamed I’d be in his bed, in his arms, hearing that same sweet sound.
“I love you,” I said softly. I felt his arms squeeze around me a little harder, just for a moment.
“I love you more than I know how to explain.”
I knew he meant it. And I also knew he was drifting into dreamworld, because he was making the same few soft, quiet satisfied hums he always made as he drifted to sleep.
15
JACK
“Whiskey,” I said. “Straight. I don’t care what kind.”
Red lifted an eyebrow at my request as I plopped down on one of the leather bar stools at the tavern, my mind running at a million miles a minute.
“You look like hell,” Red said. If even he was saying it, it must have been true.
“I look like shit,” I agreed. “I know. Hence the need for whiskey.”
“I wouldn’t say you look like shit,” Mitch said, coming around toward the bar carrying liquor bottles to restock the shelves. “Just… haggard. Worn-down. Scatterbrained, maybe.”
“All very nice ways of saying I look like shit, so thank you guys,” I said. “It is nice to see you, Mitch.”
“Mitch has been cutting down his hours ever since his hubby got that nice promotion,” Sam said with a wink as he emerged from the back kitchen, a skewer of incredible-looking grilled meat in his hand.
“The perks of being in love with a smarty-pants like Evan,” Mitch said. “I always knew he’d end up as an administrator at the school district.”
Sam chewed a piece of the meat as he looked over at me, his eyes going wide. “Damn. You look like fucking shit. What’s wrong with you?”
I sighed, but I couldn’t keep a smile off my face at Sam’s bluntness. Plus, Red had just slid my whiskey across the bar, and he’d been very generous with the portion. As I started tossing back the liquid gold, the kitchen door swung open again and Perry came out, glaring at Sam.
“I told you not to take that skewer,” Perry said. “I’m trying to make a comparison of the four different sauces, and I can’t do that if you’re taking random skewers out of the equation.”
Sam just looked over at him, chewing. “But it’s so good,” Sam said.
“You’re going to be the death of me,” Perry said, taking the bar towel from beside him and trying to give Sam a little thwack.
“Hey! You can’t do that!” Sam said, but he couldn’t help but giggle.
Perry tried another couple of times before both of them started to laugh. I just watched as I sipped—tried not to chug—my whiskey, and I was grateful for the entertainment.
When Perry looked over at me, he cocked his head to one side. “Jack,” he said. “You’re looking… unusual today.”
The rest of the guys behind the bar burst out laughing again.
“See?” I said. “Perry is kind to me. He knows how to tell me I look like shit politely.”
“Are you going to explain why you’re looking so tired and slurping that whiskey down like it’s water in a heat wave?” Red asked.
Suddenly I was met with stares from all four of them as they waited for my answer.
“I’m screwed,” I said.
Sam lifted an eyebrow. “Explain.”
I looked around the bar. There were a good few customers here at this point, but most of them seemed comfortable in their own zones right now, playing pool or chilling in their booths with pitchers of beer and margaritas. There was nobody else sitting at the actual bar right now, so I turned to the guys and let out a sigh.
“I haven’t slept in about three days,” I said. “Because I’m head-over-heels in love with my best friend and because I’m an idiot, I agreed to move to Colorado with him.”
There was a lull where all of them just stood there staring at me.
“...And?” Sam finally said. “How in the hell is this a bad thing? Oh my God, Jack, I’ve been waiting for you two to finally admit you’re in love, this is the best news I’ve heard all day!”