Total pages in book: 89
Estimated words: 90682 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 453(@200wpm)___ 363(@250wpm)___ 302(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 90682 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 453(@200wpm)___ 363(@250wpm)___ 302(@300wpm)
Things will be different once I’m in Texas, under the stadium lights where I was raised.
I remember Pops taking me to practice with him and conditioning. He’d give me a ball and let me run around with it while he and his teammates ran plays and pushed each other hard in the hot, Southwest sun.
Those were the days, and I want what he had.
Minus the part where he was absentee. Minus the part where he cheated on our mama.
I can’t have it all, but I’m going to fucking try.
Towel still wrapped around my waist, bathroom finally clean, I saunter across the short hallway to Posey’s room.
Her door is ajar: perfect invitation for me to lean against the doorjamb and start a conversation.
She’s reading.
I can’t see what the book is called, but I can see that it’s a romance novel—not surprising, considering that’s all she’s got on the bookshelves downstairs that I’ve seen.
Seems like the little teacher is a romantic.
Too bad her date didn’t work out the way she’d planned. Or not.
I mean, I assumed it wouldn’t, but that doesn’t mean I don’t feel bad for her.
“Knock, knock.”
Posey looks up, not at all surprised to see me. She sets her book on her lap and waits me out.
“I see you survived your shower catastrophe.”
Her mouth is tipped up into half a smile.
A smirk.
Sexy little shit…
“Yup.” I pretend to pick lint off my nonexistent shirt. “You done tryin’ to give me a heart attack?”
A wider smile. “Nope.”
At least she’s honest. “Then be prepared to pay the consequences.”
She taps her chin with a finger. “Did I not say the same thing to you after I paid you back for climbing in through my window?”
Did she? I don’t recall, but I get to my point. “You got me back already. Then you went and done it again, so…” I lift my hands as if to say ‘don’t know what to tell ya.’ “You have a scare comin’.”
“Oh, I’m trembling already.” Her hands go up, and she wiggles her fingers.
Posey looks nonplussed and not at all intimidated by me, which she’s proven that time and time again. She barely blinks an eye when I walk into a room even though I’m tall as the doors.
Sure, she was pissed when I ate her friend’s cake. And yes, she was mad when I broke the porch rail outside (which still needs mending)—but she sure wasn’t quiet when she chewed my ass out during her little snack and wine “party,” stomping up the stairs and lecturing me ’cause I was thumping around.
Anyway.
“Gonna take a drive and see my brothers tomorrow—they’re moving in at school. If you wanna come.”
“Tomorrow?”
“Yeah, Sunday.”
Posey rolls her eyes. “I know what day it is tomorrow.” She pauses, biting on her pouty bottom lip. “How are you getting there?”
“Eli hooked me up with a truck, and it’s gonna be delivered early in the mornin’. Just in case the boys needed anything moved.”
They themselves have trucks, but it’s not as if I was going to arrive at their university behind the wheel of Old Mrs. Galvin’s burgundy Buick—over my dead body.
Besides, I barely fit and don’t need to be miserable for the two-and-a-half-hour drive.
No fucking way.
“Your agent ordered you a truck to be delivered, just like that?” She snaps her fingers as if the idea was strange.
I shift on my heels, crossing my arms. “Sure. You’d be surprised at the sorts of things an agent can order up.” I snap my fingers. “Just like that.”
“La-di-da, isn’t that fancy.” Her head tilts, hair still damp from her earlier shower. “What time are you planning on heading out?”
“Thinking seven? Boys aren’t gonna be ready to roll any earlier than ten I don’t think.” They’re lazy shits when it’s the weekend, and they don’t have to be at the stadium playing ball.
“Boys.” She squints. “How big are these ‘boys’? You talk about them like they’re children.”
My shoulders rise and fall. “Last time I saw Dallas, he was a hair taller than me.” And my head almost hits the top of the doorway. “Big, I guess.”
She shakes her head.
“You got somethin’ better to do tomorrow? On your day off?” Plus, it might take her mind off the shit that happened tonight in case she’s looking for a distraction, but I don’t say that out loud. No sense in bringing it up constantly. “No reason you can’t come along.”
“Not really.” Posey leans back on her pillows in a fresh pajama set, this one just as flirty as the one she had on last night. Skimpy tank top, barely-there shorts.
I avert my eyes so I don’t stare at her tits.
“We can stop for coffee.” Why am I trying so hard to get her to ride along? It’s not as if I can’t just listen to crime busters podcast.
Her brows go up at the offer. “Your treat?”