Total pages in book: 105
Estimated words: 99494 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 497(@200wpm)___ 398(@250wpm)___ 332(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 99494 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 497(@200wpm)___ 398(@250wpm)___ 332(@300wpm)
Oh my God, my throat gets tight and starts to burn.
Holy shit, I’m in love with him. When did that happen?
“I…”
“You know what?” He walks over to the chair in the corner of the room and grabs his jeans. “Never mind, we’ll just continue to pretend you’re just staying the night every night.”
“I…”
“Does that work?” He looks over at me.
“Umm.” I shake my head. “Yeah.”
“Good,” he grumbles
Okay, I think I’m in shock, and not because I just agreed to move in with him in some weird way. No, I’m still stunned by the fact that I’m in love with him, and I’m pretty sure he loves me back.
“I love you,” I blurt as he buttons his jeans, and the annoyance around his eyes and mouth melts away as his face gets soft.
“I know, baby. I love you too.”
“Oh.” I swallow over the lump in my throat as my eyes start to water.
“Hey,” he says softly as he walks to the side of the bed and takes a seat, wrapping his hand around the side of my neck. “What’s with the tears?”
“I don’t know,” I grumble, wiping at my cheeks, and he laughs.
“Come here, baby.” He pulls me into him, then settles me across his lap.
“You’re the best thing to ever happen to me.” He smiles as he slides his hand around the side of my neck. “And if you need me to pretend for a while that we don’t live together and that we’re some version of normal, I’ll do that, okay?”
“’Kay.”
“Fuck.” He buries his face in my neck. “My girl is strong in the face of everything else except her feelings for me.”
“You’re a lot to handle.”
“And you love me.”
“I do,” I agree, and he kisses my neck before pulling back to look at me.
“Do you still want to go out, or do you want to just hang here and read in bed?”
“I want to go bungee jumping.”
“Olivia.”
“Please,” I whisper, and he lets out a long breath as he stares into my eyes.
“Give me a second. I’m trying to figure out if it will ever be possible to tell you no.”
“Probably not.” I smile, and he sighs.
“Fuck, okay, but if something goes wrong, I’m spanking your ass.”
“Nothing is going to go wrong.” I lean up to kiss his jaw, then scoot off his lap. “It’s going to be fun.”
Bax
This is far from fucking fun.
With my arms wrapped tight around Olivia, I look out at the mountains that surround us to avoid looking down at what will likely be my death.
Fuck.
After driving around Gatlinburg and doing all the tourist stuff, including mining for gems out of a sand bucket that cost a hundred dollars, I stayed true to my promise and drove us to the bungee jumping place. The moment we arrived, they told us that Olivia and I could jump together, and I couldn’t admit to her that I was scared to death of heights. That even at work, the guys all know that if something needs to be done on a roof, they need to find someone else to go up there. My max height is twelve feet, and even that’s pushing it, which led me to paying for the two of us to jump tandem.
“You two ready?” the teenage kid named Cody who helped us into our harnesses asks and I glare at him only to have him smile huge.
“Ready.” Olivia laughs, and I look down at her, wondering what the fuck love has done to me. Obviously, it’s made me insane because there is no other reason I’d be doing this right now. “It’s going to be okay,” she whispers.
“It better be.”
“You’re going to love this.”
That’s doubtful.
“On the count of three,” Cody says, and my stomach pitches. “One… Two… Three.” Fuck, it’s too late to turn back, so I follow Olivia’s lead and pray to whatever god will listen as we fall over the edge of the skinny platform into nothingness. I swear I must black out because until the rubber band snaps us back, I don’t remember anything, not one single second. Then the sound of Olivia’s laughter hits my ears, and I open my eyes, feeling more alive than I ever have and also more sure than ever that I fucking hate heights.
“We are never doing this again,” I whisper, and she giggles, burying her face in my chest.
CHAPTER 27
Olivia
Hearing Bax call out my name, I tug my mascara wand away from my lashes and glance over at the open bathroom door. “I’m in the bathroom,” I call out, then hear the heavy sound of his boots on the wood floor.
“Babe.” His big frame fills the doorway. “We gotta go. You’re going to be late, which means I’m going to be late.”
“First, I told you that you don’t need to wait for me. I’m literally walking into the garage and getting in my car. Second, I don’t need an escort to follow me to work. And third.” I meet his gaze in the mirror. “You’re the one who wouldn’t let me out of bed this morning even after my alarm went off, so if we are late, it’s no one’s fault but your own.”