Total pages in book: 166
Estimated words: 157273 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 786(@200wpm)___ 629(@250wpm)___ 524(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 157273 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 786(@200wpm)___ 629(@250wpm)___ 524(@300wpm)
Which was probably why she was foundering now.
“Kind of like the café.” Caroline nodded. “I get that.”
I was still hung up on Allie’s confession. True, she lit up like a star on that stage, but she brightened every room she walked into whether or not she was in pointe shoes. I shook my head. “You’re smart,” I said, knowing damn well I should have kept my mouth shut, that I was blurring the lines between what she considered a fake relationship and my very real feelings.
Allie sat back on her heels. “What?”
“I said you’re smart.” I doubled down, staring into my own reflection in her sunglasses and wishing I could see her eyes. “And kind, protective, observant, tenacious, compassionate, an oxymoron of hesitance and bravery, and a thousand other things that have nothing to do with ballet. I knew all of that about you in the first five minutes we met, and you were nowhere near a studio.”
Allie’s lips parted.
Caroline fumbled her bucket.
“Mom won’t let me do ballet,” Juniper announced as she dug the moat past Allie’s knees.
Holy shit, she just went there.
Allie stared down at Juniper as she crawled by, her brow furrowing.
“You make it sound like I don’t feed you.” Caroline finished her bucket. “I feed her.”
“Can I ask why?” Allie acted like this was all new information for her.
Damn, she’s a good actress.
Caroline shoveled bigger heaps of sand into the bucket. “First off, it’s expensive. Secondly, I don’t have time to be one of those moms that gossips with the others about whose kid is better than the rest, and third . . .” She finished the bucket and set it aside. “The only ballet dancers I know aren’t people I’d really want to spend time with.”
“Caroline—” Fuck this. She’d promised.
“No.” Allie held up her hand. “I appreciate her honesty. I could say that about a lot of different sports too. But it would be a shame to judge all dancers based off the few you’ve met, even if I’m included in your sample group.”
Caroline moved forward, then dumped the bucket into place before looking over at Allie. “I promised my brother I’d give you a shot, and that I wouldn’t judge you based off the actions of your family. Because the truth is, I don’t know you.”
“Seems like a good place to start, since I don’t know you either.” Allie dumped another handful of sand in the bucket.
My chest went all tight. Damn, I was proud of her. It was time to cut this session off while she was coming out ahead. “I think we need some water.”
“The sand is already wet here.” Juniper dug around the back of the castle.
“Not what I meant.” I shook my head at Allie, slowly smiling. She’d had a shit day yesterday, and if there was a chance I could make good on that promise of a distraction, I was taking it.
Her eyebrows rose above her sunglasses, and she immediately crouched, then stood. “I know that look, Hudson, and it’s cold.” She toed off her sandals and glanced to the right, choosing an escape route.
“I’d argue that it’s unseasonably warm.” I stood and tugged off my shirt, then dropped it on the sand. My sunglasses followed.
She backed up a few steps, then did a double take and stared straight at me, her mouth falling open slightly.
Was that a hitch in her breathing? Fuck. I couldn’t see her eyes, couldn’t read her expression. “I’d drop the glasses if you don’t want to lose them,” I warned her, stepping over Caroline’s tower and narrowly missing the moat.
“Hudson Ellis,” Allie warned, retreating another few steps, but she didn’t tell me no. We both knew that single word would stop me in my tracks.
“Really. They look like nice sunglasses.” I full-on grinned.
“Seriously with the dimple?” she muttered, ripping her sunglasses off and tossing them near the bucket. “Not fair.”
“Never said I played fair.” That was all the warning she had before I ran straight at her.
She squealed as I scooped her off the sand and threw her over my shoulder. “You have to be kidding me!”
“I’m not.” I walked straight at the surf, cutting between Gavin and Eric. “I never kid when it comes to you.”
“I swear, if you drop me in this water—” Her hands fought for purchase along my back, and she pushed herself up so she wasn’t dangling.
“You’ll what? Live a little? Get a little cold? A little wet?” My feet hit the water, and the chill raced up my shins.
“Ugh. A little wet? That’s the best you have?” She worked her sandy hands to my shoulders, and I banded my arms around the backs of her thighs so she didn’t go sliding down into the water as she held herself upright. “I’m disappointed. You need to work on your game, Ellis.”