Total pages in book: 67
Estimated words: 67510 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 338(@200wpm)___ 270(@250wpm)___ 225(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 67510 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 338(@200wpm)___ 270(@250wpm)___ 225(@300wpm)
It was refreshing.
He was my breath of fresh air.
Which was yet another reason I never stopped thinking about him.
His eyes bore into mine and once again rendered me speechless as I sat on the railing in the zoo, which was our destination. We’d just spent the past two hours on a private tour he scheduled for us.
Despite visiting Australia a few times, I got to hold a koala for the first time in my life. Not only did I get to hold one but I also got to feed it. It took everything inside me to give it back to the tour guide. I loved animals. If I hadn’t become an actress, I would have been a vet or something along those lines.
We got a picture with it and then fed the kangaroos and all sorts of other animals. It was the perfect first date. He remembered how much I wanted to hold a koala every time we traveled here, so he made it happen for me. I could have burst from that alone.
He stared at me with the same swagger and confidence he always exuded. Another thing I liked about him was how he looked at me. There was something about him. Since the first time I laid my eyes on him, I couldn’t tear my gaze away from his. He had this magnetic pull I was instantly drawn to.
It came from something deeper.
More meaningful.
A connection I couldn’t explain, growing stronger with each minute that passed between us. I knew he felt it. He was the type of guy who would notice everything. Neither one of us said a word for a couple of seconds, but it didn’t matter. Our eyes spoke volumes, causing the nervous feeling in my core to subside.
“Tell me about yourself, Bailey.”
“What do you want to know?”
“Everything.”
“You say that like you mean it.”
“I don’t say anything I don’t mean.”
I ignored his response, asking, “What do you want to know?”
“I mean, you don’t have to tell me your blood type, but I do want to know if I could trust you with my heart. You can never be too careful. My mom tells me so.”
I laughed.
“Honesty truly is the best policy. I’m upfront, and I don’t want women falling in love with me.”
“Commitment phobic?”
“Quite the opposite. I’ve committed my entire life to being single, and I’ve never hurt a woman because of it.”
“I see. So you’ve never been in a relationship? Never had a girlfriend?”
He grinned. “And that surprises you why?”
“I don’t know.” I shrugged. “You seem like you would be an amazing boyfriend.”
“Enough about me.” He kissed me. “I want to hear all about you.”
“You’re a paradox of contradictions, Nicholas Aires.”
“Do you need me to start slow? How about I lead you in the right direction? Tell me about your favorite color?”
“I don’t have a favorite color.”
“You mean it isn’t your beloved pink anymore?”
“Actually, I’m not a fan of pink.”
He narrowed his eyes at me.
“I’m more a blue kind of girl now.”
“Well, my blue balls agree with you.”
I giggled as he took me in with those eyes again. Knowing he could see right through me made my stomach flutter for entirely different reasons. And as much as it terrified me, it also thrilled me.
I smiled. Despite the awareness in his eyes, I looked away. I had to. Reaching into my purse, I turned my attention to a piece of gum I was pulling out, avoiding the look in his eyes that I wasn’t ready to feel. I put it in my mouth, needing some sort of distraction from the sudden realness between us.
“Sharing is caring.” He nodded toward the wrapper in my hand.
“I think that was my last one.”
“You don’t share your candy. I’m having flashbacks to our childhood. Will I have to chase you around like I did when we were kids?”
“You mean terrorize me?”
“And you loved it then as much as you would right now.”
“My mom never told me that boys were mean to me because they liked me.”
“I find that hard to believe. If that were true, you wouldn’t have dated the douchebags you’ve been linked to.”
As if on cue, my stomach did that somersault thing again. Except this time, it felt like it would never end, twisting and turning and flipping.
Never taking his eyes off mine, he leaned over with a mischievous grin. I felt this jolt. This immediate spark made my mouth dry and my face flush, a burning sensation all over my body.
“You kept up with my dating life, huh?”
“Had to make sure you were being taken care of.”
“I see.”
His cunning smile told me he knew exactly what I was feeling, thinking, wanting. We spent the next hour talking. His hand remained on my thigh, brushing his fingers ever so lightly over my sensitive skin.
We laughed.
We joked.
We picked on one another.