Total pages in book: 129
Estimated words: 121764 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 609(@200wpm)___ 487(@250wpm)___ 406(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 121764 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 609(@200wpm)___ 487(@250wpm)___ 406(@300wpm)
I blinked at the suddenness of it, but I didn’t know why I was surprised at this point. The girl was like the weather — reliable only in her unpredictability.
“We don’t have any hiking gear,” I pointed out.
“Fine,” she said, sucking her teeth like she was annoyed with my rationale. “Let’s go for an outdoor walk.”
I shook my head on a smile. “You’re a brat.”
“A menace and a brat?” She shimmied her shoulders, already pulling up AllTrails on her phone to find a hike. “Out here earning gold stars left and right.”
• • •
Grace somehow convinced me to pull off the highway near Chattanooga, even when I tried to argue that all the reviews on the hike said boots and poles were suggested.
So, here we were, slipping on the muddy rocks as we climbed, Grace skipping along with a bright smile while I grumbled like an old man.
“Please be careful,” I said for what felt like the hundredth time as I watched Grace lose her step on a slippery part of the ascent. Her sneakers were covered in clay, with absolutely no purchase, which left her windmilling and just barely catching her balance more than I cared to witness.
“I’m fine, ya big fuddy duddy.” She looked at me over her shoulder with a grin. “Maybe it’s you who should be careful. First, you’re flirting with me, and now, you’re worried about my safety? People might get the wrong idea, Brittzy.”
She giggled with the tease, sprinting up a particularly steep climb while I followed at a slower pace.
As much as I grumbled and complained, it was very beautiful — thick, lush trees surrounding us on either side of the trail, mossy rocks that looked like something out of a fairy tale, and the distant sound of rushing water. Even though it was July, it was comfortable in the shade. It felt like a spring day more than a summer one.
I didn’t realize how much I missed seasons and cool weather, how much I longed for something that wasn’t just a perpetual heat wave. Tampa was amazing in the short winter we had, but other than that, it was just… hot.
Still, I stayed there even in the off-season when I had the opportunity to travel — mostly because if I did travel, I knew I’d have no excuse not to go home.
And that was one place I did not want to go.
“I can’t believe I’m the one leading,” Grace called behind her. “With how much you skate, I thought it’d be your endurance outshining mine.”
“Says the one huffing and puffing through that sentence,” I shot back.
She laughed.
And then, she lost her footing again.
I cursed under my breath as I hiked faster to catch up to her, because I saw her arms flailing and sneakers sliding and knew this was one fall she wasn’t going to be able to escape. I caught up just in time for her to fall backward into me, and had I not been there, she likely would have cracked her head wide open on one of those rocks I was just admiring.
“Besides, I have to walk behind so I can ensure there are no deaths during this hike,” I said pointedly, helping her upright once more.
Grace just laughed, and then she looked over her shoulder at me, her eyes widening a bit at how close we were.
My hands were splayed on her hips, holding steady even now that she was fine on her own. She was wearing highlighter green biker shorts and a matching sports bra, leaving nothing but smooth skin for my thumbs to graze in-between the two fabrics.
Fuck, she was pretty.
Her pink lips curled into a soft smile the longer she looked at me, the longer I looked back. She had her long hair swept into a ponytail and covered with a baseball cap — the same one she’d worn that night at Vince’s that said asshole on it. Her chest was sweat-slicked and heaving a bit from the effort of the hike, her eyes matching the pine around us and dancing with a playfulness that made me want to push her against the nearest tree and kiss her breathless.
I closed my eyes hard and tight, subtly gritting my teeth as I released my hold on her.
Teammate’s little sister.
Eight years younger.
It was becoming a mantra at this point, one I repeated over and over hoping it would eventually sink into my thick skull. Sometimes, like in this moment, I had enough control not to be an idiot. But when I opened my eyes again, I kept them on the ground where our feet were until she started moving again.
Because my restraint when she looked at me like that was basically nonexistent.
Grace stood there for a long moment before she started hiking again, and I breathed a little easier once there was some space between us. I followed, and then she hit me in the gut with a question I didn’t expect.