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)
It was fine.
We were fine.
I almost believed it, too, as we made our way to our rooms — me lugging Grace’s heavy suitcase as she carried my duffle bag on her shoulder.
It felt like maybe, just maybe, we could go right back to the way we’d been. We could forget what happened at the festival, chalk it up to being caught up in the moment.
But when I unlocked her room first, rolling her suitcase inside and propping it against the wall, that hope drained out of me. Because the door closed behind Grace with a quiet snick, and when I turned to face her, the silence fell over us like a shield.
We were alone.
In a hotel room.
With a bed just calling our fucking names.
My heart thundered in my chest again, and I cleared my throat, taking my hat off long enough to run my hand through my hair as I looked around at any and everything but the woman standing at the door.
“Alright, well. I’ll let you get settled,” I said. “Let’s try to head out by seven thirty tomorrow. We can grab breakfast on the way.”
I walked toward the door.
But Grace didn’t budge.
She stayed blocking my path, shrugging my bag off her shoulder and gently setting it on the floor. “You should stay for a while.”
“Grace…”
She hooked me by the elbow, not letting me argue as she dragged me back toward the bed.
Fuck.
Fuck, fuck, fuck.
She kicked out of her sneakers and peeled off her socks before falling back into the mattress, sprawling out like she was about to make a snow angel while I sat uneasily on the edge of it. She leaned up long enough to take off the pink cowgirl hat she’d bought at the festival, and then struggled out of her crossbody bag, tossing it on the bedside table.
The thing jangled every time she walked, a mess of keys attached to the clasp of it.
“Why do you have all those?” I asked, praying that if I got her talking, I could stop focusing on how her sundress just barely covered her when she laid out like that.
Grace looked at the keys with a smile, eyes lazy when they found mine. “Just collected them over the years, I guess.”
There had to be at least seven keys on the ring, along with two keychains — one that was a fuzzy yellow puff ball and the other a baby blue leather tassel.
“Boyfriends?” I guessed, arching a brow. The question burned my lips even as I tried to make my voice light with it.
Grace’s smile grew, and she bit her lip before turning onto her side to face me. “Since I’m on the go a lot, my parents wanted to make sure I had keys to all our homes.” She held up her hand and counted off on her fingers. “Michigan house, Colorado house, Florida house… but then there’s also my dorm room key that I forgot to turn in, a spare to Vince’s, and one to Dad’s wine cellar that I made a copy of without him knowing.”
“Scandalous,” I teased.
She made a little hum of agreement, but her smile was slipping in the next breath, heat glazing her eyes.
Fuck.
I have to get out of here.
I used what little willpower I had left to stand. “Alright, I—”
“Wait!” Grace rolled, her sundress riding up her thighs and showing the lower crease of her ass before she popped up out of bed. My perverted mind went straight back to the festival, to when I’d surrendered to the overwhelming need to touch her and felt that ass in one satisfying handful.
Jesus Christ.
I rolled my eyes up to the ceiling, fighting against a boner as she grabbed her phone and hopped back onto the bed. This time, she was on her knees, and she crawled over to where I stood, hitting record on her phone before holding it out so we both fit in the frame.
“July third. I succeeded in wrangling Jaxson Brittain not only into camping in a tent last night,” she said, holding up a victorious finger. “But into wearing an LED mask — at a rave, mind you — and into dancing the day away. Oh,” she added, reaching for her cowgirl hat and slapping it on her head. “And I got this hat, which looks amazing on me.”
I chuckled, which drew her attention. She whipped the camera around to face me.
“Tell me something good, Jaxson.”
Her eyes danced with a challenge, and I had to swallow down the flash of the festival that hit me like a freight train when she did. I could see the way her neck had arched for me, feel the heat of her thighs when I spread them with mine, hear the little gasp I elicited from her just before I lowered my mouth to hers…
There were plenty of good things about today.