Total pages in book: 70
Estimated words: 69266 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 346(@200wpm)___ 277(@250wpm)___ 231(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 69266 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 346(@200wpm)___ 277(@250wpm)___ 231(@300wpm)
I rolled my eyes dramatically. “Course not. The luck is for everyone else on the road to survive my demon speeds.”
Weston cracked up and shifted us into gear. “Yeah, I really missed you.”
I flushed again as he peeled out of the parking lot. We listened to the local pop station on the way home, jamming out to Taylor Swift’s latest. West spoke of the merits of her piano playing, and I sang the lyrics at the top of my lungs to drown out the shop talk.
He parked my SUV next to his Subaru, and I hightailed it to the garage door.
“Okay, before you judge, remember that I didn’t know you were coming home. I can change any of it.”
He stood in front of me, brushing his hand against my side as he reached for the doorknob. “You’re scaring me. What the hell did you do?”
I held my arms out to try to stop him from going inside. “Not yet. Let me explain.”
But there was no way I could stop him from getting into his own house. He dropped his body down, throwing me over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. His strong arm wrapped across the backs of my thighs. My bare thighs because I’d opted for a white skirt for work today. Oh God.
I screamed in shock as he lifted me and carried me over the threshold.
“West!”
“Stop wiggling, or I’ll drop you.”
“Put me down!”
He laughed as he stopped in the middle of the living room, freezing at the redecoration that I’d done to the space. “Snickers, what did you do?”
But he didn’t sound upset as he gently set me back down onto my platforms. I brushed down my skirt, trying to cover the heat on my face and the heat…everywhere else, too.
“Well…” I whispered.
When Weston had left six months ago, the house had looked like a bachelor pad with an old couch, a coffee table dented from too many nights of quarters, a deformed beanbag, and an Xbox hooked up to a giant television. Since then, I’d reupholstered the entire couch with some light-gray fabric. It had taken three weekends to get the measurements right. I’d refinished the coffee table with wax and made the beanbag into a poof.
I’d begged a favor from an old Best Buy acquaintance to mount the television and hide all the cords in the wall. I’d purchased secondhand curtains for the bay window and refitted them to the space. Then, I’d filled the space with plants. Dozens of plants of every shape and size. Some hung from hooks in the ceiling. Others were in pots on little stands. Some were big enough to sit on the floor.
And…I’d painted the walls.
Every wall in the house that I had access to. I could only stare at beige for so long without going insane. And yes, the place was pink. Not as pink as my bedroom, but I had clearly designed the place for me and not for a dude.
“It’s incredible. Is that my couch?” He looked gobsmacked.
“Yeah, I kind of fixed everything.”
“And the plants. Holy shit, you have a green thumb.”
“Sort of,” I said, suddenly shy.
“Why did you think I’d hate this? It’s awesome.”
“Oh, well, uh, thanks. I just…you know, this was temporary, and I kind of took over. I don’t have a place yet, but I can find something if you give me a weekend.”
Weston blinked at me. “What are you talking about?”
“Well, I know you said that I could have the place while you were gone in LA and that it was, you know, a temp situation until I got back on my feet.”
“Fuck, Nora, that’s not what I meant! I thought you’d want to leave. I left you an out in case you wanted to get your own place. I’m going to be back and forth from LA. So, I won’t be here all the time anyway.” He shrugged, a small smile hitting his features. “You can stay.”
“You’re sure?”
“I want you to stay.” He grinned at me. “Stay.”
“Okay,” I said softly.
“That’s a yes?”
I tipped my head down and bit my lip, trying to cover my excitement. “Yes. Yes, I’ll stay.”
3
Weston
Telling her to stay was skating a dangerous line.
I knew that, even as I told her to stay. She was my best friend’s little sister. She was my roommate. And she was also gorgeous.
Crossing that line was ill-advised.
To put it lightly, Campbell would probably murder me.
He and Hollin had warned me off Nora when we first agreed to move in together. They’d made themselves perfectly clear, and I’d given them my word that it wasn’t like that with us. Which I was determined to stick by, even as she smiled up at me with her gorgeous heart-shaped face, Abbey blue eyes, and plump lips.
Best friend’s little sister. I stamped the words on my brain as I stepped back.