Total pages in book: 110
Estimated words: 106798 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 534(@200wpm)___ 427(@250wpm)___ 356(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 106798 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 534(@200wpm)___ 427(@250wpm)___ 356(@300wpm)
Zach tries to give her an exasperated expression, but it won’t stick to his face. He can’t look at her for more than two seconds without his blinding adoration stealing his features and settling into his golden-brown eyes. It should be every woman’s goal in her romantic life to never settle for a man who looks at her with anything but that level of adoration.
I’m pretty sure Random Hookup Guy was not gazing at me like that the night I seized in his bed and wet myself. And I know this because he texted me the next day requesting I buy him a new mattress. Apparently, the urine seeped into the padding.
“Baby, I love doing anything with you,” Zach says.
That’s it. Right there. Life goals. I need to find a guy that says, “Baby, I love doing anything with you.”
“Follow me …” Zach nods in the opposite direction, keeping his attention on Suzanne for a few more seconds.
That adoring, lingering gaze also gets added to my wish list.
“Nice meeting you.” I give Suzanne a smile that I hope erases my ridiculous epilepsy comparison to cancer and my cringe-worthy oversharing of bedwetting.
“You too, Emersyn. I hope this works out.”
“Em.” I give her a tiny shrug. “My friends call me Em.”
“Em …” Suzanne nods several times. “Em it is. And my friends call me Suzie.”
“Bye, Suzie,” I say over my shoulder while following Zach.
He turns on the light to a bedroom. “We’re just looking for basic cleaning.”
Nothing about him or this house seems basic.
“Thorough dusting. Thorough sweeping. Thorough mopping. Thorough—”
I chuckle. “Save some oxygen. I’ll assume all duties are to be done thoroughly unless otherwise stated.”
Zach gives me a sheepish grin that shows just a hint of his white teeth. “Fair enough.”
He turns on the lights in the main bathroom, and I step inside, taking mental notes of what needs to be cleaned. Large tile shower. Soaker tub. Two sinks. Vanity with backlit mirror.
Next to the vanity, there’s a huge jar filled with flat rocks. Each rock has writing on it.
“She’s always called me her rock,” Zach says, drawing my attention away from the jar and back to him. He leans his shoulder against the doorway. “After she was diagnosed, I started collecting rocks. Every morning, I wake up early and write something I love about her on the rock.” He shrugs. Extra color floods his cheeks, and he glances away for a second. “Every day, I give her a rock, so she knows there are an infinite number of things I love about her, and all of those little things are what gives me strength.”
“That’s …” I’m not sure of the right word.
“Pathetic?” He chuckles.
“No. I was going to say romantic, but that’s not the right word either.”
“Cheesy?”
I laugh, inching my head side to side a few times. “Definitely not that. Endearing, and it’s … yeah. Endearing.”
Zach's lips twist for a second. He’s contemplative, which makes him a little mysterious. He says a lot with his eyes, but I don’t know him well enough to translate his expressions into words. “I’m sticking with cheesy.”
I can’t hide my grin.
“Anyway … where were we? Oh yeah …” He heads out of the bathroom and down the hallway. “We have three bedrooms, two full bathrooms, and a half bath. Living room, office, and kitchen. I don’t expect you to do laundry, prepare meals, or wash dishes. I do all of that. And I’ll clean the jungle.”
“And what a jungle it is.” I follow him through the kitchen to the opposite side of the house and the two other bedrooms.
Zach laughs. “It’s her favorite room. Better air quality. I’m not going to lie; she talks to her plants. One of those infinite number of things I love about her.”
No one has ever said they love an infinite number of things about me. Either Suzanne is the greatest woman ever, or I’m not that great—definitely not infinitely great.
Or … and this might be the correct answer … Zach is not like most other men.
“I’m not mocking it,” I say. “It’s a wonderful room.” I mentally add a houseful of plants to my list of future goals, along with finding a man who cooks, cleans, washes the dishes, does the laundry, and loves an infinite number of things about me. How did my mom manage to find every man who was the opposite of Zach Hays?
“These bedrooms don’t get used, but they still need a thoro—” Zach catches himself and smirks. “They still need a good dusting and vacuuming every week. We’ll provide all the supplies since we want certain products used in our house. If there’s anything extra you want or need, just let me know.” After turning off the bedroom lights, he heads back to the kitchen. “Any questions?”
“Do Tuesdays work?”
He fills a glass with water from a stainless-steel dispenser on the counter. “Every week?”