Total pages in book: 23
Estimated words: 21945 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 110(@200wpm)___ 88(@250wpm)___ 73(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 21945 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 110(@200wpm)___ 88(@250wpm)___ 73(@300wpm)
Every second I’m with this girl, I’m falling deeper in love. I never thought I’d want a woman living up here with me, but now that I see her in my house, I don’t think I can go back to a life without her. This room is going to feel so empty without her laugh, the bathroom will feel so cold without her make-up crowding the counter, and my bed will feel so alone without her sliding in next to me, keeping me up all night.
“That’s seventy-five points,” she says, all giddy with excitement. “Plus an extra fifty bonus points for using all seven of my tiles for a grand total of one hundred and twenty-five points. Add that to my eighty-three points and I have—“
“A shit load of points.”
She giggles. “Yup! Two hundred and eight.”
“How many points do I have?”
She bites her bottom lip and grins at me. “You don’t want to know.”
“How many?”
“Sixty-one.”
“You’re right, I don’t want to know.”
“Too late.”
She scribbles her points onto the pad while my eyes are locked on her, studying every stunning detail of her face. I can’t believe she’ll be with her friends at the Greene Mountain Lodge for her friend’s wedding tomorrow and I’ll still be all alone, broken-hearted and dreaming about her.
The thought of her a little tipsy while shaking her sweet ass on the dance floor makes my heart hurt. I picture guys approaching her, trying to take advantage of her, and I want to fucking scream. How can I let her go back into the world without me by her side watching out for her, protecting her, loving her?
“Do you forfeit?” she asks, looking at me with a flirty look. I’m not sure if it’s intentional or not. I think she has no idea how sexy she is. How much raw sexual energy she emanates. How wild she drives me.
“Never,” I say as I narrow my eyes on her.
She shrugs her shoulders and smiles as she reaches into the bag and grabs seven new tiles. “Your funeral.”
I look at the board and wince. “I think I’m already dead.”
“I think you’re right.”
I’m trying to impress her with my Scrabble abilities, but my mind is so focused on her that I can barely think. “Tall,” I say as I put down my tiles.
She snickers.
“Are you laughing at me?”
She mocks indignation. “I would never.”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” I say as I put them down. “How many points is that?”
“Let’s see…” She’s teasing me as she puts the pencil to her lips and pretends to punch in a ton of numbers into an imaginary calculator. “Four points.”
“See? I’m catching up.”
“Yeah, keep it up and you’ll catch up to me in a hundred years.”
She focuses on her tiles and I focus on her. I love the way she scrunches her nose up when she concentrates. It’s adorable. I could watch her for hours. Just the most mundane things—playing board games, doing the dishes, lounging around on the couch—become endlessly fascinating with her to share them with.
I don’t want her to leave. I want her to be mine. I want to hold her and love her and taste her and grow old with her. I want it all.
Those eyes suddenly snap up and she swallows hard when she sees the way I’m looking at her. It’s probably too intense, but I can’t help it. I’m falling hard over here. I’m becoming obsessed. I feel it aching in my bones.
“What is it?” she asks in a small timid voice. “Why are you looking at me like that?”
I can say it’s nothing and get back to the game. I almost do. But this is a once-in-a-lifetime kind of night. It’s a night for taking chances. For laying it all on the line. I’ll never forgive myself if I take the easy way out. If I play it safe. I’ll be thinking back to this moment for the next fifty years, cursing myself out for not telling her how I feel, for not taking a shot.
It’s time to be bold. To be adventurous. It’s time to make this girl mine.
“I’m falling for you, princess.”
Those blue eyes widen a little as she stares at me in shock. She licks her lips as my words sink in.
“The moment I saw you on the road, all frustrated and soaking wet, I knew.”
I shift closer to her. She doesn’t move away.
“I knew you were the one for me. The one I had to have. I knew that I could love you for the next hundred years. I knew that even if you got into your car and drove away, I’d still love you. I’d never stop.”
I don’t think she’s taken a breath since I started talking. A flush creeps up her neck and into her cheeks. I wish I could take a picture of her right now. I hope I never forget the way she’s looking at me.