Total pages in book: 114
Estimated words: 108636 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 543(@200wpm)___ 435(@250wpm)___ 362(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 108636 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 543(@200wpm)___ 435(@250wpm)___ 362(@300wpm)
I don’t know what I’m doing, but at least I’m doing something. Time drags and silence rings in my ears, and growing more nervous by the minute, I sit down on the bench and wobble my knees back and forth.
I check the screen of my phone again, a compulsion I can’t stop.
Two minutes until midnight.
Maybe he’s changed his mind. Maybe he’s—
My thoughts come to a screeching halt when I hear the elevator ding and the gentle whir of the stainless-steel-fronted doors opening. A shock of adrenaline hits when I hear footsteps moving down the hallway.
Shit!
I panic, jumping up from my bench and rocking back and forth on my toes, my mind trying to figure out what I should do. Any second, Beau could walk in here. Any second, he could find out the truth.
In a rush, I jog over toward the racks of dumbbells that sit in front of a massive floor-to-ceiling mirror, and I snag one into my hand, not giving a shit how much weight it is. The door opens, and I shut my eyes for the longest moment before I can muster the strength to take a peek into the mirror.
Handsome as ever in his undeniable reflection, the man of my dreams is here.
I expect Beau to be searching, to be checking every crevice of the gym, but instead, his warm brown eyes are locked and loaded, right on me.
Oh my God.
Oh my God.
OH MY GOD.
I don’t know what to do. I honestly have no idea what to do. My heart is pounding so hard inside my chest, and it’s truly a miracle right now if I’m actually breathing.
Everything is frozen. My legs. My arms. My face.
Our eyes lock in the reflection in the mirror, and a petal of my rose-colored cheeks wilts as wrinkles form at the sides of his eyes.
I was hoping for love and affection, but I got her evil, ugly stepsister—confusion. It’s a completely fair and valid reaction on his part, but still…it stings.
“June?”
“Uh…hey,” I say, but I don’t dare turn around. Instead, I stand there and pretend to do bicep curls with the one lone weight in my hand.
“W-what are you doing here?” he asks, and I can see the wheels of his mind spinning and spinning as he tries to understand if I’m here by coincidence or if I’ve ensnared him with the impossible.
Me? His Mystery Woman? It couldn’t be.
I open and close my mouth, my brain completely incompetent in forming words. For as many times as I’ve thought out this possibility, I never managed to think through the part where I actually explain.
“Beau, I…I wish I knew what to say—”
Unexpectedly, the door swings open from behind him, the wood nearly smacking him in the back. Avery, still dressed in her clubbing attire, screeches to a stop at the sight of us.
“June? Beau?” Her head swivels between us, and I start curling my weight again in a panic. My muscle burns at the sudden overuse, but I don’t care. I keep pumping anyway. “What the hell are you guys doing here?”
Beau looks between the two of us, and I know, even though I’m trying so hard, I’m doing a shit job of hiding the outright panic on my face.
His brown eyes narrow, locking completely with mine, and I have to reach out a hand toward the mirror to steady myself. I don’t know what my other arm is doing with the stupid dumbbell. It’s a miracle it’s still in my hand.
“Uh, hello?” Avery questions. “June? Pretty sure you have some explaining to do.” Her hand goes to her hip, and my eyes go back to Beau. He’s watching me closely as Avery reads me the riot act. “I can’t fucking believe you would dip on me like that!” She stomps over toward the row of ellipticals and treadmills, her mouth moving a mile a minute. “Do you have any idea how annoying it was when Ben tried to act all alpha when he saw me with another guy on the dance floor? It was a fucking mess, June. You left me high and dry!” She snags something from one of the machine’s cupholders before spinning back around to meet me. “What the hell happened?”
“I had a migraine again…” I pause, lying straight to both Beau’s and her faces. “And I just thought maybe…you know…maybe a workout would help it.”
“God, Juni,” Avery says through a sigh. “You need to get those looked at. This is, like, the third time this month one of your migraines has gotten in the way of our good time.”
Hook, line, and sinker, my best friend clearly trusts me way too much. She believes the lie and starts rambling more about how Ben was annoyed she was dancing with that Game of Thrones-looking dude, and I die a little more inside.