Total pages in book: 69
Estimated words: 64527 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 323(@200wpm)___ 258(@250wpm)___ 215(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 64527 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 323(@200wpm)___ 258(@250wpm)___ 215(@300wpm)
“Bucky?” I called, going back around the corner of the aisle to look for him. Thankfully, it didn’t take too long for me to spot him where he’d jumped up onto a girl in one of the staff vests of the market. I was about to jump forward and intervene, but as it turned out, I didn’t have a lot to worry about in this case.
The girl turned around and immediately got down on her knees so that she was face-to-face with Bucky. “Hey, boy. Whatcha doing here, hmm?”
I stepped forward to pull him away from her, and she stood up to look at me. I noticed that she was older than I’d initially thought, but that wasn’t the only thing I noticed.
It was impossible to tell exactly how long her thick, dark red hair was since it was tied into a knot on top of her head, but I could see that she had enough of it to get lost in. It contrasted beautifully against her creamy, smooth complexion.
But it wasn’t until I met her eyes that I really felt like my stomach had been socked so hard that I might never be able to breathe deeply again. They were such a deep, intense blue that I felt like I was falling into the perfect water of an ocean. She was fire and ice personified.
I immediately pulled back from her, almost wishing that I hadn’t seen those eyes. They had jolted me so hard that I didn’t know whether I’d ever come back from it.
“Can I help you find something, sir?” she said, blinking those wide blue eyes up at me.
“Just my dog,” I said, gesturing at Bucky.
“Oh, he’s yours.” She leaned down and rubbed his head. “I was wondering where this gorgeous guy had come from.”
I wasn’t sure what came over me. I normally tried to keep conversations as short as possible, and I definitely didn’t draw out dialogue with women any more than I had to. But something moved me to say, “Yeah. It’s strange—he doesn’t normally go up to people.” I put my hand out, and he came to me silently. “I guess he sensed something about you.”
She looked down shyly. “Probably just that I like dogs.” She swallowed and blinked up at me. Those eyes caught me off guard again, and I wondered if there would ever be a time that I would be used to them.
Of course, that was assuming I actually saw her again. It wasn’t something I was counting on.
“Well, if I can’t help you find anything other than your dog…” The sentence trailed off, and she gave me a quick nod before turning away from me. I stared after her, surprised by how affected I’d been by her.
I needed to get out of here, and fast. I finished rounding up all the groceries that I needed, piling them into my cart quickly before I turned it around and went over to the checkout lines.
As luck would have it, the only line that was open was in front of that same woman. Well, I’d done worse and harder things than be assisted by a pretty woman. I pushed my cart up to her till and started unloading my groceries onto the belt, barely giving her a nod as I did it.
“What kind of dog is he?” she asked, not meeting my eyes as she started passing the bar codes over the scanner.
“Not sure,” I answered tersely. I wasn’t trying to be rude, but her presence had unnerved me so much that I didn’t know how to talk to her without pushing her away. “I know he’s part German Shepherd, but they didn’t know what he was at the shelter when I got him.”
“He’s got that shepherd face, doesn’t he?” she said, looking over the belt at Bucky. The angle had her loose, V-neck T-shirt pressing up against her in such a way that I got a glimpse down her body, and I looked away quickly before I saw more of that skin than I’d bargained for.
Not that I was opposed, but it just felt invasive.
She pulled back, clearing her throat and looking down. It was the second time she’d done that, and in my experience, women as beautiful as this didn’t have a problem meeting someone’s eyes, unless…
A loud crash sounded in the store, drawing everyone’s eyes except mine. The woman had flinched so hard that she’d almost dropped the carton of eggs she was holding. Now, she was holding it so tightly I thought she might crush it in her hands.
“Hey,” I said, pitching my tone low. I caught sight of her name tag and tried again. “Hey, Macy.”
She looked up at me, blinking rapidly.
“Those eggs didn’t do anything to deserve that, you know,” I said, nodding at the carton.
She breathed deeply and set it back down on the belt.