Total pages in book: 40
Estimated words: 36387 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 182(@200wpm)___ 146(@250wpm)___ 121(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 36387 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 182(@200wpm)___ 146(@250wpm)___ 121(@300wpm)
By the time my girls showed up I’d done a pretty good job of taking care of downstairs, which had been spared the brunt of the catastrophe, but the smell of smoke in my bedroom was going to linger for a while.
Of course I had to take them all through what happened, leaving out the little mash-up in the bakery of course.
“Ooh, which firemen hotties were here?”
“Rebecca, you have the name of saint and the morals of a sinner.”
“Oh hush Stacy, like you weren’t thinking the same. So, do tell. Was neighbor hottie here? Of course he was, look at you blush.”
“What?” My hands went to my cheeks. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Of course you do. We’ve been taking bets but I think this clinches it. Every time his name comes up you turn beet red.”
I looked around at the other two who were both nodding their heads in agreement. “I do not. Y’all are making that up.” I felt the heat rising in my cheeks making a liar out of me.
“So, was he here? Did he out your fire? Or was he the one who started it?” Stacy asked tongue in cheek, which made them all laugh uproariously. I couldn’t join in because dammit she was too close to the truth.
“He was here, he works for the fire department after all. But nothing out of the ordinary happened. You know we don’t get along.” The words burned a hole in my tongue as I said them.
Even now, in the midst of their fun, I was finding it hard to get thoughts of him and what he’d done to my body out of my head. In fact, I’d barely composed myself by the time they showed up hours later.
“Whether you two get along or not is still up for debate. The fact still remains, that every time one of us even mentions his name, your face tells a tale of its own. Now I say it’s time you get that cherry busted, and who better to do it than the local hotrod?”
“Allie!” I’m scandalized.
“What? I’m just saying.”
“I’m pretty sure I’m not his type. Not that I would go to bed with him anyway.” Those words no longer rang true, not even to my own ears.
I’d been doing a good job of convincing myself that I had no interest in him, until that kiss. Right up until then, it was easy to push aside the little butterfly flutters I get in my tummy every time I see him walk out his door.
I could’ve continued hiding behind the fact that he would never look at me that way. I’d even told myself that some day some time way down the line, we might even become friends, once the contention over the tree had been resolved.
I’ve been telling myself these things so that I didn’t have to face the truth. The truth that from the first moment I laid eyes on him my interest had been more than piqued.
That the reason I always pick a fight with him is so that my true feelings would stay hidden and I wouldn’t make a complete ass of myself in front of him and worse yet, the whole damn town.
I could’ve gone my whole life without having that band-aid ripped away. But he’d had to go and spoil it. Of course! The man is a damn menace.
“I don’t know why you keep putting yourself down like that. There’s absolutely no reason why you can’t be his type.”
“I can name a few. I do live right next door to him you know. I get a front row seat to just what his type looks like.”
“Yes, but have you ever seen any of those hags more than once?”
She had a point. I never have seen any of the women I’d seen sneaking in and out of his place since I moved here more than once.
In fact, I was sure that a few of them weren’t even local. The pig was probably importing them. Or worse yet, hiring them off back page or some other hideous site that should be outlawed.
Look at me. I’m sitting here making myself crazy thinking about where he gets the horses for his stable. “None of that signifies. He hates me and I hate him more. As a matter of fact, had he not come over here at the ass crack of dawn to chop down my tree, I wouldn’t have been so careless…”
“Wait-wait-wait, back up. He was here first thing in the A.M? Do tell.” Stacy, usually the more sensible one of this bunch seems like she’d lost her mind as well.
“Wait, was he dressed?”
I rolled my eyes at Rebecca’s question and took a sip of my cocoa. “Of course he was dressed. It was snowing and freezing ass outside.” It’s funny. I had to leave New York and move to the genteel south to learn how to speak so colorfully. My stepmom would have a fit if she could hear me now.