Total pages in book: 78
Estimated words: 75339 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 377(@200wpm)___ 301(@250wpm)___ 251(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 75339 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 377(@200wpm)___ 301(@250wpm)___ 251(@300wpm)
“What?”
“I can drive it the rest of the way,” he said, “and have it back home for you whenever you’re ready to come get it.”
“Really? I was going to hire somebody—”
Dad laughed softly. “No need for any of that nonsense. We’ve got you.”
I swallowed over my tightening throat. That was my dad, being generous even when I didn’t deserve it.
“I’ll be back within a few weeks, I hope,” I said as I hugged him close again. “A month or two, at most.”
Even just thinking about the concept of being away from Sam for a month seemed impossible. But the estimations were generous. I had no idea how long it would be. Right now, I didn’t even like being in a different RV from Sam, for God’s sake.
“Whenever works,” Dad said.
“Good luck, Fox,” Sam said as he popped his earbud headphones in, giving me a little salute before he took off down one of the dirt trails nearby, going on his morning run.
And then he was off.
He appeared to be fine. Normal. Unaffected.
And no matter how stupid it seemed, it felt like a part of my heart was right there with him, running away from me.
13
Sam
The moment my feet hit the dirt path in front of me and the forested trail opened up ahead, the tears I’d been holding back for the last fifteen minutes broke off and ran down my cheeks.
I wasn’t even sad. I was fucking pissed off.
Pissed at myself for being suckered into expecting anything different from Fox. Pissed that for a few short days, I thought I’d discovered a version of him that I’d never seen before, or maybe that I’d discovered that Fox had changed in all the years he’d been away.
But he hadn’t really changed. Business came first for him, no matter what. I couldn’t be mad at him. Being mad at Fox right now was like being mad at a fire for being hot—this was just what he did.
And regardless of the bad timing, it did sound like it was urgent. Being the CEO of a company was always a big deal, right? And even though Fox already had more money than he knew what to do with, he could always have more. I wanted to support his career, but every single day of the trip, it had seemed like Fox hated his career. Why would he want to go back to something he said was destroying him inside?
Of course, for Fox, every deal was urgent. I had no idea if this one was any different than the dozens before it.
I rounded the corner of a big rock formation, the trail breaking off into a narrow path that went beside a creek. I remembered the first night of the trip, when it was so dark outside and Fox and I ventured into the woods together to see the deer.
It felt like ages ago. It was one of the first moments I’d felt truly safe with Fox, in a way that I’d never experienced before.
He’d reached out to hold my arm, steadying me, like I was someone he wanted to protect.
And as my sneakers crunched over the dirt path, I let out another heavy sigh.
Of course I’d let myself get carried away with the fantasy of Fox. Even though the two of us would never be together—for a million different reasons—he’d been a source of comfort and excitement for the whole trip.
It didn’t mean I was falling for him.
It didn’t mean I’d ever expected anything more.
I did know that I wasn’t likely to see him again anytime soon. I’d had a strange, secret, very hot hookup with my stepbrother on a family trip. It wasn’t exactly a recipe for anything more, anyway. Fox leaving early was probably a good thing, ripping off the Band-Aid ahead of time so that I wouldn’t be disappointed after the trip ended.
My heart had a mind of its own, and it had gotten attached to plenty of stupid guys before. But that had never been in the cards for me and Fox, anyway.
It was done.
All that this had taught me was that I was done, too.
Done with casual hookups. Done with any sort of attachment to guys built solely from sex. It really had been a fun trip, and some of the best sex I’d ever had.
But I wanted something more. And I was never going to settle for another fling again.
When I got back, I headed into Mom and Greg’s RV to rinse off. As I dug through my suitcase for fresh clothes, I came across something much silkier than I was used to.
I picked it up. It was the fancy shirt that Fox had ripped a hole in, that I’d told him I would try to sew up. I held it gently, the silky fabric like water in my hands. I brought it to my face, smelling the faint hint of Fox’s cologne on the shirt.