Total pages in book: 98
Estimated words: 96833 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 484(@200wpm)___ 387(@250wpm)___ 323(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 96833 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 484(@200wpm)___ 387(@250wpm)___ 323(@300wpm)
“You mean you trust me not to rear end you again?”
“Well, it’s quite difficult to spot the sheep at this hour, so I trust you’ll keep your eyes on the road.”
“I will.” She winked.
She followed me back to the inn that night and managed not to cause a collision. It was quite late by the time we got to The Bainbridge, and Abby headed straight to her room after grabbing a snack from the kitchen.
As expected, Lavinia was asleep. Or so I thought. As I walked down the hall, her head peeked out of her bedroom.
“What are you doing up?” I asked.
“I was concerned about Abby because it’s late.”
“We went to Leo’s to pick up a car.”
“I know. She sent me a text, but I was still worried about her driving on that dark road at night.”
“I drove in front of her to provide some light.”
“Well, that was nice of you.” Her mouth curved into a smile as she stared at me oddly.
“What?”
“It doesn’t take four hours to pick up a car,” she whispered.
I swallowed. “She wanted to see the animals.”
“Hmm…” Her look grew even more suspicious.
“Why are you looking at me like that?”
“You’re not normally a stop-and-smell-the-flowers, see-the-animals type of person, Sigmund.”
“What are you implying, crazy woman? Get to the point.”
“I think Abby is a good influence on you.” She shrugged. “And I think staying out late might have been about more than just the car.”
“I know what you’re thinking. And I want you to stop, alright? Because you’re wrong.”
“You can’t blame me for wondering.”
“Yes, I can.” I lowered my voice. “Mind your business and go to sleep.”
“Goodnight, Sigmund,” she said in a sing-songy voice as I resumed walking down the hall. “Nice to see you here at the inn during the week. Another unusual thing.”
“Bugger off.” I turned and flashed her a look but stopped short of giving her the finger.
She smirked before disappearing into her room.
Nosy biddy.
CHAPTER 14
* * *
Abby
Track 14: “Naked” by Avril Lavigne
A week and a half had passed since I’d started working at Covington, and I was getting the hang of my new routine. I’d been on edge since yesterday, though, awaiting a call from my doctor after a blood draw to determine if I was pregnant.
I was getting ready for work when I realized my bathroom was out of toilet paper. I had no idea where Lavinia kept the spare rolls, so I ventured over to the other bathroom to get some from there.
I knocked on the door, and when no one answered, I assumed it was safe, turning the knob to enter. But I jumped as a flash of Sig met my eyes.
Not just Sig.
Sig’s half-naked body.
Oh. My. God.
“What the…?” He quickly wrapped the white towel around his waist.
“Oh my gosh!” My eyes locked on his sculpted chest. “I’m so sorry.”
Everything had happened so fast. I hadn’t gotten a clear look at anything below the waist, but much to my surprise, not only was his body perfection, he had quite a bit of ink on his upper arm. Was he ever the perfect canvas... All I could think was stunning.
The vein at his temple looked like it was going to pop. “You don’t know how to knock?”
That certainly snapped me out of it. “I did knock.”
He removed his earbuds and tossed them, his expression softening when he seemed to realize this was his fault.
“Sorry,” I repeated. “I, um, was just looking for toilet paper.”
My eyes lowered again to his perfect, tanned torso, a stream of water dripping over the six-pack. Holy shit. I’d imagined what his body might look like, but the reality far exceeded my vision. Either this man worked out incessantly or he was insanely blessed.
He knelt, opening the door under the sink and offering a roll to me, his chest rising and falling.
“Thank you. Anyway, what are you doing here? I assumed you were in London.”
“I came in last night. Leo and I had a late game of poker with some friends at his house. I decided to sleep here and drive into work with you this morning.”
“Oh...okay. Well, thanks for the toilet paper.” Feeling flushed, I returned to my room and sat on the bed, shaken by the whole thing.
I’d learned some things about Sig over the past few days. Number one, whenever we got a little close, he distanced himself. Aside from him driving me back to Westfordshire on work nights this week, I hadn’t spent much quality time with him since we hung out in Leo and Felicity’s barn.
Speaking of that night, it had taught me how protective he was. His insisting on driving in front of me proved that. Although, I had to wonder whether he was protective of me or the baby I was potentially carrying.
And unfortunately, I’d also learned I was incredibly attracted to him, as evidenced by the fact that I’d lost the ability to form a coherent sentence a minute ago. I’d found him attractive even before I saw him half-naked. Now? It was hopeless.