Total pages in book: 62
Estimated words: 61953 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 310(@200wpm)___ 248(@250wpm)___ 207(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 61953 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 310(@200wpm)___ 248(@250wpm)___ 207(@300wpm)
I swallowed. “It is.”
I eyed him, my heart in my throat. Eight months since I’d seen him, five thousand miles apart, and a six-hour time difference, and it was like no time had passed at all. He was in dark denim, a white button-up, and boots. Ray-Bans covered his baby-blue eyes. His blond hair was short and brushed to the side, but he had a five-o’clock shadow that I’d never seen on him before. My hand came out and brushed across the stubble.
“Growing a beard?” I asked.
He inhaled sharply and rubbed his jaw. “Nah, just a late flight last night, and I didn’t feel like shaving this morning. Should I get rid of it?”
I shook my head. “No, it looks good on you.”
He smirked. “Noted.” His hand came out to brush against the H necklace he’d given me. “You still wear it?”
I flushed slightly. “Yeah. It’s my favorite.”
His face was unreadable for a second before a pleased smile slowly crossed his lips. “Good. Now, where are we headed?”
And that good made my entire body turn to goo.
I gave him directions to downtown, and soon, we were pulling into a parking garage near Pike Place Market. It wasn’t my usual haunt, but it was classic Seattle. If friends were visiting, this was where you brought them.
We strode through the quintessential sign with Public Market Center in bright red letters before stepping into the open-air market. We walked past the markets with fish that had come fresh off the boats that morning, a variety of butcher-paper-clad flower vendors, as well as fresh produce, shops, and restaurants. Finally, we stopped at my favorite mom-and-pop shop and ordered lunch. When our food came out, we took it to an outdoor patio with big red umbrellas to block the afternoon sun. The fish was as incredible as ever. It was one of the big things I missed about the city when I was in Lubbock.
I cajoled Chase into ice cream cones. I got strawberry, and he got chocolate. For once, the sun was shining without a cloud in the sky. It probably wouldn’t last long. It never did. But right now, it was a perfect day.
“So, the friends you’re visiting,” I said as we strolled the pier, “when are you meeting them?”
“Tonight for dinner. We have a reservation for seven.”
“That sounds fun.”
“Yeah. They had to take their son to a baseball tournament for most of the day.”
“So, you can spend the day with me.”
His eyes tracked me as I took a long lick of my ice cream. The heat melting the soft cream faster than I could lick up.
He cleared his throat. “Uh, yes. Lucky that way.” He ran his tongue along the cone to keep it from melting in a similar fashion to mine.
I swallowed, remembering precisely what that tongue could do to my body. I didn’t entirely remember everything that had happened the night of my birthday. But I remembered throwing myself at him like I’d die without his dick. I’d woken the next morning, mortified by my behavior.
But it didn’t mean it had been a lie.
I was the living definition of distance makes the heart grow fonder.
I leaned against the railing that looked out over the harbor beyond. Ice cream was melting toward my hand, and I lapped it up. Our eyes met again, and I could tell that he was thinking the same fucking thing as me.
I needed to change the subject.
“How do you know these friends?”
“Yale,” he said quickly. “Curt was my roommate freshman year. He’s a marine biologist now.”
“That’s a fun job. Why didn’t we decide to go into a fun career?”
He laughed. “No one ever said law was fun—that’s for sure.”
“But most people aren’t basically running a company at thirty either,” I pointed out.
“Touché.” He tipped his ice cream cone to me in salute. A trail of chocolate ran down his thumb. He cursed under his breath and brought the digit to his mouth.
My mouth went dry as he licked the offending cream off of his finger. I crossed one leg over the other in hopes of stopping the pulsing in my core. Fuck.
“Are you still set on law?” he asked.
I jerked my head back to my own ice cream. “I mean, I took the LSAT in February, and I’m studying all summer to take it in July.”
He arched an eyebrow at me. “That’s not the same thing as being set on going.”
I shrugged. “I don’t know. It feels like what I should be doing. It’s what I’ve been working toward.”
“Again, not the same thing.”
“I’m at a disadvantage with you since I got wasted and told you all about my fears.”
He leaned toward me and tipped my chin up to look at him. I felt frozen in his embrace.
“I feel like that is an advantage. There’s no pretense between us. So you can tell me exactly what you think. I’ve seen you throw up in my bathroom. I think I can handle the rest.”