Total pages in book: 132
Estimated words: 128801 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 644(@200wpm)___ 515(@250wpm)___ 429(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 128801 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 644(@200wpm)___ 515(@250wpm)___ 429(@300wpm)
Paisley was already opening the front door by the time I made it up the porch steps with Kayden in my arms.
“Dakota, what’s wrong? Are you okay?”
And I gave myself over to the sobs that wracked me when she pulled us into her embrace.
Because no.
I was not okay.
And I wasn’t sure I was ever going to be.
FORTY-FIVE
DAKOTA
TWENTY-THREE YEARS OLD
Dakota got to the tree first that night, and she let her legs dangle where she sat swaying on the branch. Cool air caressed her flesh as a mild breeze murmured through, though she felt an instant heat when awareness suddenly flashed over her from behind.
A comfort that left her so unsettled she felt her nerves scatter beneath her flesh.
She shifted so she could look at him. The man stood at the end of the path with his hands stuffed in his pockets and that black hair gently waving in the wind.
Something so stark and fierce about him though there was a softness that floated around him like an embrace.
He eased forward, and she couldn’t help but notice there seemed to be something hesitant about him tonight. Something that slowed his steps, like maybe he was questioning coming there.
But she swallowed the insecurities down because she was past being a hostage to them. Her confidence had grown so much while she’d been away at college, but there was something about Ryder that always set her off-kilter.
Made her feel shy and fluttery.
Beautiful but somehow indistinct.
It probably had a lot to do with the fact that she’d seen Amelia coming out of his shop three days ago when she’d swung by to say hello. But he’d denied them being together the whole summer. Had said they’d had sex before, but he’d ended it more than four months ago.
She had to trust in it.
She didn’t have any reason not to believe him.
And it wasn’t like she had a right to be angry with him if he was sleeping with someone, anyway.
But she couldn’t deny that he felt like hers.
Like her own perfect secret.
Without saying anything, he hoisted himself onto the branch, all his sleek muscles coiling in the smooth, quick motion, and he plopped down beside her.
Nerves skittered and crashed, and tingles spread up her arm when their skin brushed.
Flames at the contact.
“Hey,” she finally murmured, and she handed him the tin that contained the lemon bars she’d spent the evening preparing for him. “I brought something for you.”
“You always have something for me, Cookie.” His voice was so gruff. A scrape of seduction.
That’s the way she’d begun to feel. Like he was slowly seducing her.
Turning her to putty.
Leaving her a puddle of need.
And she’d started to wonder if it wasn’t the same for him.
The way he’d look at her. The way the air sparked between them. The way he’d stay for so long, like he couldn’t bring himself to leave, though there was something in his gaze that always made him shut down.
So close, but just out of reach.
He popped off the lid and let go of a small moan when he saw what was inside.
“It’s a twist on a classic. Lemon bars though it’s whipped in cream. They’re sweeter. Less tart.”
He reached out and ran his thumb at the tiny dimple at the edge of her mouth. “Sweet like you.”
Shivers rocked her through, and she couldn’t stop the whimper that whispered from between her lips with him touching her like that.
He didn’t look away, he just kept watching her.
His stare penetrating and complex.
“I have something for you, too, Dakota.”
Her brow furrowed, and her heart beat in a fit of anticipation.
“What’s that?”
“I talked to Todd at the bank.”
The frown between her eyes deepened.
“You’re going to get that loan.”
“What do you mean?”
He looked out over the stream, the water stained a shimmery black as it babbled over the rocks. “I came into some money.”
It was so rough when he said it. Like it pained him to admit it.
She waited for him to explain.
Patient while she felt like she was going to rattle apart.
Because she felt his agony all while there was a thrill that bubbled in her blood.
“A life insurance policy of my mother’s that I didn’t know about. One that came to maturity when I turned twenty-six.”
He shuddered, and she couldn’t do anything but reach out and grip onto his upper arm. Unable to sit still beneath the torment that raged through him. “I’m so sorry, Ryder. I…you can’t give me that money. It’s yours. You need to—”
“I’m getting mine and my mom’s old house back with it, too. It’s a wreck, but the owners are letting it go cheap. The rest? It belongs to you.”
“I can’t accept it.”
Surprise jutted through her when he suddenly hopped off the branch, and he set the tin aside. Her head spun when he reached up and grabbed her by the waist and placed her on her feet.