Total pages in book: 81
Estimated words: 79275 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 396(@200wpm)___ 317(@250wpm)___ 264(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 79275 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 396(@200wpm)___ 317(@250wpm)___ 264(@300wpm)
“So, here you are.” I nod and take a long, deep breath, looking around. “It’s a special place, Luna. It always was.”
“And it’s about to get better.”
My gaze returns to hers at the excitement I hear in her voice. “Oh? How so?”
“You know the old barn?” she says and points to the big structure behind her.
“Sure.”
“I’m going to make it into a bed and breakfast. We start renovations next week.”
“We?”
“Well, yeah. I can swing a hammer. I have blueprints and a general contractor. Demo starts today.”
I turn in a circle and then smile at her. “I don’t see anyone else here.”
“I’m gonna tear some stuff apart myself before June gets here,” she declares with a wide, excited smile.
“In the haunted barn.”
“It’s all haunted, not just the barn,” she says with a careless shrug, then narrows her eyes on me. “Do you have somewhere you need to be?”
“Me? No, I was just out getting some fresh air.”
“Come on. I’ll put you to work. We can break some stuff. It helps get the aggression out.”
“Who says I need to work out aggression?”
Luna rolls her eyes and waves for me to follow her to the barn. “After the couple of months you’ve had, I think it’s probably a safe bet that you could stand to swing a hammer at something. How’s your parents’ house, by the way?”
“Falling apart around me. They never mentioned that it needed so much work.”
She nods and works on the padlock of the door. “Well, that happens when a building sits empty for years, Wolfe.”
Was she always this sassy? This bossy?
Probably.
I never found it sexy before.
Of course, I never looked at her like this before, either.
Her body is curvy now with hips and breasts, and the V-neck T-shirt she’s wearing could bring any man to his knees.
Especially this man.
Luna is definitely no longer a child, but she is maybe the sexiest woman I’ve ever seen—and that’s saying something.
She pushes open the sliding door, and we both cough as dust rolls out, clouding the air around us.
“How long has it been since anyone opened this?”
“About a week,” she says with a laugh as the sun shines into the big space, making the dust glitter. “It’s just dirty out here. But it won’t always be. There will be eight guest suites, a library, a dining room, and a kitchen.”
“What are you going to call it?”
“Luna’s Light,” she says immediately and sets her hands on her hips as she takes in the vast space.
There’s not much in here now. Some debris and tarps cover things here and there, but for the most part, it’s empty.
“It looks mostly like a shell right now.”
“Yeah.”
“So, what do you have to tear apart?”
“The floor.”
She walks over to where a sledgehammer leans against a post and picks it up.
“The floor?”
“Yeah. It’s not sound, so it has to come up. And there are some boards on the walls that are rotten and need to be torn out, too. Probably most of them, honestly. I’m hoping the support beams under the floors are sound. Otherwise, we’ll have to replace those as well.”
“Why don’t you just bulldoze the place and start over?”
“We could, but I like the idea of building it around the old stuff, you know? Like, you’re sleeping in a building originally built in the eighteen hundreds.”
“Should you even be walking on this floor?”
“It’s okay. I’m going to start in the far corner and work my way out. In fact, I think I’ll start with the walls.”
“You can’t just start tearing things apart, Luna.”
“Why not? It’s mine. I’m the boss around here.”
“You don’t have a hardhat on, although I’m sure your hard head would protect you. You need eye protection. Gloves. Long sleeves, for God’s sake.”
“Who are you, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration?”
“Maybe.” I cross my arms over my chest and narrow my eyes at her, not willing to back down. “You’re not starting demo until you’re protected. I won’t have you out here getting hurt.”
“You know, you’re not the boss of me.”
I don’t answer, and I also don’t move a muscle. I just stare her down until her shoulders slump, and she mutters, “Killjoy.”
I want to kiss her more than I’ve ever wanted anything else.
Well, except maybe to race again. But that’s never going to happen.
“I probably wouldn’t get hurt.”
“There are old, rusty nails sticking out all over in here,” I say, shaking my head. “The last thing you need is tetanus.”
“I’ve had my shots,” she says but then sighs. “You’re right. I’m just excited to get started. I’ve wanted to do this for a long time, and I’m impatient.”
“I understand impatience,” I reply. “These days especially.”
“How do you feel?” she asks quietly.
“Fine.” My voice is curt, but I’m sick of having conversations about how I feel. It’s time to move on.
“Can I ask one question?” She turns to me and tilts her head to the side.