Total pages in book: 66
Estimated words: 62128 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 311(@200wpm)___ 249(@250wpm)___ 207(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 62128 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 311(@200wpm)___ 249(@250wpm)___ 207(@300wpm)
“Yeah,” I say.
“Hello,” the woman says loud enough to garner both our attention even though she only has eyes for Nash. “I was talking to him. Rude.”
My lips part. “Are you serious?” I ask, a little sass sneaking into my tone as I step in front of Nash. “No one asked you to shove me out of the way.”
“You were in front of something interesting,” she says, winking at Nash, but it’s more of an awkward blink because of how drunk she is.
I laugh, shaking my head. “Oh, no. You did not just refer to him as something.”
She scoffs at me. “You’re the last person on the planet who needs to be worried about Nash Stokehill.” She looks me up and down, a sneer on her face.
Self-consciousness curls inside me, making my stomach drop for two seconds before it’s immediately replaced with anger. Fuck this, I haven’t been bullied since high school.
“You can go fu—”
“Okay,” Nash cuts over my words, stepping into my space. He bends slightly, and before I know what’s happening, I’m tossed over a very strong shoulder. “Time to get my girl home,” he continues, and the way he says my girl makes every ounce of independent woman immediately vacate my body.
Nash spins around, and I’m laughing because I can’t help it. He’s thrown me over his shoulder like I’m his gear bag.
“Phone!” Monroe hustles behind us, handing me my phone before winking at me. “Love you. Call me in the morning!”
“Love you!” I call out through my giggles, and I don’t stop laughing until Nash settles me into his very nice smelling SUV. The seats feel like warm, buttery leather against my skin.
“Address, Reese’s Pieces,” he says as he gets behind the wheel, and I tell him while slipping my phone back in my purse.
“I can’t believe you,” I say as he navigates the roads back to my apartment. I do my best to focus on him and not the things whooshing by the window. The alcohol is marginally wearing off, but I’m still a little dizzy.
“I get it,” he says. “I’m basically superhuman.”
I snort laugh, shaking my head that leans heavy against the seat. “No,” I say. “You just…tossed me over your shoulder. Like it was nothing.”
“It was nothing,” he says, pulling into my apartment complex. “Besides, you looked like you were ready to go.”
“I was,” I say, sort of mystified that he’d picked up on that. “That woman was mean.”
“She was,” he says, unbuckling his seatbelt before walking around the car and opening my door for me. “Fuck her.”
“Yeah. She shouldn’t have referred to you as something. Like you’re nothing more than a piece of meat,” I say, my tongue slightly heavy. “She can eat a dick.”
A laugh bursts out of him, and it’s one of my new favorite sounds.
“Not your dick,” I say as he helps me out of the car.
“Of course not,” he says, laughter clinging to his tone.
It takes me twice as long as normal to climb the steps to my apartment, but I’ll be damned if I let him carry me again. I am independent…sometimes.
“I’m okay,” I say as I finally get my door unlocked and walk inside, immediately discarding my pumps in two different directions.
“I can see that,” he says from where he’s heading into my kitchen like he owns the place. “Ah,” he says after he finds something in the fridge.
“What are you doing?” I call from my bedroom, slumping to sit on the edge of my bed.
Nash comes down my hallway, holding a bottle of water in one hand and a Gatorade in the other. “Drink these,” he says.
“At the same time?” I scrunch up my brow. “That’ll be difficult.”
He shakes his head, that smile brightening up every inch of space in my bedroom. “One at a time, Reese’s Pieces,” he says, handing them to me.
“Thank you for driving me home,” I say after flicking off both caps of the bottles and alternating drinks. “I don’t normally drink that much.”
“You deserve to have fun,” he says. “I’m happy to make sure you’re safe.”
I swallow the Gatorade a little too hard, and my vision is a little blurry as I look over the perfect features on his face. He’s all smooth skin with a chiseled jaw line and ugh, does he have to look so damn good?
“You going to be all right?” he asks.
“Yes,” I assure him. “You don’t have to stay.”
His eyebrows raise. “Are you asking me to?”
I laugh. “No, I just thought that’s what you were doing.”
“Do you want me to?” he asks, shifting his weight in front of me.
“I…” I don’t know how to answer that. The hesitance must show on my face because he gives me a sweet smile and nods.
“Not tonight,” he says. “You need to get some rest, anyway.”
“I do.”
“Happy New Year, Reese’s Pieces,” he says, leaning down and planting a kiss on my forehead before heading back down my hallway and out my front door.