Total pages in book: 72
Estimated words: 69198 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 346(@200wpm)___ 277(@250wpm)___ 231(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 69198 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 346(@200wpm)___ 277(@250wpm)___ 231(@300wpm)
Oh. No. I was nervous. And I didn’t want to be nervous. I wanted to be confident, engaging, and forthright. A man who knew his strengths and didn’t let anyone or anything get in his way. So I straightened my spine and marched toward Blake and the beautiful girl with my hand outstretched.
“Salutations. And congratulations on your win.”
“Thank you.” Blake chuckled lightly, shifting an equipment bag from his right hand to his left to shake my hand, then set it on my shoulder. “Ash, this is Katie. Katie, this is my friend Asher.”
I perched my glasses higher on my nose and greeted her with a formal, “Enchanted to meet you.”
“Thank you.” Katie grinned before turning her attention to Blake, who for some reason was staring at me. “Um…hey, I was wondering if you had time to grab coffee.”
His brows furrowed over the top of his sunglasses. “Sorry, I can’t. Asher and I have a date at Home Depot. He needs my assistance with his tools. Right, Ash?”
“Uh…yes. That’s correct.”
Katie’s smile dimmed. “Another time. Congrats again. Nice to meet you, Asher.”
“Likewise,” I replied. I waited until she was out of earshot to address Blake. “Date? Assistance with my tools? That sounded like a line from a bad porn script.”
He snickered. “You have a dirty mind, my friend. I like that. What’s with the winter gear?”
I tucked the jacket under my arm and shrugged. “I was cold.”
“Liar,” he teased, flashing a radiant grin. “There’s gotta be a good Asher reasoning behind it.”
“Asher reasoning?”
“Yeah, part science, part mystical-wonderland conjecture most people would never understand. C’mon. Are you hungry? Let’s grab something to eat first.”
After a short debate, I agreed to leave my car at the school and pick it up after we ran our errand. I hoisted myself into the passenger seat of his SUV like a mountain climber, sighing with relief as I fastened my seat belt.
“I’m sorry, but I don’t eat fast food. Don’t worry about me, though. I brought nuts. Would you like some?”
He kept his gaze on the road as he pulled out of the parking lot, but his lips quirked in amusement. “Are you really asking me if I want to eat your nuts?”
I punched his biceps lightly. “Get your mind out of the gutter. What’s the matter with you?”
“Ha. Nothing. I’m just…happy. That went well, didn’t it?” He spared me a quick glance. “Not only did we win, but you were there. How’d you like your first lacrosse game?”
“I liked it.”
“Good. I had my eye on you, ya know. I saw you chatting with the parents. Mrs. Peterson and Mrs. Gomez are cool, but they’re also busybody, helicopter parents. Looked like you won them over.”
“Well, maybe.” I gave him a synopsis of our conversation and shared that they had a small crush on him.
Blake snorted. “Did they ask why you were there? They like to grill newbies.”
“Yes. I told them the same thing you told your girlfriend. The truth.”
“Katie isn’t my girlfriend. Her cousin plays on the team. That’s why she was there.”
“Perhaps,” I hummed. “But it’s obvious that she wants to get back together.”
“Maybe. But we’re just friends. The problem is, I don’t know how to do that.” He went quiet for a block or two, letting the strains of a rock song I didn’t recognize fill the silence. “Are you friends with any of your exes?”
“I don’t have much relationship experience,” I admitted. “I had a boyfriend my freshman year at MIT, but—”
“You went to MIT?”
“Yes. I wanted to come home to get my master’s degree and ultimately work for NASA at the Jet Propulsion Lab. I had my mind set on the Mars expedition from the moment I first heard about it.” I wiggled my nose and fussed with my glasses, the way I tended to do when I talked about something that meant a lot to me. “I’m very calculated when it comes to goals. I went to MIT because of its superior reputation, then returned home to go to UCLA because of its proximity to home and JPL. My current paid internship becomes a full-time position in the fall, so in a way, I’ve accomplished what I set out to do.”
“What’s next?”
“Work.”
“And?”
“I don’t know,” I admitted. “I’ll focus on being the best in my department and moving up the ladder. I want to be a world-renowned expert in my field.”
He smiled. “Then you will be. Tell me about your old boyfriend.”
“There’s nothing to tell. Jason was nice and smart, but boring. The sex was good, though. Not that I had much to compare it to. He wasn’t my first, sexually speaking, but Jason was the first person I wanted to be with longer than one or two nights. It was fine until we ran out of things to talk about. In retrospect, I think the problem was that we weren’t friends. Topher—you know, the guy whose heart you broke—”