Total pages in book: 86
Estimated words: 80420 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 402(@200wpm)___ 322(@250wpm)___ 268(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 80420 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 402(@200wpm)___ 322(@250wpm)___ 268(@300wpm)
“I’m right where I want to be.” He stands and towers over me, so I have to tip my head back to meet his gaze. “Where are their leashes?”
“Next to the front door.” I swallow hard, trying not to give his mouth too much attention when it curves into a smile. It’s harder than it should be, because his lips look soft, and I really want to know how they would feel against mine.
Knowing I don’t want to do something stupid like lean up on my tiptoes and press my mouth to his, I turn and head for the door, listening to his heavy foot falls and the tap of my girls nails clicking against the hardwood as they follow me. I grab their leashes, and because they know what that means, they get a burst of energy and start bouncing around at my feet.
“Sit,” Talon orders, and like my girls always do at that command, they fall to their bottoms with their tails wagging. He takes their leashes from me then, like a pro, hooks them to their collars and stands. “Lead the way.” I grab the house keys then open the door, step outside, and then lock up behind us before I follow him down onto the sidewalk. “Eat.” Talon nudges my shoulder with his, so I take a bite of my sandwich. “My cousin Ashlyn lives a few blocks from here,” he tells me as I chew. “She and her husband run a dental practice in town.”
“Do you have a lot of family around here?” I ask after I swallow, and he laughs, so I look up at him. “What’s funny?”
“If you were from around here, you would know how many Maysons live in this area. My family has been here for generations, long before this town was even a town. They lived here when this place was just a place to get gas before you went into Nashville.”
“That’s how it was where I grew up in Montana. My family had all lived there forever. My great, great, great-grandparents and before them.”
“Was your sister the first to leave?” he asks as I finish my sandwich.
I wipe my mouth with the paper towel in my hand and nod. “Yeah. Well, she and Mike met when he was graduating college and she was graduating high school. His family is from here, and she didn’t want to be without him, so they got married at the courthouse in our town. She turned down her admission to MTSU to follow him here.” I wave my hand out to encompass the area around us. “Not even a month after they were married, they found out they were pregnant with twins. I’m sure there are still rumors swirling around the town I grew up in that it was a shotgun wedding—which it wasn’t, but you know how people chat.”
“I do,” he agrees, reaching for my hand and lacing our fingers together.
My skin tingles where our hands are connected, and my stomach twist and turns as his thumb smooths across my wrist. I’ve never felt this kind of attraction to anyone before, and it’s unnerving and invigorating, a combination that is confusing. “So what are you doing tonight?” I ask, needing to fill the silence and curious since he said he couldn’t stay for dinner. Unless he said that because he didn’t want to make me uncomfortable.
“My brother and I are building a log home just outside of town. It’s been difficult finding contractors who show up, so we’ve been doing a lot of the work ourselves.” He gives my hand a squeeze. “So tonight he and I are going to be laying the tile in the master bath.”
“That sounds like fun.”
“I don’t know about fun, but we need to get this house done. It’s our first build, and it’s important we finish by our deadline, which is starting to feel like it might not be possible.”
“Can you push your deadline back?” I ask.
“Our cousin, April, who is a realtor, got us a spread in some big real estate magazine for high-end homes, and she scheduled stagers and photographers to come out. I’m sure we could push the date back, but there is no guarantee we would be able to get that kind of exposure again.” I hear the stress in his tone.
“Well, I don’t know much about laying tile, but I can wield a paint brush or push a broom if you need some help.”
“Thanks, I might take you up on that offer at some point.” He slows when the girls do, allowing them time to sniff the grass on one of the lawns. “Are you working tomorrow?”
“Yeah… well, if I don’t get to the dealership and get fired,” I say as we start to walk again with the girls leading the way.
“Why would you get fired?” He frowns.