Total pages in book: 129
Estimated words: 121764 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 609(@200wpm)___ 487(@250wpm)___ 406(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 121764 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 609(@200wpm)___ 487(@250wpm)___ 406(@300wpm)
I let out a sigh, wetting my lips. I’d talked about my family enough in one day that I never wanted to discuss it again. So, I lied. “Just thinking about our route for tomorrow.”
In the darkness of the tent, all my other senses took over. I could hear the rustle of the sleeping bag as Grace shifted, could smell her hair as she moved closer — citrus and sea salt.
She smelled like the ocean, even in the forest.
More than anything, I felt the way my heart knocked against my rib cage when her body nestled against mine.
I waited for her to laugh when she realized turning had brought her flush against me, but she didn’t. She stayed just like that — the front of her fitting to the side of me like a puzzle piece.
It didn’t matter that her sleeping bag separated us. I felt her skin burning through it.
“Everything’s okay,” she promised on a whisper. “I know you think you have to be everything to everyone, but tonight — you can just rest.”
All the air left me like a deflating balloon, my lungs emptying themselves completely. Those words comforted me as much as they made all my hair stand on edge.
I’d never been pinned down in one sentence like that, and this woman did it with ease — like she was telling me summer was hot and winter was cold.
I heard the rustle of the sleeping bag again, and then warm lips pressed to my jaw.
“Goodnight, Jaxson Brittain,” she breathed against where her kiss had seared. Then, she rolled away, taking all her body heat with her.
Against all logic, a chill swept over me when she did — like it was twenty degrees instead of eighty.
“Goodnight, Nova,” I echoed, throat tight.
She fell asleep almost instantly, her breathing growing deep and long.
To my surprise, I knocked out not long after.
And in the morning, I had to swallow my pride, admitting it out loud as we rolled up our sleeping bags and got ready to hit the road again.
Because she was right.
It was the best night’s sleep of my life.
Our Little Secret
Grace
We were about two hours northwest of Nashville when my brother called me.
My phone was the one hooked up to the SUV, a map on the screen and my 70’s playlist humming through the speakers. It was a mix of rock, pop, and disco, and “Hot Stuff” was interrupted by the call, BIG BRO sprawling across the screen in all caps.
Jaxson’s nostrils flared as he looked at the screen, and then at me, and I held a finger to my lips as I answered.
“Don’t tell me you want the game day dance for the stupid golf tournament tomorrow, because the answer is no,” I answered, and the sound of my brother’s deep chuckle filled the car.
Jaxson was as stiff as a fucking board in the driver seat.
“I was just calling to check in on you, but now that you mention it…”
“NO,” I re-emphasized. “It’s bad enough I got wrangled into doing this for every hockey game. All because I tried to be a good sister when you were in a bad mood in high school.”
“Be honest — you love it.”
I grumbled, but he wasn’t wrong. I really did look forward to those calls before each game, knowing I was a part of his pre-game ritual — even if it was small. My brother was a professional hockey player. He had every reason to lose touch with me, but he never did.
“I love you,” I corrected. “Which is the only reason I put up with it.”
“Sure, sure. Where are you?” he asked.
Jaxson and I shared a look, and I swore he looked like he was about to shit himself.
“In the car with one of your teammates,” I said, and Jaxson’s eyes doubled in size, the car veering enough to hit the bumpy edge of the road before he re-centered it. “We were actually just thinking about pulling over for a quickie before you so rudely interrupted.”
There was silence on the other end for a moment, and Jaxson’s head was whipping back and forth between looking at the road and asking me what the fuck with his eyes.
I fought to hold in my laugh, and then Vince blew out a breath.
“Not funny.”
“I thought it was.”
Jaxson relaxed marginally when he realized Vince didn’t believe me. He had no reason to. He’d scared all his friends off me his entire life, and he knew none of them would be stupid enough to test him.
I couldn’t hide the smile that curled on my lips when I realized Jaxson knew the risk, but he was here, anyway.
I didn’t know what that meant, but I liked to think about it.
Stupid.
This was the shit that got me into trouble. Jaxson had just offered to take me for a drive to make me feel better after a breakup that wasn’t even really a breakup because technically, we weren’t even dating.