Total pages in book: 22
Estimated words: 21003 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 105(@200wpm)___ 84(@250wpm)___ 70(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 21003 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 105(@200wpm)___ 84(@250wpm)___ 70(@300wpm)
“How is your food?”
“It’s okay,” he grunts while stuffing his face.
I take a drink of my pop, and then I feel a shift in the air around us as a shadow appears over us. Looking up, I see Mr. Grumpy Christmas staring at me.
Chapter Three
Parker
“Ugh, I’m glad I didn’t cook, but I’m getting hungry and I’m about to dip into the cookies the neighbor dropped off.” Chloe continues to gripe about dinner, and I can’t blame her because now that I’m not on my online stalking pursuit, my stomach whines violently like I haven’t eaten all week.
The words she said finally register in my brain and I blurt out, “The neighbor?” My heart skips a beat because if she’s talking about my little auburn beauty, then she came back, and I missed her. I’ve just gotten in my vehicle, breathing heavily.
“Yes, she dropped them off and apologized again for scaring my boyfriend.” I almost throw up in my mouth. She giggles as she adds, “Of course, I didn’t get a chance to correct her. Not that it matters to you.”
Snarling, I know how to pay my sister back. “I’m going to tell them to put sour cream on your tacos.”
She gasps so loudly that I have to turn down the speaker on my dashboard. “You’re a bastard.”
“You better fix that shit,” I warn her.
“I can’t. She just left again. You better not ruin my dinner, or I’ll make sure to lick every single one of these cookies, and trust me, they are delicious.” I can hear the humor in her voice, but she’s not going to be laughing if there’s sour cream on her food. She hates that more than anything.
“Fine. I’m on my way now, but you better not touch another one of them, and I’ll fix the whole brother thing.” She laughs and ends the call. The entire drive there, I’m pleased because she came back. She didn’t have to especially because I was an asshole, but she did, and she brought a peace offering. Damn, I’m going to fix this stupid misunderstanding and get our relationship started.
When I get to the taco spot, Julio’s Tacos, it’s busy with half the tables full and a couple of people waiting for orders. As I wait to place my order, I take a deep breath, and it smells delicious and my stomach rumbles again. Shit, I wonder if anyone heard that.
I place the order and wait on the side.
Then another scent hits me. It’s the same as this morning. The one that I’ve committed to memory. The one that drew me to the image of cinnamon. I turn my body slightly, and right behind me is my sudden obsession, Caroline. She’s sitting at a booth and eating her dinner with a man opposite her. They were too far for me to smell the cinnamon. That was strange.
I walk up to her and say, “Hello, Caroline.” My eyes barely glance at the bastard with her because I want to know what fool thinks he can have my woman. “My sister said you dropped off cookies.”
“Good evening to you,” she responds and then takes another sip of her pop.
“Excuse me, we’re on a date.” I close my eyes to control my sudden anger at his audacity of interrupting me.
“No, I believe you were leaving.”
“A blind date?” I ask her, wondering why she would date this punk. She nods.
“Beat it,” I snarl at him. He looks down at his plate as if he doesn’t want to miss out on his meal instead of losing out on the girl. “Go ahead and take your plate with you.” He picks up his plate and coat and scrams to the other table. That makes me angrier. He doesn’t give a fuck about her.
“That wasn’t very nice,” she scolds me.
“I’m pretty sure you already know I’m not a nice guy.”
She nods. “Yes, I figured that out this morning.” She raises a brow and stares at me boldly before adding. “Although to be fair, I did startle you. Men get grumpy when they’re scared.” She bites her bottom lip, smirking at me, knowing she scored a point.
“So did you bake the cookies, or did you buy them?”
Her brows cinch together. “What cookies? I didn’t bring over any cookies.”
“Are you serious?”
“No, I totally did. I just like that look on your face.” Her eyes light up.
“What look?” I ask, wanting to know everything about her.
“That grumpy, growly look.” She smiles so brightly, and I want to jump across the table and kiss her. “I think that would be a very bad idea.”
“You weren’t supposed to hear that.”
“Then perhaps you shouldn’t have said that aloud.”
“Sir, your order is up.”
“I should go. My date was ruined,” she huffs, setting down her napkin. Most of her food is gone, so at least she ate dinner, although I don’t like that she had dinner with another man. If you can call him that. I clocked that kid as a weasel when I came over. She is way too good for him.