Total pages in book: 27
Estimated words: 24518 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 123(@200wpm)___ 98(@250wpm)___ 82(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 24518 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 123(@200wpm)___ 98(@250wpm)___ 82(@300wpm)
Hunter regards me for a long moment. “Joy?”
I swipe at my wet face. “Yeah?”
“I am that man.”
“OK, I didn’t want to like you, but I kind of do now. My threat still stands. It will always stand.” I put my hands on my hips and do my best to glare at him.
“Bludgeoned and buried. Got it. I’ll never give you a reason. She’s everything to me. These last three days have been the happiest of my life. I knew the moment I met her she was meant to be mine forever.”
He met Holly, and he knew instantly. Meanwhile, I’ve been desperate for Ford to notice me for six months. I swallow hard, managing to croak out, “Good. Take care of her now and always.”
Maybe I need to take Marsha’s invitation and find a handsome stranger to hook up with. Maybe then I can finally get over my unrequited feelings for Ford.
Chapter 4
Ford
Shame coils in my gut the longer I stare at the red blinking button that indicates I have a message on my answering machine. My palms are sweaty. After an eternity, I force myself forward on wooden legs and press the play button.
My brother’s voice booms across the line. It’s Nate. He went to Montana over Christmas to help a stranded single mom. He fell in love with her while he was there. When he returned to Courage County, he called me and invited me to his impromptu wedding. I didn’t go, even after promising I’d be there.
“Hey, I figured something must have come up,” Nate starts his message, giving me more grace than I deserve. “It was a beautiful wedding. Callie looked incredible in her dress, and Danny–well, you have to meet them both. Maybe we can have dinner. Just the four of us. Something nice and quiet. We’ll even come to your place if you want. Just…call me sometime. When you can. Love you.”
I’ve been avoiding my brothers since Nate’s wedding day. I don’t know what to say, and the longer I don’t call them, the harder it gets to figure out what I should say.
I could bring it up to Joy. I could ask for advice, but that would mean telling her what happened this week. Would she judge me? Nope, can’t afford to take that risk.
There’s the sound of a car in my driveway, and my heart rate spikes. It’s time for our weekly meeting. I’ve been looking forward to it for days, waiting for the moment that I could see Joy again.
I take a deep breath and force myself to act casual. Can’t tip my hand just yet.
I wish I’d taken the time to trim my beard and cut my hair this week. I know I look more disheveled than usual thanks to the increased nightmares.
“At least, you look the part of the unkempt mountain man,” I murmur to myself. She’s never said a word about it. Maybe she secretly likes it?
Before I can ponder that thought, she’s on my sidewalk. She’s wearing a gray dress that hugs her hips just right. It’s not her usual clothing. Normally, she’s dressed in something bright and cheerful. But this is pretty too. I still want to reach out and pull her against me and breathe her sweet scent in.
She looks up when I open the door, some emotion I can’t define flickering across her features. It’s gone before I can decide what it was, but I don’t think I liked it. I think it may have been sadness.
“Hey, boss,” she says.
The words are right, but her tone is wrong.
“How was your Christmas?” I repeat the phrase that I’ve spent three days practicing. With everyone else, I grunt and grumble. But Joy makes me want to remember how to be human.
“I got to spend some time with my sister. I really enjoyed that,” she answers as she enters the cabin uninvited. She ducks under my arm, brushing against my side.
I swallow a groan. Will there ever come a day when I get to feel all of her curves, when I can map her body with my hands and know what she feels like underneath me?
I follow her to the den, trying and failing not to focus on the way her hips sway so gently. As soon as she’s in my space, I flop down on the couch and grab a blanket to cover myself. I have a permanent hard-on around her, but I’d never want her to know. Not unless I knew she returned my feelings. I might be the horny boss, but I won’t be the creepy boss.
She settles in the armchair that I always leave open because I love seeing her in my seat, swallowed up and tiny and looking like the perfect gift. If she’d agree to marry me, she could live in that chair if she wanted. “You should just set your thermostat higher. It’s not good for you to be cold all year long.”