Total pages in book: 155
Estimated words: 144435 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 722(@200wpm)___ 578(@250wpm)___ 481(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 144435 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 722(@200wpm)___ 578(@250wpm)___ 481(@300wpm)
"Don't you dare make me cry, Rhys Edward Flannery," I whisper-shout, spinning away from the kitchen window to pace around the kitchen. I can't see anything out there anyway. It's too dark. "You know how much I hate to cry."
"Not trying to make you cry," he says, chuckling. "I'm just saying. If he's worthy of you, he feels the same way. Tell him, Cassia. Don't spend the rest of your life wondering what might have been if you'd only taken a chance. Don't let her be the reason you spend the rest of your life wondering what might have been."
He's right, I know he is. I don't want to wake up a year from now or ten years from now or fifty years from now and regret not telling Cord how I feel. And I will regret it. If I leave here Sunday without telling him that I love him, I'll regret it for the rest of my life. I made a promise to myself not to let fear rule me this time. I have to see it through to the end. Even if he doesn't feel the same way about me…I think I'd rather know than live the rest of my life wondering what might have been.
"Thanks, Rhys," I whisper, my throat welling with emotion. We may not have been raised together, but I couldn't have asked for a better brother. "I love you."
"I love you too, baby sister. Good luck, I guess. Tell him if he hurts you, I'll bury him where no one will ever think to look," he says, a smile in his voice. I'm pretty sure he's only partially teasing though. My brother is…kind of a bad ass, honestly. I certainly wouldn't want to piss him off.
"Deal," I say. "I'll call you this weekend."
"Behave."
I disconnect without answering and then laugh quietly. He can behave if he wants, but there's no way I'm agreeing to that. As soon as Cord gets here, I'm telling him how I feel, and then I'm going to do the exact opposite of behave. In fact, I plan to be very, very naughty.
"Cord!" I cry, flinging myself at him as soon as he steps over the threshold. I hit him like a comet, knocking him backward two steps.
"Hey," he says, boosting me up into his arms.
"I was so worried about you!" I wrap my legs around his waist, kissing all over his face. His skin is icy cold against my lips. It's after midnight. He's been out there for over eight hours. He's probably freezing to death. All night, I've been worried out of my mind, afraid he was going to freeze to death in the woods looking for Hamburger.
"I'm right here, pretty baby," he promises, kicking the door closed behind him. "Had to chase the fucking bull halfway to town and back." He grips my ass in both hands, grinding me against him. "You miss me while I was gone?"
"Yes," I murmur, nuzzling my face into his throat. "Is Hamburger okay?"
"Fine," he grunts. "Back in his pen and mad as hell about it."
"How'd he get out?"
"Jace swears he played dead," he says. "Claims he didn't move a muscle until they opened the pen to check on him, and then he was on his feet, raising hell. He escaped in the ensuing chaos. Chaz, one of the younger hands, saw him charging toward the barn doors and jumped out of the way. He ran right through."
"Did anyone get hurt?"
"Just their pride," he mutters, carrying me through the kitchen and into the living room. "One day, they'll listen when I tell them that he's a sneaky son of a bitch who can't be trusted."
I laugh quietly. "You talk about him like he's human."
"Pretty baby, that bull is about as close to a cantankerous old cowboy as I've ever seen," he says, his boot hitting the bottom stair. "If he could talk, he'd tell us all to kiss his ass where the sun don't shine."
"Have you ever thought about following him to see where he's trying so hard to go?"
"Other than straight back to hell where he came from?" he mutters.
"I'm serious," I laugh. Even though he's annoyed, he can't hide the affection and amusement in his voice. He loves that crazy bull. I don't think it annoys him nearly as bad as he pretends when Hamburger runs off. "Maybe it's not that he's trying to leave so much as he's trying to get somewhere. Maybe if you let him finish whatever he's trying to do, he'll stop trying to do it."
"Princess, the only thing that bull is trying to do is piss me off." He kneads my ass, his grip firm. "He's been running off since he was old enough to stand on his own, but I'm done talking about his mean ass right now. I'd rather talk about the one in my hands."