Total pages in book: 45
Estimated words: 42942 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 215(@200wpm)___ 172(@250wpm)___ 143(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 42942 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 215(@200wpm)___ 172(@250wpm)___ 143(@300wpm)
“Your guests should be arriving soon, so I’ll get on out of here. Is there anything else you need from me?”
She beamed back at me. “No, everything looks amazing, Hollie. Thank you so much.”
I kissed her cheek and said, “It’s my pleasure.”
As I headed through the courtyard, I slid open the back door and stepped inside Rose’s house. Quickly making my way through the large, historical home, I grabbed my laptop bag and purse and started for the front door. Though everyone knew Rose would not have thrown this altogether herself, I would never stay at the event unless asked to.
Opening the door, I stepped outside and quickly made my way down the steps and sidewalk and to my car that was parked in front of the house.
Just as I went to open the car door, I heard my name and instantly knew who it was. His voice irritated and thrilled me at the same time. More so the latter.
Slowly turning on my heels, I was met by those caramel-colored eyes that made my insides want to melt. I made the mistake of letting my gaze drop to his mouth and nearly moaned when he smiled that crooked smile. And that stupid, stupid, dimple of his. Ugh. It didn’t often come out, but when it did, my lady bits went crazy.
Lucas Dayton.
I drew in a breath and tried my best to not let any emotions show. I was rather good at it since I’d had years of pretending to not like the man whom I had way more naughty dreams about than I cared to admit.
“Hey, Lucas. What brings you by Rose’s house?”
The moment the question was out of my mouth, I wanted to crawl into a hole. Did he really need a reason to be at his own mother’s house?
He laughed. “Well, she is my mother, so there is that.”
I wanted to punch myself but somehow managed to play it off. “I wasn’t aware you were part of her romance book club.”
He froze and I internally fist-pumped. “Shit,” he hissed. “Is that today?”
“Yep. Better get on in there before you miss any of the book talk.”
I turned, opened the door, and was about to slip inside the safety of my car when he grabbed hold of my door and kept me from closing it.
“What brings you here?” he asked.
“If you must know, I helped your mom plan the event and was making sure all the decorations and such were in order.”
He let his gaze move over my face before his eyes met mine. I hated the way I felt, like I wanted to squirm in my own skin when he stared at me like that. I could never read the man, and that drove me crazy because I could read everyone. And when I say that, I mean it. Lucas was the only person whose thoughts eluded me. I could never tell what he was thinking. At times, I swore I could read minds, I was so good at guessing a person’s thoughts. Not with him, though.
“Is there something you needed?” I asked as I tried to keep my voice calm and steady.
He smirked. “Why aren’t you in the book club, Hollie? You don’t like romance books?”
I forced a smile. “I’m not over fifty, Lucas. Therefore, this really isn’t my kind of crowd.”
One brow rose and I knew he was about to say something awful like I acted like a fifty-year-old woman or dressed like one. Something rude would no doubt slip free from those soft and plump-looking lips. I wondered how soft they would feel to anyone he kissed. I jerked my eyes up to his nose.
Do not look at his mouth, Hollie, do not do it.
We continued to just stare at one another, neither of us wanting to be the first to break eye contact and admit some weird defeat.
I wasn’t even sure why Lucas and I bickered back and forth, always tossing insults. I mean, I understood why we did it when we were in school. We were constantly competing against each other for one thing or another. He couldn’t possibly still be bitter because I kicked his ass at nearly everything we went up against each other on. I smiled, thinking back to those days.
A race, boys against girls in first grade, and I had kicked his little five-year-old ass. Then in second grade, it was a contest to see who could throw and make the most baskets on the basketball court. I won that time too. Third grade, it had been another foot race, this time, just between the two of us. I came out victorious in that race as well. Fourth grade, he finally beat me at something and got first place in the science project. Fifth grade went back to me when I won the spelling bee contest. Sixth grade, I took home the best overall student of the year award. It continued like that all through middle and high school. No matter what was on the line, my goal in life was to beat Lucas, and his was the same. I had to win because if I didn’t, he would never let me live it down. And I had worked my ass off to beat him at almost everything. Then came senior year when Lucas and I were both up for valedictorian. It was literally a race to the finish, with Lucas beating me out by .5 points. The bickering grew worse after that, and I thought for sure it would stop when we graduated, became adults. I was wrong. A part of me enjoyed it, though, and I had a feeling he did as well. Except while I kept up my end of the bickering simply to be able to talk to him, he did it because he…well…he didn’t like me. That bothered me more than anything if I’m being honest. It really sucks being in love with a man who doesn’t feel the same way. Hell, who doesn’t even like you. Everyone liked me. Well, almost everyone. There was a small group of people from high school who did not like me or my sister, Sarah. Nathan was different. He was handsome, so all the girls liked him, and was the star quarterback of the football team. Sarah and I… We were labeled weird because of the whole witch history thing and because of Sarah practicing witchcraft with my aunt.