Total pages in book: 32
Estimated words: 29132 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 146(@200wpm)___ 117(@250wpm)___ 97(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 29132 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 146(@200wpm)___ 117(@250wpm)___ 97(@300wpm)
“Come back to my place,” she said, breath coming faster.
“Did you mean what you said?” he asked, the mention of her place jogging his lust-addled thoughts. “About me moving in?”
“I guess you’ll never know,” she teased, her warm hand slipping beneath his shirt, sending more heat racing across his skin. “Since you didn’t win the race.”
He gripped her ponytail again as he pulled away, putting enough distance between them that he could look up into her amber eyes. “Tell me. I need to know if you’re as into this as I am.”
“I thought we were going to wait until Saturday to decide.” Her lips parted as her gaze scanned his face.
“Looks like I won’t be leaving on Sunday,” he said, pushing on before he could second guess his instincts. “I was thinking…maybe I shouldn’t leave at all. I can run my business from anywhere, and I’ve got a personal assistant in San Francisco who can pack up my condo and find someone to sublet my place.”
She pressed her lips together and the hand that had come to rest on his stomach eased away. “If I say go for it, does that mean the sample is off the table?”
His brow furrowed, but it was too hard to form a coherent thought. “I don’t know,” he said, “I find it hard to think straight when you’re on top of me.”
Yasmin smiled. “Good to know.”
“Besides, I asked you first.” He let his hands play down her back to cup her bottom lightly in his palms. “Were you serious about me moving in with you?”
“I plead the fifth,” she said, rolling off of him.
“Come on.” He sat up, wincing as his painfully erect cock got caught in an especially damp, muddy fold of his boxer briefs. “Throw me a bone, North.”
“I’ll do more than throw you a bone. I’ll give you an answer, but not until Saturday. That was the bargain and I’m sticking to it.” She stood, tugging her muddy shirt away from her back. “Besides, I make it a point never to make big decisions while covered in mud. I should get back to the house and clean up.”
He came to his feet with a sigh, a part of him wishing he’d kept his mouth shut. If he had, they might both be on their way back to her place to do something a lot more fun than shower.
“What time should I expect you?” she asked, as they started back toward the start of the course where they’d parked their cars.
He shook his head. “Expect me…?”
“For dinner,” she said. “I know you lost, but I feel bad dangling delicious Chinese-Texan food in front of you and then leaving you to fend for yourself for dinner. Why don’t you come over around six? We can take a walk around the farm while the veggies are cooking and then eat on the deck. I don’t have any patio furniture yet, but we could spread a blanket on the boards and picnic.”
“Sounds good,” he said, ridiculously glad this wasn’t goodbye for the day. “Anything you want me to bring?”
“Just yourself. And anything you like to drink with Chinese-Texan food. I have a couple beers, water, and half a bottle of leftover Pinot Grigio in the fridge that I’m happy to share. I would buy more, but I’m avoiding buying any more alcohol. Just in case.”
Just in case she was to get pregnant, he realized, the thought no longer as crazy as it was even a couple of days ago. He couldn’t see himself releasing the sperm sample, but he could imagine a time in the not too distant future when he and Yasmin might decide to make a baby the old-fashioned way.
That in itself was probably crazy, but he was too crazy about this woman to care.
CHAPTER TWELVE
Yasmin
Homemade, hand-pulled noodles were her mother’s specialty. Li-Mei could whip up a batch of noodles without glancing at a recipe book while doing ten other things at the same time. But for Yasmin, the process required more concentration, a fact she was grateful for as she spent the second half of her afternoon mixing ingredients and trying not to think about Noah’s question.
When she’d made the offer to move in, all she’d been thinking about was throwing him off his center long enough for her to get a head start.
But now…
Well, it kind of made a crazy sort of sense. They would certainly find out whether they were compatible much faster if they were living together.
And what do you think Mom and Dad will say about that? A complete stranger that you met while hunting for a sperm donor moving into the house with you?
“Better than a hitchhiker,” Yasmin mumbled to herself as she rolled out her dough. Li-Mei had recommended she find someone to knock her up the old-fashioned way, but if Noah moved in it wouldn’t be about making a baby. It would be about finding out if the two of them had what it took to become a couple.