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)
“Because of you,” Li-Mei interrupted. “Because she doesn’t want to live in a town where you’re planning to make your home. As soon as she picks up her Mud Run tee shirt, she’s gone. She’s not even going to stay for the race, and those silly runs are her favorite part of the festival.”
The Mud Run. Noah glanced at the clock above the stove. The registration table wasn’t due to open until nine a.m. If he hurried, he could be there before Yasmin had a chance to claim her tee shirt and stop this from getting any worse.
“I’m going to bring her back, Mrs. North,” Noah said. “I’m not a liar. I’m wild about your daughter, and I’m going to make her happy, no matter how many rabid roosters I have to fight to do it.”
“My roosters are not rabid. Only mammals can get rabies. You have a long way to go before you’re ready for the farm, Mr. O’Sullivan,” Li-Mei huffed. “But if you make my Yasmin happy we’ll see about getting you on Sampson’s good side.”
Noah smiled. “Copy that.”
Less than a minute later, he was in his truck, pushing the speed limit down the highway, hoping he wouldn’t be too late to keep his girl from getting away.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Yasmin
Yasmin lurked in the shade of the oak tree near the sign-up table, doing her best not to make eye contact with any of the other runners warming up in the grass.
She wouldn’t be making the journey with them and really didn’t deserve her tee shirt, but she hadn’t scored a mud run tee in years and the custom shirts from each year inevitably became collector’s items. The design team behind the Mud Run tee was kept top secret, but they were clearly some of the most brilliant creative minds in Lonesome Point. If she had been forced to give up a Mud Run tee shirt as well as her hopes, dreams, and romantic fantasies, Yasmin was pretty sure she would have laid down on the ground beneath the oak tree and never gotten up again.
Noah O’Sullivan may have broken her heart, but by God, he wouldn’t rob her of a Mud Run tee.
The thought made her press her lips together, fighting the stinging at the back of her eyes. She couldn’t believe she’d done it again, fallen hook, line, and sinker for a liar. Sure, the lie wasn’t a deadly lie or even a dangerous one, but it still hurt like hell. It was what the lie represented that hurt the worst—another man who couldn’t be trusted, another time Yasmin’s judgment had proved to be shitty and flawed. But this was even worse than the times before. She’d already been having happily ever after dreams starring Noah as the leading man.
Idiot. She deserved a bad case of heartache. That’s what she got for falling head over heels for a man she barely knew, even if he did have the kindest eyes she’d ever seen and had made her feel, for one amazing night, like the sexiest, most irresistible woman in the world.
“Yasmin!” The voice seemed to come straight from her subconscious, summoned by memories of her epic night with Noah O’Sullivan. But then it came again, louder this time. “Yasmin! Wait!”
She turned to see Noah racing across the square toward her. His shirt was untucked and his hair stood up in a wild, rumpled, bed head tangle and his cheeks were covered with quite possibly the sexiest morning stubble she had ever seen. Even now, he looked beautiful. Beautiful and worried and excited to see her all at the same time. It was enough to make her want to smash her fist into a tree. Or maybe his face.
Yes, his face would be better.
How dare he come here looking handsome and sexy and worried when he was the one who had ruined everything?
“Go away.” She pointed a finger toward Bayer Street, where she could see his truck parked beneath a tree. “I have nothing to say to you.”
“But I have a lot to say to you,” he said, stopping in front of her, his breath coming fast. “Actually, no, I don’t have that much to say. Just that this is all a big mistake and that you can’t go.”
“I can do whatever I want. It’s called free will, Noah. The same free will you used when you sent your stupid samples back to San Francisco.”
“I didn’t send them!” He thrust his arms out to his sides as if he had nothing to hide. “At least not yesterday. I had them scheduled to ship on Tuesday. The crazy woman at the bank decided to move up the date on her own. I had nothing to do with it. And I certainly never told her to call you.”
Yasmin scowled. “I don’t believe you.”