Total pages in book: 96
Estimated words: 92167 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 461(@200wpm)___ 369(@250wpm)___ 307(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 92167 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 461(@200wpm)___ 369(@250wpm)___ 307(@300wpm)
“Did you see?”
“I did.” God, he wanted to kiss her. “I knew you could do it.”
Emma drew back, her smile blinding. “Thank you.”
Leaving his left arm around her, hand sprawled against her back, he moved his right hand to tuck some escaped hair behind her ear. “For?”
“Not letting me give up.” She pushed up on her toes and gave him a light peck on the lips. Then she wriggled free and bounded over to the ball return and waited for her ball to pop back up.
“Anytime,” he muttered, brushing his hand over his mouth, trying to feel her touch a bit longer.
…
Emma stared at the man who held the door for her as they stepped out into the cool Vermont night.
“Thank you.”
She watched him in her peripheral vision as he moved up beside her while they walked across the parking lot to his truck. His dark indigo jeans had been giving her heart palpitations all night with the delicious way they cupped him. The white long-sleeved crew neck T-shirt, which for most of the night he had worn with the sleeves pushed up, had an interesting 3D vertigo print on it in black and gray, making it look vibrant and lifelike. Similar to MC Escher’s style of work.
He’d tugged his sleeves down but it still didn’t matter, the hem hung untucked over his jeans, hiding part of his ass from her searching eyes. The sleeves hugged his powerful biceps and had her continually reliving how nice it had been when he’d held her.
“Did you have fun?”
His words slugged through her thoughts like him when he’d been at bat. She had to focus and not think about what wasn’t to be. “Never thought I would—with my feet in shoes other people have used and shoving my fingers into heavy balls—but yes, I had a lot of fun. You’re good at it. Did you bowl a lot? Or rather, do you?”
“Not so much anymore but I used to work at Spare.”
She looked over at him. Shock had her eyebrows arching up. How had she not known that? “You did?”
“It was my first job. Perks were all the drinks I could down in a night and I got to bowl as often as I liked for free. So I learned.”
“Guessing so did Tully and Michael?”
He nodded as he reached for her hand. She wasn’t even going to think about how much she enjoyed having him do something so simple.
“Yes, we all had jobs at Spare. Old Man Northey wasn’t hard to work for.” He pursed his lips. “I don’t remember ever seeing you come in.”
Her snort wasn’t the slightest bit amused this time. “The first time I went in was tonight.” A bounce of her shoulders. “I’m sure I wouldn’t have been noticed even if I had gone in.”
Memories rose of hiding in her room so her drunken father couldn’t take out his anger on her. Never getting to do anything after school. Instead of a job to earn money, she scrubbed the floor to clean up his vomit. She cleared her throat, determined not to let those memories cloud the night.
“I can’t speak for the idiot boy I was then, but I am damn sure I would notice you in any room. Hell, anywhere.”
She opened her mouth to dispute him but he waggled a finger at her.
“What?”
“Any disparaging remarks and I’m going to kiss you.” A wicked smile. “Although, to be fair, I’m going to do that anyway.”
It wasn’t right that his words made such a mess of her gut.
Deciding the best course would be to ignore that, she asked a different question. “How did you get your nickname?”
He took a deep breath and shrugged. “Jarvis Yardley.”
“The janitor?”
He unlocked his truck and chuckled. “That’s the one. I wasn’t always the best student and had a tendency to run through the halls.”
Her breath caught as he lifted her up and placed her in the seat before closing the door and walking around to the driver’s side. The moment he was in, he started the powerful engine.
“One day,” he said, securing his seat belt, “he told me he was only going to call me Lin because I was moving too fast for him to get my full name out. The boys added on the ‘c’ and it became Linc.”
She didn’t even have to ask who the boys were. That was a given. They weren’t moving and she lifted her gaze to find him focused on her.
“What?”
It was too dark for her to make out all the intricacies of his expression but there was no denying the scrutiny from him.
He gave a tiny headshake and pulled his truck from the parking lot. When they turned in the direction away from her house, she worried her lower lip with her teeth. Was he expecting something for this? That was how it had been with the one other man she’d been with. He’d do something nice for her and expect sex of sorts.