Total pages in book: 130
Estimated words: 126602 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 633(@200wpm)___ 506(@250wpm)___ 422(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 126602 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 633(@200wpm)___ 506(@250wpm)___ 422(@300wpm)
“Cole,” I snapped, my face heating up as the men in the crowd clapped and cheered in response.
“Yeah, Shay!” Tori yelled, whooping at the top of her lungs.
I met her eyes as Cole stepped away, laughing, and silently pleaded with Tori for her to stop making a commotion, which only seemed to egg her on even more.
She leaned out her booth and pointed at me, yelling, “Go get her, boys!”
Great.
Looking away with an enormous amount of apprehension tightening and twisting my stomach up in knots, I swept my eyes over the sea of men (where did all the women go?), hoping none of them were paying attention to me or my loudmouthed friends.
Unfortunately, the men were paying attention. All of them, to be specific. Especially one in particular.
With dark, short, styled hair and even darker eyes, the eager gentleman smiled at me as he pushed his way through the crowd.
Maybe he was simply eager for conversation?
Yeah, right. Look where you’re standing, Shay!
I shifted nervously on my feet.
The young guy was attractive enough. Totally someone I’d normally go for.
No, I argued with myself. His hair isn’t long enough and his arms are bare. I like tattoos. I like a male body that tells a story. I bet this guy doesn’t even have any scars. Plus, he’s wearing a polo shirt. Total preppy. I bet he drives something expensive. A two-door sports car, most likely. Which could only mean one thing—perpetual bachelor. Everyone knows fitting multiple car seats in the back of a two-door vehicle is a giant pain in the…
I blinked and shook my head. What the hell was I doing?
God, I was losing it. Was I really going to stand here silently judging this guy as if he even had a chance right now? I wasn’t on the market. Single, yes. But no way was I ready for anything involving a guy. What was wrong with me? Why did I care if he had tattoos, or what his views were on kids? Was it the sun? Heat stroke? I hadn’t been outside that long, had I?
My breathing accelerated, quick puffs of air began pushing past my lips. And my panic only escalated further the closer Preppy got, because now I could see the cute little lift in his brow as he tugged out his wallet. And before I knew it, as if he’d possibly bribed people on his way through the crowd to make sure he had top spot, he was right there at the front of the line, and right in front of me.
Oh, God. This was not good. This was not good at all.
Smiling, interested, the guy pulled a five-dollar bill out of his wallet before tucking it back away and dropped the cash in the jar, keeping his eyes on me the entire time as a steady line of eager donors formed behind him.
“That dude was right,” Preppy started, spreading his large hands out on the ledge, head tilting. “I’d pay a lot more than five bucks for this kiss. You should change your sign.”
A nervous laugh caught in my throat. Then, because I didn’t want this guy thinking for another second he was about to get a kiss from me, I prepared in my head the explanation I needed to give him, one that would hopefully keep his money in that jar, only to have my thoughts abruptly cut off.
“You wanna explain to me what you’re doin’?”
I sucked in a breath and stood up straighter, feeling panic shock me like every part of my body was touching a live wire.
That low, rough, and achingly beautiful voice filtered through my ears and reached some deep part of me that hadn’t been scraped out and tossed away. And then it reached deeper still and spread, filling that giant hole inside me, replacing everything I lost with something better, because of who that voice belonged to.
My eyes focused and moved first, then my head turned.
We locked eyes.
Sean stood off to the side of the line that had formed, and I knew just from hearing his beaten tone how he’d look standing there, but I wasn’t prepared to see it. Even if he hadn’t spoken first and I had seen his approach, I still wouldn’t be prepared for that broken, empty look on his face.
Breath shuddered inside my chest. I suddenly felt dizzy.
It was too much.
It was all too much—being here in this stupid booth promoting something I was absolutely not participating in, seeing the one person I was hoping to see, who was never supposed to be here. Those eyes—those beautiful copper eyes that were now black and void of life, when they should’ve been filled with all the love in the world. Nothing but love.
I didn’t understand it. Why did he look like that? He shouldn’t look like that. He shouldn’t look exactly like I felt. I gave him everything. I gave up everything so he could have the life he deserved.