Total pages in book: 24
Estimated words: 22339 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 112(@200wpm)___ 89(@250wpm)___ 74(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 22339 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 112(@200wpm)___ 89(@250wpm)___ 74(@300wpm)
I watch him walk around the front of the vehicle through the blustery snow hitting him in the face. Apparently he’s too cool to wear his scarf properly. He tosses the door open and hops in with a shake. “Whoa, that’s rough. Looks like we’re not going anywhere for a while.”
My head whips in his direction, scarf coming down while my eyes bug out. “Oh no. What do you mean, we’re not going anywhere?”
“We can’t leave until it dies down. I can’t drive in this.”
“I have things to do,” I remind him. “And don’t you have a family to go home to soon? Isn’t your baby mama going to freak out?”
He looks at his phone for a moment and huffs. “We can leave my car in the parking lot and walk.” He jumps out of the SUV and hops to the other side, opening my door.
“Walk?” I exclaimed, staring at him in awe as he held his gloved hand out for me to take.
“Yes, Bethany Faith. You remember that’s moving one foot in front of the other.”
“Don’t be an asshole. I already hate you.” He pulls me close, slamming his door shut. He’s so fast that I don’t have time to react as my back hits the side of the SUV with his hands firmly bracketing my head.
“I sure as fuck hope you don’t mean that because I fucking love you.” His mouth crashes down on mine, kissing me hard and fast with the taste of icy cold mixing with his hot chocolate goodness. I melted into him, nearly giving in before I remembered myself and pushed him away.
“Oh I mean it, Mr. North. You don’t get to kiss me again while you play house with someone else.”
“What the fuck do you mean play house with someone else?” He opens the back doors and slides us into the back seats. “Sit the fuck down and explain yourself.”
“I saw her this morning.” She’s crying and I hate it.
“Saw who?”
“The girl you brought to the party and she’s pregnant.”
“What?”
“Milana is pregnant?”
“Oh so you didn’t know you left a little something extra?”
“Look I didn’t leave shit because she and I were never together.”
I sat back, mouth closed, opened and then closed again. “But you.”
“I brought her to the party and if you hadn’t been so pissed off at me and ready to pick a fight I would have introduced you to one of my study partners who needed some friends on Christmas.”
“She looked like she had you.”
“Look, baby, I get it. I want to rip every guy who breathes the same fucking air as you, but I don’t even see girls like that. Milana had no one and needed a friend. I told her my hometown and my family would give her a good Christmas.”
“Don’t call me baby.”
“Are you even listening to me?”
“So she wasn’t your lover.”
“No.”
“Okay. Noted. You supposedly love me.”
“There’s no supposed.”
“Oh, there sure the fuck is, Colter.” He stands there in confusion as if he has no idea why I’d doubt his declaration even though I want to believe it with all my heart. I’ve longed for it, yearned for those words, but it’s different now.
“Look, as far as I can see, you have broken my heart, left me to suffer, and then come into my life telling me you love me while having avoided me for the past how many years. Hell, I’ve seen your brother more times, and had more conversations with him. He’s been nicer to me.”
“If you mention my brother one more time, so help me, God.”
“Grant’s wonderful.” I continue my profusions.
“Grant’s fucking married,” he snarls.
I roll my eyes and sigh. “It’s a shame.” He’s on me, pinning me to the seat, my hands over my head, and his body firmly against mine. His mouth skims my jaw, breath hot against my skin. “This reminds me of something.”
His chest heaves and my panties are soaked through and through. “If you say another motherfucker, I’ll kill someone.”
“The Christmas party.” Lust has filled my body, but so has the bitter sting of last year’s dismissal. “Are you going to send me away?”
He sighs, resting on his elbows as he stares down at me. His beautiful blue eyes filled with guilt. “Bethany, I had my reasons.”
Pain beats through my chest like a hammer through a drum. “I wasn’t good enough for you?”
He shakes his head, brushing his hand across my forehead and moving the hair away from my face. “Baby, you have always been good enough. Fuck, I’m the one who needed to be better. I needed to be the one you could rely on.”
“Rely on? You’ve got a funny way of proving that. This snow needs to clear up and I need to go home. Colter North, I’ve loved you since I was a sixteen-year-old girl. I thought if you just told me that you loved me, I’d be the happiest girl in the world. I’m a grown woman and for the first time in my life, your love isn’t enough.” I push him off me, which I know is because he lets me.