Total pages in book: 71
Estimated words: 72669 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 363(@200wpm)___ 291(@250wpm)___ 242(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 72669 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 363(@200wpm)___ 291(@250wpm)___ 242(@300wpm)
“Thank you,” I beamed. “Y’all ready?”
Aaron grunted in affirmative, and Booth pulled me into the curve of his arm and walked me outside.
“We’re not going on your bike, are we?” I asked nervously.
“No,” he laughed. “We’re going in Aaron’s truck.”
“But what about Aaron’s date?” I asked in confusion.
“She’s meeting us there,” Aaron replied from the other side of the truck.
“Cool,” I said. “But didn’t she want to be picked up?”
Aaron shrugged. “I was going to pick her up, but her daddy doesn’t like me. So I’m playing nice and meeting her there.”
“Why doesn’t he like you?” I asked.
Aaron was a good man.
He was a firefighter and a Marine. How much more awesome could you get?
“He thinks I’m trash from the wrong side of the tracks,” Aaron explained.
I blinked.
“How exactly are you trash from the wrong side of the tracks?” I asked in confusion. “There are no train tracks that divide this city.”
Both of the men sandwiching me in gave me a look, and I snorted under my breath, staying silent as we made our way to the banquet hall where the ball was being held.
When we pulled up, I gasped in awe.
“Wow,” I said breathlessly. “It’s beautiful!”
And it was.
Lights hung from the trees, and valets helped out women from the vehicles.
“Wow.” I was in awe.
“That’s the only word you can come up with?” Booth looked over at me with a laugh curving up the corners of his lips.
I punched him in the ass as he got out, and he grabbed my hand and started pulling.
“Slow down or you’re going to pull my dress down and flash your superiors!” I hissed.
He stopped and turned, studying the state of my dress.
“That dress is going to be the death of me,” he studied me.
And, apparently, it wasn’t the only time my dress would be the topic of conversation that night.
I found out an hour and a half later that everyone else had been looking at my dress, too.
“I like your dress,” Aaron’s date, Tawny, said.
I smiled.
“Thank you,” I replied, smiling happily.
“She got it at the second hand shop,” some snotty woman said from behind me. “I saw that dress hanging there when I had to drop off some donations.”
Humiliation swept over me as every single lady in the bathroom looked at me.
Not in disgust, necessarily, but contemplation.
Shit.
I dried off my hands and walked out without another word.
Tawny caught up to me about five seconds later.
“It’s really not that big of a deal,” Tawny said. “Don’t make it one. Nobody can tell if it is or isn’t. All they know is that it looks gorgeous on you, and they’re jealous.”
Tears clogged my throat.
“Thank you,” I whispered to her.
Tawny patted my hand, being sure to let go before we made it back into the ball room.
“Gosh, he sure is beautiful,” she said from beside me.
I looked at her.
“Who is?” I asked.
“Aaron,” she said, tilting her head in the direction of Aaron and Booth who were standing next to our table, a beer in their hands.
All the senior staff had gone home for the night and now all that was left were the younger, more fun group.
Apparently, the senior officers leaving was the signal for the alcohol to be broken out.
I, sadly, couldn’t drink.
Not that I would, anyway.
I was the only one able to drive home, and a grin overtook my face as I took Tawny’s hand and pulled us forward.
“Hey, Aaron,” I said. “Did you know if you drink too much, I get to drive your truck home?”
He turned to me at the sound of his name, then narrowed his eyes.
“You’re not driving my truck,” he denied instantly.
I raised my eyes at him.
“Oh really?” I teased.
He looked down at his beer.
“Yeah, nobody drives my truck but me,” he confirmed.
“Not even me?” Tawny fluttered her eye lashes at him.
Aaron’s face clouded, and I started laughing.
“Oh, Aaron. You’re screwed.”
Booth took my hand then and led me onto the dance floor, not putting his beer down as he did.
“Stop teasing them,” he said against my lips.
I kissed him, then.
“I love you, Booth,” I whispered, looking up into his eyes.
He lifted his hand, the one without the beer in it, and ran it along the apple of my cheek.
“And I love you, Mase.”
***
I stood up with the shirt that Booth had worn in my hands, staring at it with love as the memories from that night continued to pour through me.
That had been the happiest night of my life.
And I swore that I’d make this work with Booth.
After I let him know just how unhappy it made me to be ignored and put on hold all night.
Chapter 13
I can’t take you back. I already told my mom what you did.
-Note to self
Booth
“Where’d you get that shiner?” Tai asked me.
“Fucking SWAT call last night,” I sighed. “The bitch threw her fucking kid at me. Had paperwork out the ass afterwards, Aaron needed talked down from a ledge, and I wasn’t done until 0700 hours and had to come straight here. No time for fuckin’ ice.”