Total pages in book: 75
Estimated words: 73716 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 369(@200wpm)___ 295(@250wpm)___ 246(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 73716 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 369(@200wpm)___ 295(@250wpm)___ 246(@300wpm)
“So where to?” I asked once I buckled myself into the front of Tobias’ truck.
He slammed the door shut and started the truck then turned and watched as Leida buckled herself into her booster seat. Once she was in, he put the truck into drive and then started down the street. Only to stop less than four houses later and pull into a driveway.
“This is it?” I asked.
He nodded. “Then why did you make us buckle up?”
“Because Uncle Tobias is an officer with the Highway Patrol, and Daddy says he has a stick up his butt when it comes to traffic laws,” Leida ever so helpfully supplied.
My lips twitched when ‘Uncle Tobias’ growled.
“Is that so?” I asked. “Imagine that.”
I hadn’t known he was a police officer. I’d, of course, suspected. My brother was a police officer for three years. There was just something about his demeanor and appearance that screamed ‘officer.’
I’d only allowed myself to know that he was a member of the Dixie Wardens. I hadn’t actually spent the time while we were together gathering information about him.
The more information I knew, the more I liked him. And that was a huge problem.
After a cursory search through the house for the extra boxes, and a very good discussion on where would be best to sell said cookies, Tobias came out empty-handed.
“They’re at my mom’s, I guess,” Leida said softly.
Then she sighed, as if her entire world was now ruined.
“It’ll be okay, baby doll,” Tobias put the truck into gear. “Promise.”
I wanted to ask more questions. In fact, the words were right on the tip of my tongue, burning me with their intensity as I held them back.
But I held strong and true, and didn’t say a thing for the entire five-and-a-half-minute drive—yes, I counted the minutes instead of talking—to the mom’s house.
I blinked when I saw a woman standing in the yard, staring at us as we pulled up.
“Stay in the car, darlin’,” Tobias ordered as he got out. Then he looked directly at me. “Don’t get out of this car, okay?”
My brows rose.
Then I nodded.
He blew out a breath and then headed in the direction of the woman.
“My mommy doesn’t like Uncle Toby.”
That was a cute name.
It was even cuter that Tobias could be an ‘Uncle Toby’ to this little girl, who looked like she was scared of her own freakin’ shadow.
I gave the girl a smile, one that I hoped reassured her, and turned to face the window where I could see the two people that were standing out in the front yard.
Tobias said something, and then the woman gestured at him with a flick of her cigarette.
I bit my lip when the ashes flew onto Tobias’ clothes.
He didn’t even bother to flick them off, only stared at her.
She said something, and then flicked her cigarette again.
This time, Tobias calmly lifted his hand, extracted the cigarette out of the woman’s hands, and dropped it to the ground where he promptly dug his booted toe into the ground, extinguishing it.
I barely contained the urge to laugh.
The woman’s expression was comical.
Though she was pretty enough— thick, blonde hair that was braided into a tight tail down her back. Long legs topped with a pair of shorts that were so worn and old looking that I wasn’t sure if they were actually old, or just made to look that way.
Her tank top said “CHEER” on it, and her eyes were a dull shade of green that would make her blend in if she didn’t have the most perfect body this side of the Alabama line.
The woman even had a kid, and she had the body that I’d kill for.
I looked down at myself.
My thighs were large. I’d never be the type of woman that had a thigh gap.
My hair was long and brown, but I had to work at it to make it look halfway decent. If I didn’t straighten it, it would be this wavy, scraggly mess.
My eyes were a warm, rich green.
Then there were my boobs.
Those were just weird.
One had always been bigger than the other. Always.
And if it was that time of the month, it was almost perceptible by people other than me.
I mean, if I noticed it, then other people could, too, right?
None of the men I’d been friends with had though, and I intended to keep it that way.
Though, for a man to notice, he’d have to get close enough, and I was damn good at keeping them at arm’s length. At least in the last seven years, that was.
Or that had been the case until Tobias.
I apparently did not have the willpower or strength to keep that man away.
I didn’t want to get to know him. I didn’t want to like that he included me in things that I had no idea I wanted to be included in. I didn’t want to like it when he paid attention to me, and I really didn’t like it that I did like it so much.