Total pages in book: 58
Estimated words: 52957 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 265(@200wpm)___ 212(@250wpm)___ 177(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 52957 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 265(@200wpm)___ 212(@250wpm)___ 177(@300wpm)
“That’s my girl!” Talia said as she resumed lying back on my bed and petting my cat. “I wish I was going with you, but I have a conference I have to attend. Make sure you take notes for your classes so I can read them, especially the full contact ones. Having sex in a classroom, with everyone watching?” She fanned her red cheeks. “So hot. Make sure you volunteer as a test subject for all of your full-contact classes.”
“You know I will. I wish you could come with me as well.” I gave her a fond smile. “After all, you introduced me to the Middle lifestyle. I owe you.”
“How could I not? You’re my sister from another mister.” She winked at me and tossed her curls back. “Besides, it’s super fun having someone I can have sleepovers with who won’t think it’s weird that I sleep with a stuffed animal.”
“And you really brought fun back into my life. I am so much happier now that I allow myself to be immature and play.”
Talia fished a necklace out from under her shirt where a silver half heart dangled. “Besties.”
I held up my necklace, stroking the other half of the heart charm with my thumb. “Besties.”
Three days later
Large fat flakes of white landed on my head and shivers overcame me as I hustled up the long walkway to the steps leading to the front doors Rawhide Ranch’s main lodge. On either side of me, snow lay almost thigh deep, but the walkway had been cleared and salted. The lodge glowed in the darkness, looking like a divine refuge from the cold, solid enough to withstand any storm. Lovely and warm-cream twinkle lights twined about the large porch, chasing back the night. It was only 5:15 pm and the sky was already dark.
Spicy burning wood-scented the air and multiple chimneys on the various buildings billowed smoke into the crystalline air.
My teeth grew cold as I stared upwards at the entrancing night sky. Clouds sped past overhead, parting here and there to reveal a full moon. The shafts of light that pierced the clouds seemed to glow like silver. Snowflakes somehow still fell in such a picturesque manner that I felt like I was in a movie. The air seemed to glitter as a biting wind whipped ribbons of snow over the frozen crust of the drifts around me. That same wind cut through me like a knife and my body gave a convulsive shiver, breaking my fascination with the sky.
Now that I wasn’t mesmerized by nature’s glory, I realized I was freezing.
I mean, I knew it was going to be eleven degrees, but I didn’t take into account the wind that snuck through my sweater and froze my skin.
Or what eleven degrees actually felt like.
Shoving my hands in my armpits, I hurried faster, the salt crunching beneath my low-heeled boots.
Stupid, stupid me had left her jacket in the airport bathroom. I’d been distracted by a flurry of texts from my department at work and had walked right onto the plane without it. That left me freezing in my pale-jade floral sweater and jeans. My sweet driver had offered his coat, but it was a quick walk to the lodge so I’d told him I would be fine. And I would have been if I hadn’t stopped to stare at the sky like some slack-jawed fool.
The cold was so intense it was painful, and I walked even faster. By the time I reached the front porch, my whole body was shaking like I was having a seizure. The icy bite of the metal door handle hurt my hand, but I yanked it open and staggered inside a massive foyer decorated in a lovely western-meets-the-rugged-northern-woods vibe.
I would have appreciated it more if my eyes weren’t tearing up and blurring my vision.
Wiping my eyes on the back of my sweater’s sleeve, I startled as a smooth and slightly southern-accented male voice said, “Holy shit, you look like you have frostbite. Are you okay, miss?”
I still couldn’t see anything, and when I attempted to speak, my chattering teeth made it difficult. “C-co-l-ld.”
“So I see. What are you doing out there without your winter gear?” He took both of my hands in his and I stilled as their warmth enveloped me. “Yep, frozen. Come on, let’s get you warmed up.”
The man, whoever he was, led me slowly over to a roaring fire. I might have shoved past him in my eagerness to get to the fireplace.
My eyes watered again, but this time they cleared up after I wiped at them.
“Thank you,” I managed to say past my clenched teeth.
“No problem,” was his slightly amused sounding reply.
The heat felt absolutely divine on my cold skin.
Feeling warm enough to rotate, I looked at where I was for the first time. Large dark reddish-brown leather couches, three of them, were arranged in front of the fire. In the middle a large light-wood table held an elegant bronze statue of two moose locked in battle. A pair of women sat on the couch closest to the door, their curious eyes locked on me. The blonde, wearing a pair of white furry kitten ears and a cream bodysuit, sat up abruptly as she took me in.