Total pages in book: 176
Estimated words: 164533 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 823(@200wpm)___ 658(@250wpm)___ 548(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 164533 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 823(@200wpm)___ 658(@250wpm)___ 548(@300wpm)
Maybe I should ask Padraig for advice. He’d never gone through a divorce, but he was a businessman and had experience in buying and selling properties.
Glancing at the clock, it was almost two in the morning, and I still hadn’t managed to fall asleep. Jo kept a large selection of herbal teas in the pantry. There was one for sleep that Tristan swore knocked him out cold every time. Maybe I could try a cup.
The whole house was sleeping, so I made sure to be quiet as I crept downstairs. I stood in the pantry in the dark, trying to find the sleepy time tea when someone turned the light on. I stilled, then, a moment later, Charli appeared in the doorway.
“Rhys? What are you still doing here?” she asked, her eyes tired.
I was immediately struck by the sight of her in sleep shorts and an oversized T-shirt. The house was so still and quiet, and it felt oddly intimate to stand in the small space with her barely a foot away. She looked so pretty and sexy, her cheeks flushed, lips plump.
Instinctively, my eyes went to her bare legs, her thick, curvy thighs making my throat dry. I swallowed and averted my gaze quickly, feeling like I’d just been caught doing something I shouldn’t be.
Finally, I replied, “I’m staying here for the next few weeks while renovations are completed on my house.” The lie felt strange and clunky, but Charli just nodded as she stepped into the small room stocked with non-perishables.
“Oh, cool.” Her eyes found mine for a moment. “I guess we’ll be seeing more of each other then.”
“Yep. You’ll be sick of the sight of me before long,” I said, trying for a joke.
She chuckled. “Never. I mean, who else is going to keep me supplied with hoodies all summer?”
My thoughts went to the other day at the hotel, how much I’d liked seeing her wearing my hoodie. I’d told her to keep it because I wanted to see her wear it again. I imagined her curled up on the sofa, engulfed in my too-large hoodie, her skin rubbing up against the fabric, smelling of coconut.
“Right,” I replied. “Can’t have you running out of hoodies.”
“So,” she went on, and I shoved away my inappropriate thoughts. “What are you doing down here? Can’t sleep?”
I nodded and motioned to the tea selection before pulling out the one for sleep. “Tristan says this works for him when he has insomnia. Thought I’d try it.”
“In that case, I’ll have some, too. It’s 2 a.m., but my body is still convinced I’m back in Boston.”
“Is that where you live?”
“Yeah, just Mom and me.”
“Do you like it there?”
“Sure, though I’ve never lived anywhere else, so I don’t have much to compare it to. The weather’s similar to here, except way, way colder in the winter and warmer in the summer.”
I took the box of tea and went into the kitchen, filling the kettle with water before setting it to boil. Charli slid onto a stool, watching as I grabbed two mugs and dropped a teabag in each.
The tea had a strong scent, stronger than your typical herbal tea, which gave me hope it would work to help us both get some sleep. I noticed Charli studying me, so I made sure to keep the bruised part of my face turned away from her.
Pouring hot water into the mugs, I left them to stew and looked to Charli again.
“How did the rest of your day at the beach go?” I asked to break the silence.
“It was fun. Nuala managed to convince me to take a swim though luckily I didn’t encounter any jelly fish. Then we had lunch at a fish and chip shop. Scampi is my new favourite. After that, we came home and showered,” she said, and I forced myself not to imagine what that might look like, water sluicing down her curves …
Okay, stop.
“Sounds like it was a good day.”
“It would’ve been better with you there,” she said, and my eyes widened. A girl had never said anything like that to me before, never expressed a desire to spend time with me. What was this feeling? I was unused to the warm, pleasant sensation.
“Really?” A part of me had to know if she meant it or if she was just saying it to be polite.
“Of course. I felt so out of place being the only one who doesn’t have millionaires for parents,” she replied, smiling.
I chuckled quietly. “Right. It takes some getting used to.”
“How do you do it, though? Doesn’t it ever bother you how they just don’t get certain things? Like, in the car this morning when Aidan couldn’t understand why I was working at the hotel. It just didn’t compute in his brain.”
“It used to bother me a little, but not anymore. If they don’t judge me for not having money, I can hardly judge them for having it. We don’t get to choose the situations we’re born into.”