Total pages in book: 88
Estimated words: 85270 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 426(@200wpm)___ 341(@250wpm)___ 284(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 85270 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 426(@200wpm)___ 341(@250wpm)___ 284(@300wpm)
I’m sure I don’t have to tell you that my plan was a disaster. I climbed about halfway up and made the mistake of looking down. I’d been in my treehouse before, but that was with the ladder my dad and brother had built. Once I looked down, my knees started to wobble, and my palms became sweaty. I called out for my brother, but he didn’t hear me. I started to cry as fear washed over me. I just knew I was going to fall to my death. Yes, a little dramatic, but I was eleven and upset.
It just so happened to be my lucky day. Brooks walked away from the fire to take a leak and heard my cries. He wasted no time climbing up the tree and bringing me down with him on his back. I clung to him like he was my everything, and that’s when it all started. Over the years, I’ve run into him, more so when his cousin Ramsey and I became best friends.
Never once have I acted on this silly crush, though. Never in my life have I ever even breathed that he was someone I was interested in, not until the night my brother proposed to my best friend, and Ramsey made us all voice our choice of men in attendance. Never once have I touched him with more than just a teasing punch or elbow.
That changed tonight.
This is the third straight song we’ve danced to. My feet are killing me, but that’s not going to stop me. I wanted to squeal with excitement when he said his prize was me being his dance partner for the remainder of the night. I knew it was only to keep Jade’s cousin Jackie at bay, but it was time with him. His hands on me and mine on him. No way in hell was I passing that up. I pretended to be excited that I won when in reality, I never wanted to lose anything so damn bad in my entire life. When Jade spoke up and changed the outcome of the bet, I was all too eager to drag Brooks’s fine ass out onto the dance floor.
I know that our dancing doesn’t mean anything. However, it’s almost like a childhood fantasy come true. For one night, I get to have all of his attention, and that’s enough for me. It’s not like I’m in love with him. He’s just my childhood crush, and I’d be lying if I said that eleven-year-old Palmer wasn’t screaming from excitement.
Hell, I would have been happy to spend my evening with any of the Kincaid brothers. Even the twins that were making a Jackie sandwich earlier out here on this very dance floor. They’re all sexy as hell. It’s more than their looks, though. They are genuinely good guys, hard workers, and even though Orrin, so far, is the only one showing signs of settling down, they’re not man-whores. They don’t blow through women like it’s their job. At least, I don’t think they do. They do a pretty damn good job of hiding it if that’s the case. Willow River is a small town, and word travels fast. I’ve never heard anything but great things about the Kincaid brothers or the Kincaid family in general.
Carol and Raymond Kincaid raised nine good men. I think they deserve the right to ask about more grandchildren. Before I know it, a smile pulls at my lips, thinking about Carol giving her sons a pouty lip and asking for grandbabies.
“What’s got that smile lighting your face?” Brooks asks.
I move my gaze from the crowd back to him. “I was just thinking about your mom and her giving you and your brothers a pouty lip and a sob story to match asking for more grandkids.”
“That’s pretty accurate.” He nods. “What’s even funnier is that none of us have said we’re never having kids. In fact, I’d say coming from such a large family, we’ll all end up with a kid or two. What my mom and dad, by association, fail to realize is that it’s their intense connection and the way that they love one another that’s held us off this long. I’m pretty sure that I speak for all of my brothers when I say if we can’t have that, we don’t want it at all.”
I want to ask him about Blakely’s mom and Declan. We all know she passed away as the result of a car accident not long after Blakely was born. There have been rumors, but I’m sure most of it is small-town gossip. Not to mention, it’s none of my business.
Instead, I go for, “So do you want kids one day?”
“Yeah.” He gives a slow bob of his head. “I couldn’t imagine not having a loud, chaotic home. What about you?”