Total pages in book: 102
Estimated words: 96178 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 481(@200wpm)___ 385(@250wpm)___ 321(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 96178 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 481(@200wpm)___ 385(@250wpm)___ 321(@300wpm)
Finally, he looked at her, smashing down that smile again. “Is that right?”
“It is.” They climbed a set of cement stairs, passed under the stone structure of the information center, and finally reached a long cement walkway lined with flagpoles. “This is the Avenue of Flags,” Ren whispered reverently.
“I guessed that,” he whispered back, “based on the huge letters right there that read ‘Avenue of Flags.’”
“Well,” she said, whispering again, “did you know that there are fifty-six flags here, one for every state and territory? Let’s find ours.”
With that, she took off, spotting the Idaho flag in the distance. It was blue, with the state seal in the center and a red-and-gold banner with the words STATE OF IDAHO just beneath it.
Fitz strolled closer, smiling when Ren hopped up onto the stone ledge beside the flagpole. “You want a picture?” He waved his phone, and it took her a beat to realize he meant a picture of her.
“Sure.” But Ren had so rarely had her photo taken, she felt immediately self-conscious. For Steve and Gloria, posing for photos was a sign of vanity. There had never been a camera on the homestead. Ren had seen cameras before, of course, in books and real life—Tammy took a picture of her once with a disposable Kodak, she’d taken a photo at the DMV, and Dr. Audran had used his Polaroid in class—but this felt different. This was a picture to create a memory, to capture the moment. She wanted to get it right.
Straightening, she crossed her arms. “No, wait, that looks angry.” She uncrossed them, but then they hung uselessly at her sides. Ren planted her fists on her hips, but that felt stupid. She dropped one arm, leaving one fist on her hip, and felt even more ridiculous. Finally, she gave up, admitting, “Fitz. I don’t know how to pose.”
“Just be you,” he said, and Ren let instinct take over. Fitz burst out laughing when she hugged the flagpole. “Okay, yes, that’s the right vibe.” Lifting the phone, he tapped the screen a few times. “Got it.”
“Let’s find yours now.” She looked down the long line of flags flapping in the chilly wind. “Your dad is the real estate mogul Robert Fitzsimmons, right? Isn’t he originally from New York?” Her jaw dropped in realization. “Fitz, were you born in New York?”
He squinted into the distance, his expression shuttering. “No, I was born and raised in Spokane.”
Reaching for Fitz’s arm, she tugged him down to the green Washington state flag. “Stand there.” She held out her hand for his phone. “Let me get your picture now.”
He unlocked it, setting it in her palm.
“Do something cute,” she told him from behind the phone.
Fitz scowled at this. “Cute?”
“Oh, I’m sorry. I meant do something rough and masculine.”
He stared at her. “Just take the photo, Sunshine.”
“You look mad!” She peeked around the phone at him. “Do that sweet smile where your eyes crinkle and you look so handsome.”
As soon as the words were out of her mouth, Ren wanted to suck them right back in. Heat engulfed her cheeks as a wolfish grin spread over his lips. “The sweet smile where my eyes do what now?”
Ren quickly snapped a photo. “Okay. That one works, too.” Fitz laughed, and she took a few more, staring down at them. She’d captured the eye-crinkly smile after all, but she’d also captured that smoldering first expression. It wasn’t the fake enticement he used on everyone, and which she’d seen on his face countless times. This was the direct tether between his gaze and hers, the seductive curl of his full lips that carried what felt like a promise.
Ren’s blood heated, her pulse accelerating. But with a sinking sensation in her gut, she remembered Miriam’s warning: Don’t let him seduce you. He’ll only break your heart. Was this what her roommate meant? That Fitz knew how to captivate every kind of woman, especially one as inexperienced and naive as her? Was she simply a game to him? A sort of conquest he’d never made before?
She tried to shake away the longing, to look away from those penetrating eyes, but she couldn’t. For the first time ever, Ren wished she had a phone so she could send herself these pictures.
“Okay, weirdo,” he said, standing and taking his phone back, “stop falling in love with me, let’s go see that mountain.”
It took a few seconds for his words to penetrate, and when they did, he was already several steps away. Ren jogged after him. “I wasn’t falling in love with you.”
“You were.”
“Was not!”
“Staring at my photo with horny eyes.”
Mortified, she burst out, “Oh my God, I was not!”
Fitz stopped walking and nudged her with his elbow. “Will you stop arguing with me and look?”
She followed his attention up, up, up to the monument. “Huh.”