Total pages in book: 65
Estimated words: 60933 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 305(@200wpm)___ 244(@250wpm)___ 203(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 60933 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 305(@200wpm)___ 244(@250wpm)___ 203(@300wpm)
Asa stepped into my house, and it looked even smaller with him in it. “Smells like cookies,” he said, looking around.
“I just took a batch out of the oven a few minutes ago,” I told him. “Chocolate chip,” I added, then thought about the batter on my tank top.
“Those are my favorite,” he said, his gaze on me instead of the house.
I didn’t doubt it. Asa liked sweets. “Follow me,” I replied, unable to keep the grin off my face. For a moment, it was as if five years hadn’t happened and things were just as we’d left them. But only for a moment.
I walked into the kitchen and placed three cookies on a plate, then took a glass from the cabinet and poured a glass of milk. When I turned back to him, Asa was watching me. “Here you go,” I said, handing the cookies and milk to him. “Have a seat.” I waved my hand at the table behind him and then went to pull out a chair and sit down.
“Thanks. I didn’t know I would be getting cookies when I came to see you. I should have come sooner,” he told me, then winked. It was just a wink. Guys had winked at me before. It wasn’t something exclusive to Asa. However, the way my entire body responded to his winking at me was the issue.
Why? Why did he have to look like this? Why did I have to feel things for him? Why? It was so unfair. I hadn’t regretted my decision five years ago. Not one time, until this week. Now I kept wondering, what if I had followed him to Mississippi? What if we had stayed together? What if? Ugh, that would never have happened. He was gorgeous, for starters, and the girls would have been all over him.
“When did you decide to become a teacher?” he asked me.
I snapped out of my inner debate, grateful for the distraction. My thoughts had become a dangerous place. “My second year of college,” I told him. “What about you? What did you major in?”
His smirk as he chewed up the bite of cookie in his mouth was intriguing. I had wondered more than once what it was he had chosen to do with his life since hearing he hadn’t gone into the NFL draft like everyone thought he would.
“Spanish,” he replied, then took a drink of milk.
“Spanish?” I repeated, knowing I heard him correctly but trying to process it. Why would he major in Spanish?
He nodded. “Yeah. Spanish. I want to teach it along with coaching high school football.”
He was going to teach Spanish. I laughed then.
“Is that funny?” he asked me, his grin tugging at his lips.
I shrugged. “Yes but I don’t know why. I guess I wasn’t expecting you to tell me Spanish. I was thinking a business degree or something to do with sports medicine.”
“I wanted to be a teacher,” he replied. “I was good at Spanish, and I enjoyed it.”
It had been his mother’s first language. I wanted to ask him how often she had spoken it at home, but I didn’t know if talking about her upset him. I didn’t know much about Asa anymore. My smile faded.
“You’ll have the attention of all the female students,” I told him, keeping it light.
He finished off his last cookie and leaned back in his hair. “You think so?” he asked, studying me.
It was my time to smirk. “I hope you don’t have a jealous girlfriend,” I blurted out without thinking. Dang it. Why did I have to say anything about a girlfriend?
He shook his head. “No, I don’t have one of those.”
I had dug this hole, and apparently I was going to keep digging. “That’s good she’s not jealous. A jealous female can be difficult.”
He chuckled, then leaned forward, resting his elbows on the table as he looked at me. “Is this your way of asking if I have a girlfriend?”
Yes, no, maybe. I shrugged. “I was just making small talk,” I replied nervously.
“Okay,” he replied after a few moments. “Can I have a tour of the house?”
He wasn’t going to tell me. Which meant he did in fact have a girlfriend. Right? I didn’t care. He would be gone soon. I needed to remember that. I didn’t need to know about his life.
“Sure,” I replied, standing up. “It’s a short tour, though.”
He stood up then, and we were close. Too close. My body wasn’t ready for this kind of close. Not with him, at least. The sooner Asa left Lawton, the better.
“I don’t,” he said, not stepping back and putting much-needed space between us. He was so big now, and being so close to his massive, muscular body made me tingle in places I should not be tingling.
As always, I had to tilt my head back to look up at him. He was studying me for a reaction to his two words. I wasn’t sure what he had been talking about because my heart had begun to beat faster as my mind went to other things being this close to him. “Um… what?” I asked, jerking my gaze from his and forcing myself to move a few steps ahead of him.