Total pages in book: 103
Estimated words: 99921 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 500(@200wpm)___ 400(@250wpm)___ 333(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 99921 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 500(@200wpm)___ 400(@250wpm)___ 333(@300wpm)
“Maybe. But something tells me she could be the one.”
CHAPTER 18
* * *
Monkey Suit
Fox
“This is ridiculous,” I grumbled to myself while pulling the knot of my tie up in the mirror. The last time I’d put on a suit was a year ago, for a funeral. They definitely weren’t my thing. Back in my playing days, the team had gotten dressed up for travel, and a lot of the guys liked it—wearing flashy name-brand shit that designers sent them, hamming it up for the camera as they strutted to the bus. But even back then, I wasn’t into it. My teammates would bust my balls because I wore the same two suits every week, a navy and a gray. I was currently wearing the navy one and questioning whether my mother was wrong and Le Pavillion was too fancy for a first date. But the steakhouse and two other places I’d tried that were nicer than the Inn, yet didn’t require a monkey suit, were all booked up.
I’d also gotten the truck washed and the inside vacuumed, and even stopped for flowers on my way home from work. I was starting to remember why I hadn’t dated these last few years—it was a lot of damn work. Certainly more trouble than going to the bar a town over with a condom in my wallet and talking to the first pretty woman I met.
At seven, I left my truck in the driveway and walked across the grass. I could’ve driven and parked in Josie’s driveway, but this town had enough to gossip about, so I figured discreet was best.
At the door, I wiped my palms on my pants—apparently it was warmer than I’d realized—and knocked. Josie answered with a smile. But when she got a load of me, it wilted. “Oh my gosh.” She looked down and put her hand on her chest. “I’m underdressed.”
I was going to kill my mother.
Josie looked gorgeous, wearing a pair of jeans and flirty white ruffled top. She smelled pretty damn good, too. But I felt like an idiot.
I shook my head and started to stomp back next door. “Sorry. I’ll get changed.”
“What? No!” She grabbed my arm. “It’s my fault. I didn’t realize we were going somewhere fancy. I’ll change.”
“It’s fine. This was stupid…” I pulled from Josie’s grip and went back to walking toward the house.
“Fox, wait…”
I kept walking. At least until her voice turned to a screech.
“Fox!”
I froze but didn’t turn around.
“I’m going upstairs to get changed right this minute. So if you go next door and come back with jeans or whatever, you’re going to make me look overdressed. Can you please just come in and not make this into a thing?”
I felt like a damn fool, but I took a deep breath and sucked it up.
Josie grinned when I got back to the door. “Wow. Whadda you know? He actually listened…”
“Go get your ass changed.”
She looked down at the flowers I’d forgotten were in my hands. “Are those for me?”
“Yeah.” I held them out. “Here.”
She chuckled. “Come in. I doubt Mrs. Wollman left a vase, but you can look around for something to put them in while I get dressed.”
“Fine.”
Josie disappeared upstairs while I stood in the middle of the kitchen, wondering what the fuck I was doing. Meanwhile, the damn duck waddled across the living room, catching me off guard.
“Jesus,” I mumbled. “You’re still here.”
It quacked at me and kept walking, settling into…was that a dog bed? There was a TV that looked shall we say vintage set up on the floor, playing cartoons. The duck made itself at home across from it in a pink orthopedic bed. I shook my head and looked around the kitchen. Three rows of festive Christmas cards hung along the wall. Underneath those, six different paint-sample squares had been taped up.
Between wearing this suit for a date and this place starting to feel normal, Josie wasn’t the only one who needed counseling. But I was here, and I still had the stupid flowers in my hand, so I figured I might as well do what she’d asked and see if I could find something to put them in.
A search of the cabinets turned up nothing, but I found a green plastic watering can in the garage and filled it with water.
Josie came back down as I was not-so-delicately stuffing the stems inside. I reached for the collar of my dress shirt, as it suddenly felt too tight around my neck.
She bit her lip. “This is the only dressy thing I brought. I’m not even sure why I packed it. And with heels, it’s a little on the short side.”
I was going to have to stay close behind her, especially if she dropped something. And it wouldn’t be easy to control the urge to punch every guy whose head turned, but spending the next few hours with her wearing that was totally worth the effort. The woman had enough leg to be six-foot tall, especially in those stilettos.