Total pages in book: 44
Estimated words: 42171 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 211(@200wpm)___ 169(@250wpm)___ 141(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 42171 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 211(@200wpm)___ 169(@250wpm)___ 141(@300wpm)
I look at both of her palms, and sure enough, there’s a cut that has blood smeared across it.
She tries to pull her hand from mine. “I’m fine.”
“No, you’re not. You’re bleeding.”
I walk away from her, kicking myself. I just had to fuck her against a tree. What the hell is wrong with me? As I beat myself up over my poor idea, I grab her clothes and help her get dressed. As soon as she’s covered, I pull my pants on and then use my shirt to clean her palm. “But your shirt—”
I tensely look at her hand, trying to stop the bleeding. “I don’t care about my shirt, Maddie.” I suck in a deep breath and blow it out. “I’m sorry about your hand. I shouldn’t have—”
She cuts me off. “So help me, Asher Wild, if you’re about to tell me we shouldn’t have done that, I’m going to scream.”
I raise her hand up and kiss her palm. “I don’t regret that… but I do regret hurting you.”
She goes to her tiptoes and loops her free hand around my neck. “Well, kiss me and make it better.”
I wrap my hand around her neck and kiss her until she’s breathless. I don’t know what it is about Madelyn Weston, but I’m hooked, and I’m already dreading the day she leaves me.
CHAPTER 13
MADELYN
After parking the side-by-side at the bunkhouse, we start walking toward the main house. As soon as the driveway comes into view, I stop, and Asher stops with me. “Fuck.”
He has my hand in his, and he brings it up to inspect the scratch again. He has blood all over his shirt, but he doesn’t seem to care. He’s more worried about my hand than anything else. “What is it? Is it your hand?”
I point into the distance, and he follows my gaze. “Whose car is that?”
“My parents’.”
I wince. So much for showing Asher I’m a responsible, grown, capable woman. That’s hard to do when your parents just show up out of the blue to check on you.
“Shit,” he says, but he doesn’t release my hand, which surprises me. “What are your parents doing here?”
I lean my head back and groan in frustration. “Well, I’m guessing they’re not happy with my decisions. They didn’t want me to come here to ‘play in the dirt.’ I’m sure they’re here to try to talk me into coming home to New York.”
He gruffly pulls me closer. “You can’t leave.”
I let my surprise show. “Really? Two days ago, you were trying to convince me I shouldn’t be here. I thought for sure you would be on my parents’ side on this one.”
He tilts my chin up. “If you still think that, then I’m not fuckin’ you good enough.”
I pull my hand from his and put both of them at his waist. “Let’s just go back to the orchard. Maybe they’ll get tired of waiting.”
“Madelyn.”
I grimace and shake my head. “I like it better when you shorten my name.”
“Fine. Maddie, tell me about your parents.”
I blow out a breath. “What do you want to know?”
He pulls a twig from my hair, and my hands go up. “Oh God, do I look like I just had sex? I’m sure I do.”
He smiles broadly. “I’d like to think you do, but here, just let me smooth your hair a bit. It’s okay.”
He’s smiling the whole time, and I’m about to lose it. “Seriously? You’re enjoying this? I thought you’d be freaking out right now.”
He shrugs as if it’s no big deal. “Why would I be freaking out?”
And then it hits me. “Right. I mean, you shouldn’t.” I pull away from him and take a step back. “You’re my boss. It’s no big deal.”
He frowns, and I wish I knew what he was thinking.
“Maybe I should just go in there—”
He cuts me off. “No.”
My eyes widen, and I stare at him in surprise. “No?”
He points toward the house. “No. I’m not disappearing into the orchard while you go in there and face your parents and then come home later to find you gone.”
I take a step toward him. “Hey.”
He looks angry now, and I shake my head. “I wouldn’t just leave, Asher. I committed to this job, and I’m here through the summer.”
I thought that’s what he wanted to hear, but he still looks angry. “Tell me about your mom and dad. What are we dealing with here?”
It’s then I realize that he’s probably gotten the worst idea of my parents. “Well, they’re good parents. They love me, and they love each other. They’ve been married for a long time, and they’re in love—like the real kind—and they want that for me.”
He looks at me, confused. “Oh yeah, they sound horrible. How dare they?”
I slap a hand against his chest. “You don’t get it.”
He grabs my hand and holds it against his chest. “Well, then explain it to me.”