Total pages in book: 88
Estimated words: 87573 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 438(@200wpm)___ 350(@250wpm)___ 292(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 87573 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 438(@200wpm)___ 350(@250wpm)___ 292(@300wpm)
“Oh,” West said next to me.
And he didn’t have to say anything else.
Oh was fucking right.
6
Eve
From one girl to another, I wouldn’t recommend running through wet grass in thousand-dollar high heels. Louboutins were made to be admired. Preferably from behind as I bent over a fancy desk. Not ruined as they squelched into uncharacteristically soggy ground. I’d kicked them off and scooped them up on the way over. I wasn’t about to turn a fucking ankle for fashion. Not when our soccer championship was right around the corner.
Now, I was not only late for the announcement I had promised everyone I would attend. I was also barefoot and perspiring.
Excellent.
I stopped before the outdoor auditorium, craning my neck for my friends. The place was packed. People had brought blankets and folding chairs to camp out on the surrounding grass, like they would in a few days for the Fourth of July fireworks. Only Wrights could draw crowds like this. How the hell was I going to find anyone in all of this?
My eyes scanned the crowd. Nora had texted earlier and told me that they’d roped off an area for friends and family. I supposed that was me even if I still questioned that.
Then, in the midst of the chaos, I found him.
Whitt.
It was like two magnets snapped together by the force of their attraction. He was in a suit, taller than nearly everyone else in attendance, other than his twin at his side. And he was looking directly at me.
I considered raising my hand to wave, but I was stuck, trapped in that gaze. Even all the way across the auditorium with thousands of people between us, Whitton Wright had found me.
I shivered all over.
“No,” I whispered to myself.
I’d decided not to do this. We were working together. I was going to keep it professional.
I broke the gaze and focused on getting down to my friends. This had nothing to do with Whitt. Jensen was currently being introduced by a woman that I didn’t recognize. Well, at least I hadn’t missed the main act.
An opening appeared on the green, and I pushed my way off the grass. I slid my heels back onto my feet with a grimace before striding purposely down the stairs. People moved out of my way as if my high heels and work dress made me look important. Little did they know.
I shouldered past people who had clearly been there a lot longer than I had. I received some irritated looks, but I couldn’t help that my friends were up at the front, and I wasn’t about to stand around by myself. I hadn’t really wanted to come in the first place.
Nora turned around then and waved at me. She must have seen my text that I was on my way. I waved back, not paying attention to anything but getting through the crowd and to her side.
I was nearly there when a pair of children ran under my feet. One shoved me in the back as they rushed after the other. I gasped as I careened forward, my very fancy heels giving me no resistance as I scrambled to stay upright.
It was no use. I reached blindly for anything to keep me upright. I floundered for a few precious seconds before an arm shot out, stopping my forward trajectory and cradling my body protectively.
“I got you,” Whitt said.
Icicles froze up my spine at the first crash of his baby-blues against my emeralds. The rest of the world disappeared in that one look. The crowd, the boys who’d pushed me, even my friends hovering nearby. Nothing cracked through the freeze frame from being in Whitton Wright’s arms again.
“Hey, Eve,” Whitt said, a half-smile quirking on his perfect, lush lips.
I hastily cleared my throat and pushed myself out of his arms. “Uh, hi.”
Whitt quirked an eyebrow, as if to say he’d seen exactly how I’d gone jelly in his arms. “You okay?”
“Fine.”
“Hmm,” he grunted.
A lie. I was not fine. Not at all. Not with him standing in front of me, looking like a whole fucking meal. Not with the lingering feel of his hands on my body. I shivered as if I could still feel every indent in my skin.
“Thanks to you,” I added. “I appreciate the save.”
“You’re late,” was his only response.
West cleared his throat, covering a laugh. “Good to see you, Eve. Ignore my brother. Punctuality is next to godliness or whatever.”
Nora snorted. “That sounds right.” She pulled me in for a hug. “Glad you made it. Sorry I saw your text so late.”
“That’s all right. I thought I was going to miss the whole thing.”
“Did you get stuck in traffic?” Nora asked.
I laughed. It was hard not to. “In Lubbock? What traffic?”
Nora breathed out heavily through her nose. “Fair. Fine. But it’s a busy weekend.”