Total pages in book: 123
Estimated words: 115468 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 577(@200wpm)___ 462(@250wpm)___ 385(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 115468 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 577(@200wpm)___ 462(@250wpm)___ 385(@300wpm)
I brought the mug to my lips and took a sip, my eyes moving away from my mother’s photograph to look out the window, picturing Gage Buchanan as he’d disappeared down the docks and feeling strangely that he’d taken more with him than I knew how to explain.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Gage
I shifted restlessly in the lounge chair and then raised an arm and put it behind my head as I stared out at the shimmering pool in front of me. The water rippled under the patio lights, and my gaze moved from the turquoise of the deep end to the clear water covering the pool stairs. The varying blues were all…wrong.
They were nothing like her eyes.
I let my head fall back on the lounge chair as I stared up at the star-studded sky. Damn it, stop thinking about her and her eyes. What is wrong with you? I was already restless, and thinking of a woman I’d had a one-night stand with who lived in a town hours away was totally unproductive.
And completely confounding.
Yes, I’d liked her. Yes, I’d felt a connection. And yes, I’d felt…more like myself that night than I had in a long time. Just me without the pressures of all my various roles. I’d allowed myself to enjoy everything about Mud Gulch, but it was never meant to last beyond pleasant, temporary memories. We’d both known that. I’d walked away that morning feeling invigorated and hopeful. Ready to embrace my future with open arms. And yet…those eyes kept popping into my brain every time I tried to focus on something else. Why?
I’d engaged in brief trysts before and had never regretted them. But I’d also quickly moved those memories aside and returned to my normal life.
This wasn’t like me. All my life, I’d been cool, calm, and collected. If something was expected of me, I did what was necessary with single-minded, composed focus. I’d never waffled or become sidetracked. And because I had been given the tools—by nature and by the luck of who my parents were—I had come to expect success in all areas.
But now? I was feeling antsy and preoccupied. Instead of getting better, that random pinching that sometimes made it difficult to breathe that I’d chalked up to nerves, had gotten worse since I’d left Mud Gulch. Stronger, more insistent somehow.
The ring of laughter from my left interrupted my thoughts and I turned to see my sister, Lexi, stumbling through the gate with her best friend, Blakely, just behind her. “Well look who it is!” Lexi grinned as she teetered my way. “My favorite brother.” She leaned down and gave me a quick hug, her perfume, some subtle mix of white peach and vanilla, mixed with the hints of wine still on her breath, wafting over me, and then sat down on the lounger, laying back with a sigh.
“Looks like you two had fun.” I smiled as Blakely shot me a grin and a wave and then sat on the edge of the lounger on my other side. “Hey, Blakely. Good to see you.”
“Good to see you too. What are you doing here?” she asked, leaning forward and patting my thigh before gathering her hair up as she began twisting it into some sort of knot at the top of her head.
Blakely had been Lexi’s best friend since they were in grade school and I’d covered for them in a multitude of ways too many times to count. We’d also done our fair share of partying together when we were in our teens and early twenties, though that had phased out when Lexi moved to New York City to follow her dream of being a singer, and Blakely had gotten engaged to a guy we’d grown up with who now worked with his father at their family-owned insurance company. I lowered the arm that had been behind my head and replaced it with the other. “Just relaxing,” I said.
Lexi made a small snorting sound. “That’ll be the day. Since when do you relax, Go-Getter?” She yawned, her shoulders rising and falling. “If you were free, you should have come with us tonight.”
“I just got off work an hour ago. Late night. I was here delivering some files to Dad that he needs in the morning. How was the party?”
“Ugh. Boring as hell,” Lexi said. “I’m forever ruined by New York City nightlife. Nothing compares.”
Blakely laughed. “It wasn’t that bad.”
Lexi made an unimpressed sound in the back of her throat. “The music was total crap. I drank too much wine to make the experience bearable and now I’m practically passing out,” she said, pulling herself up. “I’ve gotta get to bed.”
Blakely stood and they hugged. “See you tomorrow.” Lexi nodded and blew her a kiss over her shoulder as she turned toward the house. “Goodnight,” she sang as she walked away unsteadily. Blakely sank down on the lounger again as the patio door opened and then closed behind us.