Total pages in book: 110
Estimated words: 104037 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 520(@200wpm)___ 416(@250wpm)___ 347(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 104037 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 520(@200wpm)___ 416(@250wpm)___ 347(@300wpm)
It’s cute, but only if visiting and coming fully stocked already.
Laird comes around the front of the truck and stops to wait for me. The smile has me thinking I made the right choice. “Why is that?”
“I came here to cook, but with most of the food spoiled, there’s really not much for me to do.”
“I have ideas to kill some time.”
Rocking my jaw back and forth, I then say, “Your ideas only include one thing. Sex.”
“And here I thought variety was the spice of life.”
I laugh, walking right into his arms. They come around me and hold me tight. “I’ll never tire of being with you however we decide to play, but I think I’m ready for warmth again.”
A kiss is planted like a seed of hope on the top of my head. “Malibu it is, then.”
We walk into the shop holding hands, but when Willie slips out from under the hood of an old truck, his eyes go straight for the bond. Laird doesn’t change a thing despite my thinking we would hide our relationship. He asks, “How’s the Honda?”
“The Honda . . .” Willie starts, though my attention is still on how possessively Laird is holding my hand. I should be listening, but I’m distracted by his words the other night and his actions coming together. “At least two weeks. It’s on backorder, and they can’t confirm a delivery date. That leaves me hunting one down in the meantime.”
I say, “We won’t be here.”
Laird looks at me. “I’ll send someone to get it when it’s ready to be picked up.”
Willie glances at me but keeps most of his attention on Laird. “I can call you.”
“It’s my car, actually,” I point out, “so I’ll leave my number with you.”
“Sure. Let me get a pen.”
When Willie walks inside a small office off the shop floor, Laird says, “If you’d rather not leave it, we can have it towed on a bed back to LA.”
“I don’t know any reliable mechanics there, so I’m not sure it makes sense to go to the trouble.”
Willie returns with a clipboard. I fill out the paperwork, and then after a quick goodbye to my car, Laird and I return to the truck. Exchanging I love yous doesn’t mean he owes me anything, not a public display, or that we’ll share our personal lives for consumption. But he did it anyway. Sure, it’s in Deer Lake and only at Willie’s Mechanic Shop, but it was more than I expected to show the world.
Tugging the door open, I spy him across the bench seat. He smiles, and it’s so genuine, so full of happiness that I’m taken aback by it. “I didn’t know if you were comfortable with PDA.”
He settles on the seat and sticks the key in the ignition with a laugh. “With you? Fuck yeah, I’m comfortable. Everybody can be jealous of me as the guy who gets to hold your hand.”
I land with a thump on the seat, though my heart soars above. “But you’re famous?”
Starting the truck, he turns to me, those lines digging deep between his brows. “What does that have to do with anything?”
My seat belt clicks, but I’m left here staring like he has a third eye. “What about this getting out?”
He scans outside the truck and then looks back at me. “We’re in Deer Lake. No one’s calling the paparazzi. No one is selling stories to the gossip sites.” Shifting into drive, he pulls forward, his attention going with him. “We grew up coming here, but we’re not the only famous people with properties in the county. The locals let us live our lives.” With a shrug, he adds, “That’s why we go to Maggie’s. No one asked me for an autograph or a selfie. You got drunk, and I enjoyed every minute, but we won’t have to read about it in the press.”
“What happens once we get back to LA?”
There’s a pause that stretches as long as the road ahead. “We already know.”
We do. I even do.
My best friend is an actress. Her husband is a P1 race car driver. Her family has been in the spotlight for the empire they’ve created. My own dad is hounded when he’s yachting in Europe, and my mom loves being featured.
I take a breath, needing to sober myself to the idea. “What will we do?”
Reaching over, he takes my hand again. “Face them together.”
Not two hours later, Laird left to take the trash to the nearest drop-off station while I finished packing my stuff. I set my knife bag down and walk out to see the lake. The urgency I felt to call Marina a few days ago faded as I settled into this extraordinary life with Laird in the mountains.
There’s a comfort I’ve found in him, one that I haven’t been able to ignore. So despite us rushing forward in every aspect of this relationship, it’s felt normal and right from the start.