Total pages in book: 61
Estimated words: 59154 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 296(@200wpm)___ 237(@250wpm)___ 197(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 59154 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 296(@200wpm)___ 237(@250wpm)___ 197(@300wpm)
He looked alarmed.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered.
He gave me a squeeze. “You–you’re sorry? For me?”
“Yes. It sounds like a horrible, no-win situation, and you did what you had to in the moment to make sure your sister was safe. I’m sorry you had to go through that.”
Johnny dropped his forehead into my shoulder and sighed, like he was overwhelmed by emotion he refused to show.
My heart thudded with his nearness. With his vulnerability and the closeness we’d just forged.
Maybe this was more than a hot date. My fantasy guy just took on three-dimensionality. Depth.
A heart with wounds in it.
He might have seemed absolutely perfect, but he was human, with flaws and insecurities, just like me.
I burrowed my fingers into the hair at the back of his head and massaged. “Well, I’m glad you found this ranch,” I said. “It seems like you’re part of a family here.”
He lifted his head and nodded, eyes crinkling. “Found family is the very best kind.”
Found family. That’s what I had witnessed in the big ranch kitchen this morning. What I’d been a little envious of. I’d had Lyssa as a constant partner growing up, and we’d even started at the same college before she dropped out to pursue a modeling gig in New York. It hadn’t panned out, but it started her on her years’ long adventures that now had her in Ibiza.
I was used to working collaboratively with people. As a team. That was why movie effects felt like a good fit at first. But it wasn’t a family, not at all. That team was toxic.
My phone buzzed with an incoming text.
He handed me my pile of clothes, and I pulled it from my jeans pocket. Opened the screen. It was a photo text from Lyssa. For some reason, I didn’t want Johnny to see it. To see her.
Didn't want him to know there was a better twin. Maybe not prettier, since we were identical, but definitely sexier. Lyssa embraced and embodied sexuality.
If he saw Lyssa, I would have to explain that the sister I mentioned was actually my twin. And then the fact that I was playing my twin right now might come out, and this whole fantastical experience would unravel.
I’d been lying to him and still was.
No, I wanted him to keep believing I was Lyssa. The one and only Lyssa who nailed hot cowboys within an hour of meeting them.
Or at least this hot cowboy.
I closed the screen and set it down.
“That wasn’t Chapman, was it?”
Right. He needed information about Chapman. I should probably call Lyssa to find out more for him. I wasn’t ready to tell him my real name, but I could at least try to do the job I was pretending to have. And Johnny had a job, and I was keeping him from his work. If Rob needed to connect with Chapman, then I should try to make that happen.
I shook my head. “No, it was my sister. I should probably call her.” I pushed on his shoulder to try to climb out of his lap, but he was already lifting me by my waist to my feet.
Wow. I could get used to having such a strong guy around.
I could get used to a lot of Johnny’s attributes.
Including that glorious one between his legs.
Ha–now I was being as dirty-minded as my twin.
I dialed Lyssa and walked away to get out of earshot.
“Whasuuuup?” Lyssa called into the phone when she answered. It made me smile. “Did you get my text?”
I reopened the text now that Johnny wasn’t looking over my shoulder. It was of Lyssa, in a black bikini on a yacht, with a very hot middle-aged man beside her.
I put the phone back up to my ear. “Yes. It looks amazing! Are you having a ball?”
“So much fun. The sultan is treating me like a princess. How’s the ranch?”
I bit my lip, then grinned. “Well, actually, I’m not there right now. That’s okay, right? If I left it for a couple of days?” Ms. Responsible kicked in a day late, probably in response to my carefree twin.
“Oh, totally. Chapman doesn’t even need a caretaker. I mean, pffft. Who cares if his mail gets brought in and placed on the kitchen counter everyday?”
Chapman probably did, but Lyssa wasn’t going to overthink that like I would.
“Where are you, Emmie? Please say you didn’t go back to your job.”
“No. I, um. Well, I met this guy.” I lowered my voice.
“What?” Lyssa practically shrieked into the phone. “Good for you! Give me all the deets.”
“He’s a hot cowboy,” I whispered. “He works as a ranch hand a couple of hours from Chapman’s, so that’s where I am now.”
“Are you serious? You’re getting well laid by a hot cowboy? This is the best news ever. I knew you quitting your job and coming to Montana was the best thing you could do!”