Total pages in book: 24
Estimated words: 21999 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 110(@200wpm)___ 88(@250wpm)___ 73(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 21999 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 110(@200wpm)___ 88(@250wpm)___ 73(@300wpm)
Her shop is right downtown, and anyone could walk in at any minute. Reluctantly, I pull back, and we're both panting and almost breathless. She's staring at me as if I have two heads instead of one while her hand goes to her chest. "Is it...?" But she stops before she finishes. Her lips are swollen, and she already looks thoroughly loved.
"Ask me. You can ask me anything."
She looks around the empty bookstore and then back at me. "Is it always like that?"
My hands tighten on her shoulders. "Have you never been kissed before, Amanda?" I know she's innocent and maybe hasn't had a lot of practice, but I had no idea that I would be her first kiss.
"You know my brothers, and I'm the baby of the family. They've run off every boy I've ever liked."
I cup her face and stroke my finger along her cheek. Just knowing that I’m her first kiss does something to me. "Yeah, but you’re an adult."
She rolls her eyes. "Yeah, but you know how it is. This is a small town. No one's going to mess with them."
Obviously, the men of this town are stupid. How could they not know that Amanda would be worth anything and everything to be with? The McCoys be damned. I lean in and press my lips to her forehead and pull back. "I don't care who your brothers are. And to answer your question, no, it's not always like that. I've kissed a lot of—"
And before I get the whole sentence out, she pulls from my arms. "I don't want to hear about you with other women."
I smile and reach for her again, pulling her against me. "You're jealous."
She shakes her head. "I'm not jealous. I just don't want to hear about you and—"
I cut her off. "All I'm telling you is that I've never felt anything like that before. One kiss, and I'm wrapped around your finger, Amanda. You could ask me for anything, and I'd give it to you."
She juts her chin up in the air almost defiantly. "And if I asked you to leave me alone?"
My throat thickens, and I choke out the words. "I will give you anything but that."
She looks at me almost worriedly. "My brothers will never let me go out with you."
Finally, we're getting somewhere. At least she's not saying no. "I'll talk to them."
"No," she says loudly and insistently. Her hand goes to my chest. "If you want to go out, then we can go into Jasper."
She names the next big town over, and I hate the idea. Heck, a part of me wants to take her out on the town, right here in Whiskey Valley. Order her a steak at Buster’s Steakhouse and watch as all the townspeople realize that she’s mine.
"I'm not going to hide this," I tell her. Already just thinking about it makes me sick to my stomach.
She shakes her head side to side. "You said it was one date, not a proposal of marriage. I don't know why we would make a big to-do about it and announce it to everyone."
I want to argue with her, but I don't. "Fine, if that's how you want it."
She nods. "Fine."
I look out the front of the bookstore into the street and then back at her. "I didn't see you pull up. Did your brother drop you off, and I missed it?"
She shakes her head. "No, my car was in the shop. That's why my brother picked me up last night. He just took me to pick it up, and then I drove back here." She points to the ceiling. "I live in the apartment upstairs."
My whole body turns hard. Just the thought that there's a bed that close has me thinking all kinds of thoughts. "Tonight. You'll go out with me tonight."
She laughs easily. "I'll see what I can do."
Chapter 6
Amanda
I didn't work it out to go out that same night. I don't know if it was nervousness or maybe a little bit of fear about my family finding out, but I put Chance off. He didn't like it, but at least he didn't pressure me too hard. What he did do was text and call me every day for three days straight. On the third day, he came into town to see me.
And I knew that I couldn't put it off any longer. Heck, I didn't want to. So here I am standing a few blocks from the bookstore, waiting on him to pick me up. I see his truck coming in the distance and start to fidget. I wrap both hands around my purse and take a few deep breaths to try and calm myself.
He barely parks in the spot in front of me before the door opens and he's jogging around to meet me at the side of his truck. With his hand on the door, he looks me up and down. I don't normally dress up, so I was nervous as to what to wear. I went with a simple sun dress and sandals and left my hair down.