Total pages in book: 107
Estimated words: 95311 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 477(@200wpm)___ 381(@250wpm)___ 318(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 95311 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 477(@200wpm)___ 381(@250wpm)___ 318(@300wpm)
For the first hour and a half, she had driven around aimlessly, cursing herself for not having made a plan when she left her apartment. She could just drive to some secluded inn somewhere and try to regain her composure. But sleeping somewhere alone in a room where there wasn't any security save for a middle aged married couple who ran the place asleep a floor below didn't exactly fill her with confidence. She needed to find someplace where she felt safe.
And the first word that came to her mind was... Sam.
Hannah swung the car into a u-turn and started off for Stars Landing. She hadn't seen Sam in ages. They had kept casually in touch since they broke up before college. Why he had popped into her head when she thought of a safe place to land was beyond her. Maybe it was just because they had history. Because he wouldn't ask too many questions if he knew she wasn't in a talking mood. Or maybe simply because he was male.
Her parents would be nosy, would pester her about her emotional state, would pry until they got answers because that's what loving, concerned parents would do. She could go stay at the inn. Emily was always working and she could desperately use some girl talk and a junk-food, chick-flick binge night. But if she stayed at the inn, everyone in town would know she was back and she would never get a moment of peace.
She had never been to Sam's house. Farm, she corrected herself. He ran his own farm. He grew food and raised goats and some other nonsense. She always knew he was never going to leave Stars Landing. His roots were too deeply planted in that small town dirt. From what she heard from her parents, who never fully understood why she had broken up with him, Sam had made quite a successful little business for himself. He had built a home and barns and employed people they had gone to school with.
Apparently he had moved onto the land butting up against Old Mam's, the eccentric town spinster who grew herbs and spices and tea. If there was a scandal in town, she was sure to be right in the center of it. Hannah had spent many a afternoon forced to help Mam weed her beds when her parents dropped her there in the summer to get a break for a few hours.
When she finally pulled onto the dirt road, the first thing she noticed was how badly Mam's land was tended. The grass and weeds in her front lawn that had always been meticulously cared for, were ankle high and growing. And there was a different green hatchback parked in the driveway. With a shrug, she continued down the road, dust pooling in clouds around her windows.
She finally saw his house come into view, nestled on a huge piece of property- more acres than she cared to guess about and a simple post and plank fence lining the edges. In the back she could see several large, new barns and paddocks full of animals moving to and fro. The house itself was breathtaking.
It was a two story colonial, in fresh white and shutter-less. The lead up to the black front door was a charming cobblestone path. He had lush green flowerbeds lining the whole front of the house. There were nine gleaming windows across the front and three additional windows peeking out of the roof tiles. It was an enormous, perfect house.
Maybe if she knew he had such exquisite taste, she would have stayed with him, she laughed to herself, putting her car in park and taking a deep breath before walking up the path.
She was suddenly nervous. What was he going to think to find her on his doorstep after so many years? Granted, they had seen each other in town when she had stopped home for holidays. But they had barely even spoken.
But what better choice did she really have?
Hannah rolled her shoulders, stiff from being in a car for so long, and slammed the silver doorknocker four times. There was silence from within and she wondered if maybe he was out on his property somewhere. Then the door pulled open suddenly and there was Sam Flynn in all of his glory, naked from the waist up.
Hannah felt a little flutter at the sight of him, memories of their four years of fumbling around with each other's bodies rushing her system. Age had certainly agreed with him. He was six feet of strong, farmer muscle. He had shaggy, though somewhat short, dark blond hair and golden brown eyes. And looking down at her, a familiar, easy lopsided grin spread across his face, making his eyes crinkle at the edges. He always had the best smile.