Total pages in book: 94
Estimated words: 94903 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 475(@200wpm)___ 380(@250wpm)___ 316(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 94903 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 475(@200wpm)___ 380(@250wpm)___ 316(@300wpm)
“Hell no, I can’t.”
“Why are you even here?” I ask, desperately trying to hold tight to my annoyance. “Aren’t you afraid I’ll rob you or something?”
“Have you been drinking?”
“No, but you make me want to.” I roll my eyes and turn to his brother. “Yes or no? Did you know I was talking about Chase last night?”
Gavin bites his lip and watches me.
“Gavin …” I warn.
He sighs. “Maybe. Kind of. I put two and two together when you started talking about Mom.”
I throw my hands in the air.
“So that means you knew all about Megan when we were building the fence this morning,” Chase says.
“Oh, so you were talking about me?” I ask, throwing his question back at him.
Chase glares at me before leveling it at Gavin.
Gavin looks back and forth between the two of us. With each turn of his head, the smirk on his face grows wider.
“Careful …” Chase warns.
Finally, as if he can’t restrain himself a moment longer, Gavin bursts into laughter.
I lean back in my seat and shake my head. The men in this family are killing me.
Gavin stands and pushes his chair toward the table. “You two need to talk. This whole thing you’re doing is the most bizarre but entertaining thing I’ve seen in a long time—and Luke is our brother.” He walks backward away from the table. “I’ll see you both later. Enjoy.”
I try to stare a hole into him, but he practically skips out the door.
My chin tilts toward the ceiling in what feels strangely like defeat.
Chase moves at my side, his knee brushing against mine. A lick of fire races through my body. Nooooo, Megan. We don’t like this rude Neanderthal.
“Why are you here?” I ask without looking at him. My voice is dull, free of emotion of any kind.
“We need to talk.”
“That’s funny. I distinctly remember you refusing to talk a few hours ago.”
He groans. “Will you look at me, please?”
I don’t want to look at him because, if I do, I’ll lose the upper hand. If I even have the upper hand. But I can’t sit staring at the dollars on the ceiling all afternoon. If nothing else, my neck will ache.
Stay in control.
Grinning because I know it’ll annoy him, I lower my chin. “Only because you said please.”
He’s not entertained. But I am.
Holy fuck, he’s something to look at.
Chase is handsome in the traditional ways—excellent bone structure, great lips, and thick lashes. But it’s the more subtle things—the way he flexes his fingers, the calluses on his hands, an implacable look that makes me wonder what he’s thinking—that make it hard to breathe.
“There,” I say, looking as far into his eyes as I can. “I’m looking at you.”
His tongue sweeps around his lips. “Look, Megan …” He takes a long, deep breath. “We got off on the wrong foot.”
“I think we already established that.”
He flashes me a look. “Let’s … restart.”
I don’t want to begin again with Chase, mostly because I’m not sure why he wants to. I’m leaving town in the morning. There’s no need to be friendly or to end our acquaintance any differently. We’ll never see each other again … unless he wants to walk back his position on me helping him with Kennedy. In that case, I’m better off just keeping things as they are.
The man gets under my skin like no other.
I’ll get under his before he can get under mine any more than he already has.
“Are we starting over before or after I saw you naked?” I ask, resting my chin on my hand.
His gaze shifts to the ceiling this time.
“Let’s go with after that particular moment,” I say as his cheeks turn slightly pink. “It’s the only interaction we’ve had so far that I’ve thoroughly enjoyed.”
Slowly, he lowers his gaze back to mine. When it connects, it’s so intense that I shiver.
“I’m trying to be serious here,” he says.
“Me too.”
He runs a hand down his face and then down his thigh. There are stress lines around his eyes; surprisingly, I feel bad for teasing him.
“Okay, fine, I’m sorry,” I say, frowning. I shove a hand toward him. “Hi. Fancy meeting you here. I’m Megan Kramer. What’s your name?”
He takes my hand warily and shakes it. A zip of energy shoots through me.
“I’m Chase.”
“It’s nice to meet you, Chase,” I say.
He drops my hand. “Are we doing all of this?”
“Hey, this was your idea. You said you wanted to start over.”
He stares at me.
I rest my chin in my hand again and stare back at him.
“You know this isn’t necessary, right?” I ask. “We can leave things as they are. As they were. I’m leaving town tomorrow, and you’ll never have to see me again.”
He starts to speak but stops.
Something in the way he watches me—a heated promise, maybe—has me holding my breath. Why are you here, Chase?