Total pages in book: 78
Estimated words: 75517 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 378(@200wpm)___ 302(@250wpm)___ 252(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 75517 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 378(@200wpm)___ 302(@250wpm)___ 252(@300wpm)
I had his singular attention.
“Gavin was disappointed.” I try not to roll my eyes, but I fail. “Clara Drew! He is nice!”
“Sure, but he’s not for me,” I tell her, and she glares.
“How can he be when you’re so caught up on someone you shouldn’t be.”
“Why shouldn’t I be, again?” I ask, genuinely wanting to know.
She gives me a dark look. “Because he’s the coach of the Bears and practically old enough to be your father.”
“Semantics,” I laugh, waving her off. Yes, my crush is in full bloom once more. Yes, I’m aware that’s very bad and will probably end in heartbreak.
But here we are.
“At this point, if I don’t get with someone from the organization, Peepaw would be disappointed.”
She gawks at me. “A hockey player, maybe. Someone your age.”
“That is all neither here nor there,” I say, flashing her a grin. “I can like him all I want, but that doesn’t mean he wants me.”
Her eyes widen before she narrows them at me. “Are you serious?”
“What?”
“The sexual tension was suffocating. It was almost like you two were having sex with words.”
I purse my lips. “How does that work when neither of us said anything naughty?”
“Exactly. That’s how disgusting it was.” She rolls her eyes. “You go, ‘Riggs, trust. I love frying asparagus,’ which really meant, ‘Let me suck your dick.’”
I snort.
“Then he’d go, ‘I like all the garlic in my golden paste,’ when really, he was saying, ‘I will bend you over this table and eat garlic from your ass cheeks.’”
I’m cackling at this point, but Elliot isn’t. “Seriously! It was disgusting!”
“You’re delusional. We were only talking,” I say through my laughter.
“And making eyes.”
“I mean, I was, but I didn’t think he was,” I admit, and she shakes her head.
“Oh, he was, in his brooding, grumpy way.”
I giggle. “Do you really think so?”
“Clara Drew!”
“What? He’s hot, El. You know it.”
“I don’t care. Tell me you didn’t sleep with him.”
“I didn’t. I swear,” I say when she gives me a look. “We realized everyone had left, he bought my dinner, and then he walked me to my car. He never touched me, or even asked to. I think you’re making this up.”
Apparently this is my sister’s molehill to transform. “Actions speak louder than words,” she says, holding my gaze. “He bought you dinner, when you were on a date with someone else?”
“Yes, because he felt Gavin was a dick for leaving and should have paid. He’s also making him do extra laps, which I think is funny.” Once the words leave my mouth, I look at her. “Okay, so there is a chance he likes me.”
“More than likes you. He wants you, and I’m warning you—it won’t end well.”
“Why are you being so negative? Let me have my fun.”
She sets me with a look as she sits on the edge of the bed where I am. Of course, Darcy comes over and cuddles between us. She brushes a stray hair behind my ear and kisses my forehead. “Like I said before, you shine too bright for him. He will swallow you whole and spit you out. I don’t want you to get hurt.”
“I can’t get hurt if I know that going in.”
“But you don’t,” she says softly, brushing my cheek. “You’re already half in love with him as it is.” I blink a few times, and she nods slowly, pleased with herself for knowing me so well. “Let him go.”
“It’s nothing.”
“Keep it that way,” she urges, her eyes holding mine. “It’s my job to protect you, and I know this can’t be good for you. He will ruin you, and it hurts me to say that because I love the guy. He is so good to Alex and me, but I promise you, I’ve heard Alex talk about him. To him. He’s too jaded, too broken. You’re too good for him.”
“But it could be different with me.”
“He hasn’t been in a relationship in fourteen years, Clara. As much as I love you, you can’t change that. Or fix him. No matter how much you think you can.”
My sister sets me with one last pointed look before she gets up to start packing once again. I watch her for a moment, rubbing Darcy’s head as I mull over her words in my head. I get what she’s saying, but this is the overprotective, about-to-have-a-baby Elliot. My sister, before she was pregnant and medicated, would urge me to hook up with whoever I wanted. But I get what she’s saying. I don’t want to hook up with him…well, I do, but I want more.
I want to be the only person he sees.
And according to my sister, that’s not something Riggs McCoy is capable of.
So, I should let this go.
But why does the thought of doing that make me want to cry?
CHAPTER 9
Riggs
My boys are extra wiggly this morning.