Total pages in book: 198
Estimated words: 186242 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 931(@200wpm)___ 745(@250wpm)___ 621(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 186242 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 931(@200wpm)___ 745(@250wpm)___ 621(@300wpm)
I opened the door more just as he was a couple steps away from reaching the bottom. He was holding the net in one hand and taking the steps fast on big, bare feet. My God, what were those things? Size twelve? Thirteen?
Tearing my gaze away, I threw the door open as wide as possible, waited for him to cross the doorway, and slammed it closed so the Mistress of the Night couldn’t come back in and pay me another visit.
And I tried my best to be quiet as I moved to stand behind Mr. Rhodes. He stopped by a shrub, did something to the net, and stepped away.
I only caught a glimpse of the bat hanging from a branch before she took off, and I let out a squeak that I was going to kick myself in the ass for later. Mr. Rhodes didn’t wait or stay to watch where she went. He just started moving toward the main house without another word.
I scrambled after him as he tossed the net in the back of his truck, then made his way up the deck as I stopped and stared up at the sky to make sure another one wasn’t dropping out of nowhere.
He was at the door of his house when I yelled after him, “Thank you! You’re my hero! I’ll give you a ten-star review if you ever want it!”
He didn’t say anything as he closed the door behind him, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t still my hero.
I owed him. I owed him big-time.
Chapter Eleven
I was off a week later, so part of me had expected to get to sleep in, take it easy, maybe go do one of the touristy things in the area. Or maybe do one of my mom’s easier hikes. Since I was going to be around for the near future, I wasn’t in as big of a rush to get them all done. My lungs needed more conditioning anyway. I figured I had at least until October.
Maybe. What had happened in the middle of the night a week ago might have made Mr. Rhodes change his mind about how long he’d let me stay. I didn’t know him, but I knew there was no way he was over that shit yet.
The bat, though, hadn’t come back. My brain, on the other hand, was in denial because I still couldn’t sleep throughout the night without waking up, paranoid.
That’s why I was awake when the sounds outside started up.
Resigned that I wasn’t going back to sleep, I rolled up and got out of bed once another glance at my phone confirmed it was seven thirty and instantly peeked out the window.
There was a dull, repetitive sound coming from out there.
It was Mr. Rhodes.
Chopping wood.
Shirtless.
And I mean shirtless.
I’d expected something nice beneath his clothes from the way he filled them out, but nothing could have prepared me for the sight of . . . him. Reality.
If I wasn’t already pretty sure that there was dry drool on my face, there would have been five minutes after seeing all . . . that through the window.
A pile of foot-long logs were tossed around his feet, with another small pile that he’d obviously already chopped just to the side. But it was the rest of him that really drew my attention. Dark chest hair was sprinkled high over his pectorals. The body hair did nothing to take away from the hard slabs of abdominal muscles he’d been hiding; he was broad up top, narrow at the waist, and covering all that was firm, beautiful skin.
His biceps were big and supple. Shoulders rounded. His forearms were incredible.
And even though his shorts grazed his knees, I could tell the rest of his downtown area was nice and muscular.
He was the DILF to end all DILFs.
My ex had been fit. He’d worked out several times a week at our home gym with a trainer. Being attractive had been part of his job.
Kaden’s physique had nothing on Mr. Rhodes though.
My mouth watered a little more.
I whistled.
And I must have done it a lot louder than I’d thought because his head instantly went up and his gaze landed on me through the window almost immediately.
Busted.
I waved.
And inside . . . inside, I died.
He lifted his chin.
I backed away, trying to play it off.
Maybe he wouldn’t think anything of it. Maybe he’d think I’d whistled . . . to say hi. Sure, yeah.
A girl could dream.
I backed up some more and felt my soul shriveling as I made my breakfast, making sure to stay away from the window the rest of the time. I tried to focus on other stuff. You know, so I wouldn’t want to have to move out from shame.
Was I tired? Absolutely. But there were things I wanted to do. Needed to do. Including but not limited to getting away from Mr. Rhodes so my soul could come back to life.