Total pages in book: 136
Estimated words: 131821 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 659(@200wpm)___ 527(@250wpm)___ 439(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 131821 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 659(@200wpm)___ 527(@250wpm)___ 439(@300wpm)
“God.” She tilts her head. “I don’t know how the girls have dealt with you for so long.”
“Stick around and find out. It’s hard not to love me.”
The words are intended as a joke, but when she flushes and looks away, a strange sensation zips through me, all the way down to my damn toes. I can’t name it, but I don’t hate it. Quite the opposite, in fact.
The gang’s voices grow louder as they come back from the arcade section of the pub, so I set my water down and stand, not ready to share her just yet. Or at all. Ever.
“Come on.”
I offer her a hand, and she hesitates, glancing at the others briefly before taking it. I haul her to her feet and lead us toward the back door. We step out onto the patio and start cruising down the street.
Away from the chaos of the night, I take a deep breath.
“It’s really pretty here,” she murmurs after a few silent minutes, leading us onto a little bridge, a small stream running beneath it.
I nod, agreeing, still surprised she and Parker drove out to catch the game today. I wasn’t expecting it. In fact, they didn’t tell any of us. We found out after the game when we walked to Chase’s truck and there they were. Cameron left with some girls from her dorm, Ari had already taken off back to her room, something she’s been doing a lot lately so I don’t even know if she’s aware they’re here tonight, but Payton hasn’t asked about the girls so…maybe she came for me?
As far as I know, she doesn’t talk to them on the regular like she does me, so does that mean I’m right? Did this gorgeous girl come to my college today just for me?
It’s a little stressful how much I want the answer to be a hard-ass yes.
Payton turns to look at me, tipping her head.
“What?”
“You got quiet,” she says softly. “You okay?”
I chuckle, licking my lips as I look off. “I’m good.”
“Promise?”
My lips twist up, and I nod. “I promise, Pretty Little. Better than good, in fact.”
She stares for a few seconds before glancing back toward the creek.
I do the same, noting the length of it. “I’ve never been out here, actually.”
“No?” She sounds pleased.
Does she like that I’m here with her first?
Fuck, bro. Chill.
You sound like a bitch. It’s a creek, hardly even that, not Niagara Falls.
“I stick to campus mostly.”
“Such a good boy, Mason Johnson.”
“I didn’t say that,” I tease, giving a devilish smirk.
She chuckles, looking away. “No, actually I bet you’re not.”
A small frown builds across my brow at her words, even if they are just in response to mine, but I was being a blatant flirt, and I think she might have taken it differently.
I want to tell her I’m not out here chasing a good time, nor am I allowing myself to be caught by someone else who is.
It’s strange to say, but I’m not the same guy I was when I met her a couple of months ago.
Something changed, and it might have everything to do with the girl standing beside me.
Payton stares out at the night, and I watch as her hand falls to her belly.
I wince, waiting for the stiffness to settle in her shoulders as it usually does, but it never comes. In fact, she smiles, spreading her fingers out wider. It’s really good to see.
Her belly is bigger now, a perfect little basketball you can’t even see from the back. It looks hard and painful, and suddenly, I’m anxious.
“We should go back. Sit you down and put your feet up or something, and I can get you some ice or a heating pad or whatever and—”
My rambling dies on my lips the second her little palm presses to my chest. My eyes snap to the contact, the heat of her skin somehow seeping through the thick material of my hoodie. I swallow and ever so slowly lift my gaze to hers and hold it there. The humor in her blue eyes fades by the second, a subtle but not missed shift happening around us.
Her lips part, and in what I might call slow motion, her hand draws back, and the weirdest fucking thing happens.
I physically miss the way it felt. Literally. I frown, and she drops her eyes to the ground.
When she lifts her head again, it’s with a soft smile, but there’s an uncertainty to it this time. I don’t like it. Want to take it away.
So I step forward, grab her hand, and put it back, holding it there.
“Don’t shy away from me, okay?” I don’t know what the words mean, and by the way her features pull, she doesn’t either, but they feel right, so I keep going. “Anything you ever want to say to me, to tell me or show me or ask me, do it. No matter what’s going on in that pretty little head of yours…don’t shy away. Not ever from me.”