Total pages in book: 53
Estimated words: 50043 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 250(@200wpm)___ 200(@250wpm)___ 167(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 50043 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 250(@200wpm)___ 200(@250wpm)___ 167(@300wpm)
On her way out the door, Harper hesitated and looked back into the small daycare. She loved this place. It had come onto the market at a ridiculous price when she’d finished all her classes and started looking for a space to make her own. After having her parents help her check it over completely, she’d stopped questioning the bargain it provided.
Thanks to a granduncle she didn’t even know, whose lawyer had contacted her with an inheritance of a chunk of money, Harper had the funding to invest in her own center. When she’d gotten a grant to purchase equipment and supplies, Harper hadn’t questioned how the charity had found her. Each year, that charity sent her money to enrich the environment for the children in her care. Good luck had definitely supported her well. She closed and locked the door carefully.
Once in her car, Harper tried not to panic. Colt was actually planning on coming to the next reunion. Why did she have to insinuate that they had something so much more? Before she could stop herself, Harper selected his number and pressed the call button.
“Harper! I wasn’t expecting to hear from you, Little girl. What a treat!” Colt’s beautiful voice cascaded over her like the best caramel syrup ever made.
“You may not think so when I tell you what I did,” she confessed.
“What’s up?”
“Miranda…”
“What’s the bitch done now?” he demanded.
“I’m afraid I’m the bitch this time.”
“I doubt that seriously. What’s going on, Angel?”
“She wanted me to take the homeless guy who lives in front of her store to the reunion.”
“That sounds like Miranda. You said no obviously.”
“I did, but she kept pushing me. Made fun of the fact I’m a virgin and asked who I was saving myself for. Your name came up in our conversation. Before I knew it, I’d told her you were coming to the reunion this year. There’s nothing that’s come up to keep you away, is there?”
“I will be there and I’ll be glad to be your dedicated escort to the dance.”
“Could you…act like you’re attracted to me?” she asked, blurting out the rest of the question.
“You want to fake being in a romantic relationship?” he suggested, and she could hear amusement in his tone.
“Don’t laugh, Colt. I wouldn’t ask except I backed myself into a corner with Miranda and I hate that she always gets to belittle me.”
“No one gets to make you feel bad, Angel. I will be there. You can count on me.”
“Thank you, Colt,” Harper said, wiping away the tears that had run down her cheeks.
“There is one thing wrong with your plan.”
“Really? What?” she asked, gripping the steering wheel a bit tighter.
“I’m not acting.”
“You’re not acting? I’m sorry, I don’t understand.”
“I was attracted to you in the third grade. Leaving you after graduation about killed me.”
“That was a long time ago, Colt. You hang out with gorgeous, famous people now. I’m just one of the friends you hung out with in high school,” she corrected him.
“You were never simply a friend, Harper. I will see you at the reunion and I will enjoy showering you with affection.”
“Don’t make it, like, goofy.”
“You have a lot of conditions on this relationship we’re entering. I’ll have some of my own,” he told her with a stern tone that thrilled her.
Don’t take his words the wrong way. Harper forced herself to laugh as if he were joking. “I’ll definitely owe you big. Thank you, Colt, for helping me put Miranda in her place—at least for a weekend.”
“You really should stop caring for Rapunzel.”
“Cinderella, Colt!” Harper laughed, knowing he was mixing up the princess names on purpose.
“I can’t get there until the reunion. I stacked everything before the gathering so I could stay in town for a while. Can you keep your chin up until I get there in a few weeks?”
“Yes. She only flares into annoyance about once a month. She’ll be too busy picking on someone else for a while,” Harper answered with a sigh.
“Oh, and we’re going to talk about all the other stuff later.”
“We are?” she asked, mentally reviewing everything she shared with him.
“We are, Little girl.”
CHAPTER 2
“Wooohooo!” Colt celebrated by lifting his bass player off his feet and twirling him around in a circle before setting him down and dancing to the piano.
“What has gotten into you? Are we up for a country music award?” the other musician demanded.
“Probably, but that’s not why I’m excited. Harper called.”
“Harper, from your hometown? The one you write every love song about?”
Colt grinned at him and trailed his fingers over the piano keys. “That’s the one.”
“We figured she didn’t exist,” the backup singer added.
“Oh, she exists,” Colt assured them.
“When is she coming to Nashville?”
“Never. I’m going to her.”
“Appledale? I don’t think you’ll fit in there anymore,” the bass player scoffed.
“Avondale,” Colt corrected absentmindedly as he made plans. “I’ll be fine.”