Total pages in book: 23
Estimated words: 21041 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 105(@200wpm)___ 84(@250wpm)___ 70(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 21041 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 105(@200wpm)___ 84(@250wpm)___ 70(@300wpm)
My heart sinks at his words. I’ll never be more than an annoying little sister that made him try all of her terrible baking mistakes.
He and Jamie would eat everything I baked even if it happened to be gross. Let’s just say it took me a long time to learn that donuts are where my talents truly lie.
With an ache that always happens around Amos, I climb up into his truck. Or I try to. The running board is so high off the ground, it’s like trying to mount a horse. I wobble and slip thanks to my cute shoes that lack any real traction.
But before I can hit the asphalt, he wraps his big hands around my wide hips, steadying me. His lips are just an inch from mine and when I inhale, I can smell the wintergreen mints he likes so much.
Something sparks in his gaze and he lowers his head, nearly closing the distance between us. My heart skips a beat at the same time my mouth goes dry. I’m pretty sure my brother’s best friend is about to kiss me.
I brace myself for what’s about to be the world’s most incredible kiss. Four years of desperate longing have all been coming together for this moment.
But instead of connecting his lips to mine, he pulls away from me and drops his hands from my hips. I still feel his fingers there, burning through my blue jeans.
“The step is slick,” he grunts.
“I’ve got it,” I grump at him. I duck my head and hope my dark hair with the pink highlights hides my expression from him. The last thing I want him to know is that I have a crush on him.
He joins me in the cab of the truck. He doesn’t say anything until we’re on the interstate. “Having second thoughts?”
“No, it’s beautiful here.” I stare out my window, admiring the mountains in the distance. I’ve always wanted to be near them and now I’ll be living on an actual mountain. With the world’s hottest bartender right next door.
For a moment I wonder if he has a girlfriend and a wave of nausea grips my stomach.
Amos has never mentioned his love life, but what if he has a permanent girlfriend? What if she’s one of the ones who will sashay into my donut shop and order those weird sugar free latte drinks? He should know you can’t trust someone that doesn’t like sugar.
I can’t even ask him outright. I haven’t before, and I don’t want to give him a reason to suspect I have a crush on him. It’s humiliating enough always being ignored by Amos. I’d hate to become some little joke he laughed about with Jamie.
“So,” I clear my throat and try to keep my voice casual. “What’s the singles scene like in Mount Bliss?”
Amos
There are things a man shouldn’t know about his best friend’s little sister.
Like the fact that she tastes like cotton candy. But I do know this thanks to the kiss at her high school graduation. That was four years ago but the feeling of her soft lips against mine is permanently etched into my brain.
I met her when she was just eighteen and I knew the moment I looked into those honey-brown eyes that I was truly fucked.
Her brother would throttle me if he knew that I’ve saved all of her social media selfies to my phone or that since the kiss, she’s the only woman I can get off to.
Hell, it’s not like I want to feel this way. I’ve spent years fighting these feelings, hoping every time I saw her that it would be the time I could say I was over her.
It’s never happened.
I’ve finally accepted that it never will. I’m going to want Lyla Jameson until the day I die. And there’s not a damn thing I can do about it. So I do the next best thing. I keep my distance from her.
Or at least, I try to.
I’d been on a video call with Jamie and Lyla last month and suggested that my town could use a good donut shop. I didn’t think she’d take my suggestion seriously. But today she’s here and her new business will be right next to my pub.
I’m screwed now.
2
AMOS
“So, what’s the singles scene like?” She repeats. “I would imagine options are limited but there have to be some hunky lumberjacks or something around.”
I tighten my knuckles on the steering wheel, watching them go white. I know she dates. She’s always been flirty with other guys. It pisses me the fuck off. Then I think about how I have no right to be pissed off and I get even more tweaked.
I anticipate a lot of sessions with the punching bag in my cabin now that she’s here.
“Most of them are married,” I say. Lyla would never go after a married man. That much I do know.