Series: The Laws of Opposite Attract Series by Vi Keeland
Total pages in book: 101
Estimated words: 98878 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 494(@200wpm)___ 396(@250wpm)___ 330(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 98878 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 494(@200wpm)___ 396(@250wpm)___ 330(@300wpm)
“Hi.” I stepped inside. “I guess we both had the same idea.”
“You were hanging out with a friend, too?” Brayden smiled.
“Yup. I just left Ashlyn.”
“Cool.” He turned to the boy. “Have you met Will?”
“I haven’t.” I held my hand up in a wave. “Nice to meet you, Will.”
“You, too.”
“I was just about to get going,” Brayden told me as he stood. “Were you headed out?”
“I was.”
He turned to Will. “I’ll be back soon, okay?”
“Thanks again for the books.”
“Next time I come, we’ll talk about them. I wanna know what you think. You might need to refresh my memory on some stuff.”
He high-fived the boy before heading out with me.
“That was so sweet of you,” I told him.
“I really think he’ll like those books. At least I hope so. He’d told me he likes to read. These kids… They need an escape so freaking badly, you know?”
“Oh yeah. My friend down the hall is sending me on a clothing assignment this afternoon.”
He laughed. “To buy her clothes?”
“No. She wants me to dress a certain way tonight and send her a photo. It’s interesting.”
“You’re her very own paper doll?”
“Basically.” I cleared my throat. “What was the tough time you mentioned to Will?”
“Hmm?”
“You said you got into reading that series when you were going through a tough time as a kid.”
“Oh.” His expression darkened. “It was my mother. She, uh, sort of walked out on us when I was nine.”
“Gosh. I’m sorry.” I slowed my pace. “You never saw her again?”
“Only very sporadically through the years.”
That hurt my heart. “I’m sorry. That must be hard.”
He looked down as we walked. “I’m over it.”
“Does anyone ever really get over that?” I asked.
“No choice.” He turned to me. “You know?”
I nodded. And then I tried to stop where my brain was going. I’d like to think Brayden’s interest in me had nothing to do with potential mommy issues. I intentionally changed the subject. “Where did you say we were going today?”
“Wherever you want.”
“Wait, you said you needed my help picking out appliances, right?”
“I guess we should get that over with, yeah.”
When Brayden and I pulled up at the home improvement store, we parked in two adjacent spaces.
The smell of plywood hit me the moment we entered, and Brayden’s eyes gleamed under the bright fluorescent lights. “It’s kind of nice being here with a guy,” I said. “Normally I get hit on in these places.”
“I don’t blame those guys one bit.” Brayden bumped into me playfully. “Although technically, you are getting hit on in here today—just by me.”
“Damn.” I snapped my fingers. “I thought I was gonna get a break.”
We headed toward the appliances. “I loved listening to you talking to Will earlier. You seem to have a good rapport with kids.”
“I love kids.”
I swallowed. “You mentioned you want them someday…”
“I’m in no rush.”
Yeah. That was exactly it. He had all the time in the world. Yet another reason we were not right for each other. I shook my head, vowing to forget the heavy stuff for now and just enjoy this time with him.
We picked out a stove fairly quickly, since only one model was available for pickup this weekend and that’s when Brayden wanted to install it.
“What else are we getting here?” I asked.
“Fuck if I know. This whole thing was just a ploy to get you to come out here early.”
“You didn’t really need my help…”
He leaned in and spoke softly over my face. “I needed your company. But we do need to pick out bathroom tile, come to think of it.”
We ventured to the tile section, where I chose a herringbone pattern that Brayden also seemed to like.
We checked out after that, and on the way back, I followed Brayden to the house to drop off the supplies.
“Is there a shopping mall near here?” I asked when we were done and walking back to our cars.
“We can probably find one. What do you have in mind?” He took out his phone.
“The girl I told you about, Ashlyn. I promised her I’d buy a couple of specific items to wear tonight.”
“Ah. That’s right. Going anywhere special?” He flashed a wicked grin.
“I told her I was going out with my friend…who’s a boy.”
He shook his head. “Ouch. Last I checked, I was a man. But you haven’t given me a chance to prove that to you.” He placed his hand on the small of my back, and a shiver ran down my spine. “Anyway, hop in my car. Let’s go shopping.”
Turned out there was a mall not too far from the project house. Once we got there, I dragged Brayden to the largest department store they had.
He looked around. “What are we looking for exactly?”
“I’m supposed to buy a pink dress to wear and send her a photo of me.”
“You don’t seem like a frilly, pink-dress person to me.”