Total pages in book: 86
Estimated words: 83059 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 415(@200wpm)___ 332(@250wpm)___ 277(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 83059 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 415(@200wpm)___ 332(@250wpm)___ 277(@300wpm)
“Now look what you’ve done,” Baker calls from the sideline.
“It’s going to go to their heads,” Reid whines.
“You hush,” Corie scolds. “You’re supposed to be neutral.”
“Switzerland,” Sloane adds.
“What they said,” I call out, and the three of us start to laugh.
Corie is on my left, and Sloane is on my right. We don’t know the rules or how to play three-on-three, but we’re going to give it a try. Corie has the ball and yells, "Hike!" I push forward to try and block Landry, but he lifts me off my feet and twirls me around. I’m laughing as we spin and brace my hands on his shoulders. When we stop spinning, I’m staring down at him, and he’s smiling up at me.
“Gotta be faster than that, Roe,” he teases.
“Interference!” Sloane yells.
Landry and I turn to look and see Foster lying on top of her on the ground. She’s laughing and slapping at his back to get him to move, and he’s just grinning while Knox has Corie tossed over his shoulder, the ball still in her hands.
“This is family day!” Reid calls out.
“What kind of game is this?” Baker adds.
Landry lowers me to the ground slowly. My body is aligned with his, and once my feet hit the ground, he keeps an arm wrapped around me, holding me close. He bends his head to whisper in my ear. “We have an audience.”
“Him?” I ask. I’m pretty sure Chaz is the only audience Landry would care about.
“Yeah.”
I don’t give myself time to second-guess. Instead, I wrap my arms around his waist and bury my face in his chest. His other arm tightens around me as we share an embrace. Closing my eyes, I pretend that this is real. That the man I fell for so blindly was the one wrapped around me. I’m still hesitant, but I’m older now. Wiser. Stronger. And I’ve learned to trust my instincts, and my instincts are telling me that Landry Reynolds is one of the good ones. He’s proof, along with his friends, that there are good men who respect women who still walk this earth.
It just took me a while to find them, and I’m so damn lucky I finally did. I don’t know if his plan will work, but knowing that he and all our friends are behind us helps ease some of my worries.
“Get a room!” I think it’s Reid who yells it, and I don’t know why, but I start laughing. Not just “haha,” he’s funny, but belly-shaking, uncontrollable laughter. Landry does, too, and it takes us a few minutes to get ourselves composed.
When we do, he lifts his hands, and both of them settle on my cheeks. “I like that sound,” Landry says, smiling down at me.
“What sound?” I furrow my brow. I’m so focused on us that I haven’t been paying attention to anything else going on around us. Even the fact that Chaz is nearby doesn’t seem to penetrate the bubble we’ve found ourselves in.
“Your laugh.” His tone is serious, and so is the look in his eyes when he drops his lips to my forehead before pulling away. “You’re just jealous of me and my girl!” Landry calls back to Reid. He looks down at me. “She’s mine.” Two words softly spoken so only I can hear him.
My heart races out of control.
“She was mine first, big brother.” Corie reaches for my hand and tugs me away from him. “You have to share.”
“Knox doesn’t share.”
“When you put a ring on it, you don’t have to,” Knox calls back.
Landry’s heated gaze finds me. “Is that how I get my girl all to myself?”
“Yep!” Corie says, and we turn and walk away.
Sloane rushes to catch up with us, linking my free arm with hers, and we walk away. “Oh, my hotness,” Sloane says, pretending to fan her face with her free hand.
“Right?” Corie asks.
“What? What hotness? What did I miss?” I ask them, trying to catch up. “Where are we going?”
“We’re taking a walk so you and your boyfriend can cool things down. There are kids present,” Corie teases.
“And hotness is the way he looks at you. I’ve known Landry since I was in kindergarten, so basically all my life, and never have I seen him act like he is today,” Sloane tells me.
“We’re acting, guys,” I say in a low voice. “We texted you.”
“That’s not acting, but you can keep telling yourself that,” Sloane says.
“No. I mean, yes, that’s what we’re doing. He’s helping me. You know that.” I try to reason with them.
Corie leads us to a row of tables where no one else is within earshot except for the three of us, and we each take a seat. “Yes, you’re acting, but sometimes that gives you the freedom to express things you might not normally express.”
“Your brother… he could have anyone he wanted. He’s just being the nice guy that he is.”