Total pages in book: 114
Estimated words: 106346 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 532(@200wpm)___ 425(@250wpm)___ 354(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 106346 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 532(@200wpm)___ 425(@250wpm)___ 354(@300wpm)
“The house is huge,” Allison says. “The backyard has a pool and a treehouse.”
The rest of the dinner is loud as expected with my family. I look over at Caroline, and she is deep in conversation with Allison and Karrie. “Don’t fill her head with anything,” I say, leaning over and kissing her neck.
Karrie shakes his head. “It’s finally good to have another woman who has to deal with the crazy Stone men.”
“Hey,” Matthew says from beside her.
“Don’t hey me,” Karrie says and looks over at Caroline. “Has he used his soft voice to change your mind yet?”
Caroline opens her mouth. “He does call me sweetheart when he wants me to do things.”
“That is not true,” I say, laughing. “I call you sweetheart because …” Looking around the table, I wait for one of the other guys to chime in, but they all avoid eye contact. “I call her sweetheart because I want to.”
Allison throws her head back and laughs. “You’re one to talk, Angel.” Matthew makes fun of her nickname.
“I call her angel because she is one,” Max says, and I have to roll my eyes.
“You know he stole my sister,” Matthew says to Caroline, and everyone just groans.
“I did,” Max says. “Tossed her over my shoulder.” He smiles and looks at Allison, who looks at him, pretending to be annoyed, but leans forward and kisses him. “Made her mine.”
“That,” Caroline says. “That is what you do.” She points at me. “You get all annoying and then kiss me, and it’s like a soft spot.” I lean into her now, and her breath hitches.
“Your parents are watching,” she whispers. “The whole table is looking.”
“I don’t care,” I say, and kiss her once and then twice, and on the second one, she cups my cheek with her hand. “Still don’t care.”
“See,” Karrie says. “It’s the Stone charm or curse. You used to make fun of us all the time. Fake barfing in the corner. Now look at you, all smitten.”
Everyone at the table laughs, and by the time everyone leaves, it’s way past ten o’clock.
“Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do,” Matthew says, looking at me.
“Yeah, like handcuff her to a bed.” Max follows suit, and I push them out of the door with both of them laughing, and Dylan is dragging himself.
“Do I have to take a shower tonight?” he moans, and I nod at him while Caroline loads the dishwasher.
“You were in the pool,” I say. “Just go and rinse yourself off real fast, and then you can get into bed.” He moans and turns around, walking to the bathroom.
“So …” I put my hands on the counter on each side of her, and I move her hair to the side, exposing her neck for me to kiss. “That wasn’t too bad.” I spread kisses along her neck, softly moving all the way up to her ear.
“It was,” she starts then turns her face to the side, and my lips kiss hers. “It was a lot.”
“They can be a bit much.” I give her more kisses.
“That is an understatement.”
Dylan yells from his bedroom, “I’m going to bed!”
“Let’s go to bed,” I say, and she shakes her head.
“I’m going to load the dishwasher, then go shower,” she says, and I kiss her neck one more time and go take a shower. I wait for her in bed, but my eyes give up. When my phone alarm goes off the next morning at four, I turn it off and turn to cuddle her in my arms until her alarm goes off.
“One more day,” I say, and she looks at me with one eye open. “Our date. One more day.”
I get out of bed while she stretches and go in search of coffee. I’m not even going to lie. My ass is dragging today, and it shows on the ice when the kids actually beat me. When I walk out of the arena that night and get in the car to get Caroline at home, I swear I could take a thirty-minute nap. When she gets into the car, she looks tired.
“I can’t wait for tomorrow,” she says, and I’m thinking that she is talking about the date. “No alarm, no rush no work.”
“You don’t work at the hotel tomorrow?” I ask, and she shakes her head.
“No, it was a quiet week. They only have three rooms rented out,” she says, and I nod.
When I walk into the backyard of my parents’ rental holding Caroline’s hand, it just feels good. Dylan runs over to the kids, and it’s like he’s been with them the whole time. He and Michael run over to the treehouse, and my mother comes over to us. “Hey, you two,” she says, and I drop Caroline’s hand to hug her. My mother hugs Caroline who just smiles and then looks at me, and I can see she still feels shy around Mom. We sit by the pool together talking, and at dinner, it gets louder when Vivienne, Karrie’s best friend, walks in with her husband, Mark.