The Crush Ward Penelope (best novels to read for beginners .txt) 📖

my yard, planning to pick an avocado off our tree. As I passed the side of the house, I spotted Jace through his bedroom window. Sweat glistened on his back as he pumped iron. Since he wasn’t facing me, I took a few moments to admire his physique. Gorgeous ripples of carved muscle. Round, hard ass. Perfectly tanned skin. Jace had always had a nice body, but at twenty-seven, he was in the best shape of his life.

A rush of water suddenly emerged from under my feet. If only the shock hadn’t caused me to scream. If only. If only Jace hadn’t turned around to find me standing there, looking like an idiot—a drenched idiot who didn’t even realize Nathan had installed a new sprinkler on this side of our grass.

Jace rushed to the window and opened it. “What the hell are you doing? Are you wet?”

Um… Not even going to go there with that.

Covering my soaked chest, I said, “It’s so…hot today. I thought I’d let the water run over me for a bit.”

“I thought I heard you scream.”

“Wasn’t expecting it to be so cold.”

He squinted. “Are you okay, Farrah? You seem off today.”

“Yes, of course I’m okay.” I laughed nervously when he continued to look at me. “I’m fine. I swear.”

“You know you can tell me if something is up, right?”

“Yup.” I nodded vigorously.

“Okay.” His eyes lingered for a moment. Then he shut the window and went back to his weights.

Is 4PM too early for vodka?

• • •

The following evening, Nathan and I had scheduled a family movie night. He’d somehow guilted Jace into staying in and joining us. Our one must-have on movie night was ice cream, and since my car was still at Rusty’s, and Nathan was still at work, Jace drove me to the market to buy some.

The ride to the grocery store was a bit tense. I assumed maybe Jace was quiet because he might’ve still been thinking about me sniffing his shirt, or the sprinkler incident outside his window yesterday. Maybe I assumed that because getting caught twice in the act of stupidity was all I could think about.

When we got to the supermarket’s freezer aisle, I grabbed a container of Rocky Road and sniffed it. You know…to throw him off.

A look of horror crossed Jace’s face. “You’re doing it again.”

“You caught me. See? Told you I like to sniff things,” I lied. “If you breathe in hard enough, you can get a feel for the taste.”

He shook his head and laughed. “It’s you, isn’t it?”

“What’s me?”

“That person captured on store camera footage, opening up the ice cream containers, tasting what’s inside, and putting them back. They’re looking for you, you know.”

“Guilty,” I joked. “Actually, I think that’s super gross. I would never do that.”

I continued to pick through the containers, sniffing the various flavors like an idiot. “I’m sorry if I’m taking a long time,” I said. “This is always a big decision for me.”

After several more minutes, Jace reached over me. “I’m gonna put you out of your misery.” A waft of his scent dominated anything else I might have been pretending to smell. “There is no flavor better than cookie dough.” He tossed a container into the cart. “Done.”

“I beg to differ, but okay. If you feel that strongly, we’ll go with that.”

We went to the register, and the cashier’s eyes danced over Jace. That was a typical reaction. Younger girls and older women alike constantly checked him out. It was funny, because people very likely assumed I was his girlfriend. That certainly didn’t stop them from looking.

Before we left, I gave the cashier a sly grin that said, yeah, look what’s mine and not yours. Even if that was the furthest thing from the truth, it gave me a sense of pleasure.

We hopped back inside Jace’s truck, which once again smelled divine.

“Put your seatbelt on.”

I’d been too busy staring at his big hands as they wrapped around the steering wheel.

“Thanks for the reminder.”

“Why do I always have to remind you? It should be second nature.”

Because you distract me. “Sorry, bossy. I’ll try to remember next time.” I clicked the belt in place and settled in. “Oh, I forgot to tell you someone came by for you today.”

He headed out of the parking lot. “Who?”

“His name was James…Moore? He said he would text you, so I assume you spoke to him?”

He raised his tone. “James Moore?”

“Yeah. He didn’t seem too friendly, either.”

Jace banged on the steering wheel. “Fuck. He’s looking for money the company owes him for a paving job he did for us. He has no patience. He had no business coming to the house.”

“It was no big deal. I told him you weren’t home, and he left right away.”

“I don’t like the idea of him coming in contact with you. The same goes for a lot of the guys who do work for us. What were you doing opening the door anyway?”

Jace was probably right to be a little alarmed, but this felt like an overreaction. “It’s my house. Why wouldn’t I open the door? It’s not like I’m a child home alone after school.”

“No, but you’re an attractive woman who could set off the wrong kind of guy, someone who’s looking for revenge. You wouldn’t be able to fend him off. This has nothing to do with age. I don’t care how old you are. You should never open the door to talk to anyone if you’re alone.”

Attractive woman.

He called me an attractive woman, and I basically heard nothing after that. This was the first indication he’d ever given that he felt I was attractive.

“I’ll try to be more careful.”

“You need to, Farrah. There are a lot of bad people in this world. If someone comes to the door and you don’t recognize them, let them leave. There’s nothing important enough to risk your safety.” He let out an exasperated breath. “I don’t even know how the fuck he got our address. I don’t list