Page 11 of Whispers of My Skin

Happier times—when I naively believed everyone got their happy ever after.

Happier times—when I first met Joel.

It was during one of my mother’s interminable parties at the ranch. I’d gotten bored with all the mindless inane chatter of her stupid guests and had snuck outside. My mother didn’t even notice, far too busy gossiping.

“You’re not one of our guests,” I told the young guy I spied dipping his feet in the pond outside the house.

“No, I’m not.” the guy replied succinctly, not even bothering to turn and look at me. He just ignored me, as if he had every right to be there and I was the intruder.

I wasn’t in the mood for talking either. I’d escaped outside to find some solitude, fed up with having to be polite to people.

But I wasn’t used to people ignoring me, much less a stranger who’d invaded the place I considered my private sanctuary, and it was me who finally broke the silence.

“So, who are you?”

“Oh, nobody you need worry about,” he replied. “But you’re the owners’ daughter, right? You shouldn’t be out here talking to me.”

“You’re the one who’s here in my place.”

“I was here first,” he countered.

“This is my house, so that doesn’t even count,” I huffed back.

Childish, maybe, but I was just a silly seventeen-year-old girl. And this banter was such a refreshing change from the stuffy conversation in the house.

The young guy took a moment before he turned around and l finally got a look at more than just his broad back.

And God damn it.

He was it.

“Well honey, looks like you’re going to have to get used to seeing me around, ‘cos I might be just the hired hand, but I’m sure as hell not going anywhere now we’ve met.”

A mischievous smile played on his lips as he took in my stunned reaction to his handsome face.

And I could only stare at him like an idiot.

Because I knew instantly that he wasn’t just any boy.

He was everything.

He was the boy who would get under my skin.

He’d become the man who would change my life.

My wedding day is here before I know it.

After all these years apart, we’re finally walking the same path.

Our lives are merging, we are merging, to become one entity.

There’s no turning back, the decision has been made.

In a few hours, I will walk down the aisle, ready to give my life to the man I met all those years ago.

I just hope this won’t prove to be my biggest mistake yet.

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