Total pages in book: 100
Estimated words: 94630 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 473(@200wpm)___ 379(@250wpm)___ 315(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 94630 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 473(@200wpm)___ 379(@250wpm)___ 315(@300wpm)
“Yeah, you shut me out. You ran again. You went dark again. You chose to be with someone else again.”
“I didn’t choose her. You know that.”
“It feels like it. It feels the same as it’s always felt. Like I’m running after you. Chasing you when you don’t want to be caught. Not again. Not anymore.”
“No, not anymore.” Cam scooted a little closer.
“I’m done with it. You hear me?” Jo tilted her head, considering him for the space of a heartbeat. “And I’m done waiting for you to trust me. No more falling apart for you. I’m stronger than that.”
“Yeah, I know you are, baby.”
Her frown wavered as if she hadn’t expected him to agree.
“And I’m not putting my life on hold while you figure out if you want to get your shit together. I’m adopting Tiki.”
Now that did throw him for a loop.
“What? Tiki from Haiti?”
“Yes. Her adoptive family fell through, and I already love her. I’d make a great mother. I would take care of her. Teach her to help people and be kind to people. Just like Aunt Kris taught me. So I’m adopting her.”
“Not without me you’re not.”
Her frown faltered, her brows snapping together and then apart, and then together again.
“Wha-what did you say?”
“I said you’re not adopting Tiki without me.”
“Don’t play games with me, Cam.” Jo closed her eyes, but stubborn tears slid down her cheeks. “I can’t…It took all I had to make that speech. And I meant it. Just…don’t play games with me.”
“Baby, I’m not playing games.” Cam’s fingers actually trembled when he touched the crazy hair all around her shoulders.
“What are you saying?”
“I’m saying I’m more tired of running than you are of chasing me. This session I just had with Dr. Stein was like an earthquake. Mac hasn’t been holding on to me. I’ve been holding on to him because I thought I still needed protection from something. And damned if it doesn’t go back to my mother not being there for me. Isn’t that some clichéd shit?”
Jo just blinked at him, her mouth opening and closing.
“Do you realize that is the most and the easiest you have ever talked about any of this with me?”
“I know. I feel freer than I ever have.” Cam shook his head. “Don’t get me wrong. Dr. Stein says I have a long way to go. She could be just trying to get more money out of me, but I probably do still have a few issues.”
A soft smile tugged at Jo’s lips, and he could see it all start to make the same sense to her that it had to him.
“Oh, I just bet you do.”
“But one thing I did settle tonight. I’m not going to let my past ruin our future anymore.” Cam gripped her hand between the two of his. “I got rid of the gun.”
“You did?”
“I went down to the river and hurled it as far as I could throw it.” Cam recalled the splash the gun made in the quiet by the water. “For a second, I felt more scared than I ever had in my whole life. Like I’d just torn my bulletproof vest off in the middle of a gunfight. But then I remembered all the things Dr. Stein said, and it got better little by little.”
“And now?”
“Now I guess we’re adopting a little girl. I mean, I thought we’d do it the old-fashioned way first, but we’ve done everything else backward, why not kids? But you will be fat with my babies. You’re not getting off that easily.”
“Babies? Plural?” Joy split Jo’s smile so wide he thought it might hurt. “Who said I’ll breed for you, Cameron Mitchell?”
“Oh, you’ll breed for me, little filly. We need a bunch of kids to teach how to swim, how to swing over the river, catch fireflies, to knit useless shit.”
“My shit…I mean, the things I knit are not useless.”
“You kinda never finish them and make lots of wool stuff in the summer. It’s a little awkward.”
“My knitting is awkward?”
“You’d tell me if I did weird stuff, right?”
“Oh, I do all the time.”
“This will be an interesting marriage.”
Jo’s smile dropped from her face. Shock widened her eyes.
“Wait. Are you actually proposing to me right now?”
“What the hell did you think all of that was, Joanne Elizabeth Walsh?”
“That was your proposal?” That old fire sparked in Jo’s silver eyes. “I wait seventeen years and you propose to me in a closet with no ring?”
“I promise you a do-over later.” A lascivious smile overtook Cam’s mouth. He wrapped his hands around her waist and pulled her into his lap. Her robe was wrapped tight over her torso and tied away from his prying eyes. He locked eyes with her, glad to see the same lust rising in her eyes that he felt surging inside of him. His hands hovered at the collar.