Total pages in book: 97
Estimated words: 92827 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 464(@200wpm)___ 371(@250wpm)___ 309(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 92827 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 464(@200wpm)___ 371(@250wpm)___ 309(@300wpm)
Happiness.
A true happiness I’d never experienced before, and I had Vegas and a mishap to thank for it, but damn I loved my new normal.
9
Cannon
“I have to say,” Logan began as he rubbed the back of his neck as we stood outside our favorite restaurant in downtown Charleston, “it’s not as weird seeing you two together as I initially thought it would be.”
“Thanks?” I glanced toward Persephone as she talked with Delaney and Annabelle a few feet away and waited for that sense of dread to fill me—that deep, empty ache that this was all headed toward disaster…but it never came. We’d been married almost two months, and instead of it becoming more and more obvious that we were absolutely wrong for each other, it somehow got easier. Which was a good thing, considering Mrs. VanDoren had set our wedding date for October twenty-first, dragging this little lie out a couple of months longer than planned.
At least she was feeling better. Doctor called it a miraculous surge of health, which Mr. VanDoren attributed to our wedding plans, though he still glared at me whenever the girls weren’t looking. Did the asshole really think a good glaring was the worst I’d been through?
“He’s right.” Connell shrugged. “You two seem to balance each other out.”
“Like an opposites attract kind of thing,” Logan added.
“Exactly! And the way she took all the olives off your salad?” Connell gave a giant, mocking sigh while he thumped his chest.
“Or the way you ordered her a second sweet tea before she’d finished her first?” Logan chimed in with an equally absurd expression.
My eye roll could not have been stronger.
“What are you two going on about?” Persephone asked, sliding her arm through mine. That same electric jolt I felt whenever she was near zinged up my spine at the contact, and I suddenly wished I’d chosen a long-sleeved shirt. Maybe I would have sweat to death in the August heat, but it would have protected me from the immediate, intense flashbacks to having my hands elsewhere on her bare skin.
I was losing my fucking mind a little more every day as I fought my need for this woman.
“Oh, just telling your husband how cute you guys are together.” Connell winked at my wife.
Good thing I liked him.
“And on that note, we’re leaving before I end up thrashing you two idiots.” I gave them a wave, and Persephone did the same as she said goodbye to the girls.
We walked down the block in relative peace and quiet. The best thing about living in Charleston was the relative anonymity we had. I’d been hounded by reporters and paparazzi back in Detroit, all of them waiting for me to inevitably lose my temper and fuck up royally.
“That was nice,” Persephone said as we turned the corner to where I’d parked the car. “I had a lot of fun.”
“Me, too.” I wrapped my arm around her shoulder, shifting her to the inside of the sidewalk, farther from any traffic, and pressed a kiss to the top of her head simply because she smelled so damn good and felt so right tucked against me.
“You ready for preseason to start up?”
“I’m always ready. Plus, I hammered Connell’s ass at the pick-up game yesterday, so I know my speed is back.” I spotted my Hummer a few cars away and hit the unlock button. “The morning runs are helping.”
“Good.” She patted my stomach, and the muscles tensed under her touch. “I was a little worried there that you were putting on a few pounds.”
My jaw dropped, but she just winked, then laughed.
“I’ve heard about an excellent workout for that,” she assured me as we reached my car. “It happens to involve two people and minimal workout gear.” She turned to face me and lifted her eyebrows.
“Did you now?” Every fucking day she proposed that I teach her about sex…through experience, of course, and every day, I shook my head in refusal, wondering when I’d eventually break. The problem was, giving in to what we both so obviously wanted would only make it hurt all the more when this ended. Not to mention that I wasn’t gentle or careful enough to be any woman’s first—let alone Persephone’s.
A shadow moved over her shoulder, and my head snapped up as a man pushed himself off the wall and moved toward us.
Holy shit. The man stepped out under the street light, and every molecule in my body hardened in response. I stepped to the side and pulled Persephone behind me, putting myself between her and…him.
“What the fuck do you want?” I seethed, ignoring Persephone’s gasp of surprise behind me.
“Is that any way for you to talk to your dad?” he asked with a grin, his arms outstretched like he was Jesus Christ. Like the fucker came in peace when all he’d ever brought me was pain.