Total pages in book: 111
Estimated words: 106806 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 534(@200wpm)___ 427(@250wpm)___ 356(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 106806 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 534(@200wpm)___ 427(@250wpm)___ 356(@300wpm)
“He didn’t see how they treated you?”
“He didn’t care.” His lips press into a thin line. “There’s nothing my father loves more than keeping his children on a tight leash, and I am certainly no exception.” He waves a hand, indicating the loft. “But, hey, at least I get to live like a rich brat in exchange for not having freedom, right?”
“The MBA was his choice too?” I take his hand from my stomach and thread our fingers together. “I thought you wanted this degree.”
“I wanted an MBA so I could be a sports agent. He wanted me to have an MBA so I could work for him. I played along, figuring I’d wait until I landed an internship with an agency before I broached the subject with him. I was an idiot to think he’d let me make a decision like that on my own.”
I squeeze his hand tighter. “You told him at dinner, didn’t you? About the internship?”
His gaze goes distant. He’s resisting the instinct to put up those walls. I feel it. But he nods. “It didn’t go well.” He huffs out a breath. “I didn’t even make it to the main course before I stormed out of the restaurant. My sister tracked me down, and we drank too much as we lamented a life of servitude. That’s why I didn’t come home. It wasn’t safe to drive.” He scans my face. “I’m sorry I didn’t text. Sorry if I made you worry.”
“Sister.” My chest goes warm. “You never call her half like you do with your brother.”
He sighs. “Sorry. I guess technically she is my half-sister.”
I shake my head. “Don’t apologize. I’m glad you have someone that’s truly family.”
He huffs out a soft laugh and almost smiles. “Yeah. I’d claim her.”
“Peony?” I ask, thinking of the woman I’ve been so jealous of all this time.
“Yeah.” He meets my gaze and lets his smile free. It’s so damn good to see. “I think you’d like her. I know she’d like you.”
“That’s a pretty name. I don’t think I’ve ever heard it before.”
He snorts. “It’s a nickname. Her name is Rose, but I was a teenage punk when I moved in and liked to pretend I couldn’t remember her name, so I called her Peony, and she was so immune to my efforts to antagonize her that it stuck.”
I like imagining teenage Oliver, lonely and angry, trying to antagonize his new sister and being met with laughter and acceptance. I can’t help but love her for that.
“Can I meet her? Next time we’re in the city?”
His smile slowly slides away. “You know what scares me about you?”
“I’m not scary.” I sit up, repositioning myself so I’m straddling his lap and our eyes are level. “Certainly not to someone like you.”
He tucks a lock of hair behind my ear. “You fucking terrify me.”
“Because I might be pregnant?” It’s the first time I’ve said the word since the night we had unprotected sex, and when it hits the air, I half expect him to flinch, but he doesn’t.
“You terrify me because if you’re not pregnant, I’m going to have to come up with another excuse to keep you.”
“Oliver—”
He presses his thumb to my lips before I can say more. “When you lose every good thing in your life, you stop wanting the good things at all. Knowing what’s coming hurts too much. You terrify me because you make me want to risk losing something good again.”
My heart cracks right down the middle for the tough guy who isn’t so tough on the inside.
I cup his rough, stubbled jaw in both hands and hold his gaze. “You won’t lose me.”
He wraps his big hands gently around each wrist then turns his face from side to side to press a kiss into each of my palms. “It would serve me right if I did.”
Leaning forward, I sweep my lips across his. “I love you,” I whisper.
He spins me around so I’m lying on the couch and he’s over me, his hands sliding under my shirt while his mouth claims mine. His kisses are deep and sweet and heartbreaking. I know he’s saying with his mouth and body what he’s too scared to say with his words.
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
SAVVY
Tuesday night after I finish my shift at The Naked Bean, I find Oliver in the kitchen, making me dinner.
I inhale deeply through my nose. “It smells amazing in here.” I slide my arms around his waist and snuggle into his chest. “What is that?”
His hands go to my back and sweep down to my ass. “Freshly baked bread and lasagna.”
I’ve had boyfriends who told me they loved me ten times a day and boyfriends who said it once or twice ever. In the three days since I told Oliver I love him, he hasn’t said it back even once, but I’ve never felt so loved in any other relationship. He’s made love to me every night and held me while I slept. He’s made me breakfast and stolen kisses right there in the gym during every workout. And he’s watched me. Whether I’m cooking or studying or screwing around on my phone, he seems to like nothing more than to look at me. Sometimes it’s like he thinks I might disappear.