Total pages in book: 211
Estimated words: 201554 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1008(@200wpm)___ 806(@250wpm)___ 672(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 201554 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1008(@200wpm)___ 806(@250wpm)___ 672(@300wpm)
He has changed me forever.
Chapter one hundred twenty-five
Eric
Everything that has happened in the past week explodes inside me and for once, this doesn’t drive me to near insanity. I’m not consumed by the numbers that I would be at any other time. I’m consumed with Harper. I’m consumed with need and I can’t undress her fast enough. We can’t undress each other fast enough. We’re both shirtless, and she’s braless, her breasts high and full, her nipples puckering beneath my fingers when I pick her up and carry her to an oversized chair, laying her down, dragging away her shoes and pants. Wasting no time undressing.
I’m thick and hard and she’s naked and waiting on me. I have a moment when I think about a condom, when I think about how much I don’t want my child to be a Kingston, but then I look at Harper. I sit down next to her and I pull her into my lap, straddling me, and I know, I know something is different. I know that I’m not a Kingston. I’m a Mitchell. I will always be a Mitchell, and one day, when I know she’s ready, Harper will be, too. And God willing, if she gets pregnant again, we’ll have a baby that will be as she once declared: a Mitchell.
I lift her, pressing into her, the wet tight heat of her body taking me, pulling me close.
“Use me,” she whispers, wrapping her arms around my neck. “Use me to deal with all that this day made you feel. I can handle anything.”
My hand settles between her shoulder blades. “I know you can. You’ve proven that over and over, but all I need right now is to make love to the woman who has become my everything.” I roll her over, lay us side by side, the ottoman under our feet. Her leg is over my hip, and I stroke her face, even as my cock presses deep inside her. And then I do just what I said. I make love to her. I revel in the sweetness that is this woman and what I share with her, and there are no numbers attacking my mind. There’s just us. There’s just the sanctuary of this woman. I don’t rush. I don’t want to rush because right here, like this, intimately buried inside her, no one can touch us. No one can take her away.
When we both collapse, melting into each other and the cushion, we lay there staring at each other for long minutes until I whisper, “We’ll make our own family.”
“I thought you didn’t want a family?”
“I thought I didn’t want a lot of things until you.”
“Good, because we’ve been having a lot of sex without a condom. Not that I think I can get pregnant, but if I did—”
“We’ll be parents this time. If you don’t, we’ll get a dog.”
She laughs. “A dog?”
“Yes. I’ve actually never had a dog.”
“Me neither. Maybe we should get a dog.”
“A dog it is,” I say, kissing her temple. “Hang tight. I’ll get you a robe.” I pull out of her and walk to the bedroom, pull on pajama bottoms and grab a towel and her silk robe.
A few minutes later, we sit on the couch, wine glasses in our hands in place of the whiskey. “We should start looking for a dog, right after we get you fully moved. What do you think?”
“Funny how I don’t want to go back there, back to Denver. I don’t want anything I left there. Of course, that means I have to spend money. I guess I’ll get my trust fund now. I can feel like I contribute then. Or will that just make Isaac want to kill me?”
I lean in and slide silky strands of her hair behind her ear. “Isaac will be dealt with. And so we’re clear, my money is your money now. We’re going to the bank and—”
“No, Eric. I can’t—”
I kiss her. “You can. We’re together now. Sharing my life means sharing my life, baby.”
“I need to earn my own way.”
“You have a job with double the salary you were earning at Kingston.”
“I was making a pretty decent salary.”
“And now you’ll make more. That has nothing to do with me. That’s the way Grayson operates. He pays well and expects loyalty. He knows you’ll make the investment worthwhile.”
“This is what you do for everyone you hire?”
“I promise you, Harper, I wouldn’t lie to you. I’ve had too many lies in my life and so have you.”
She covers my hand with hers. “I won’t let you regret hiring me. I won’t let Grayson regret hiring me either. And we both know I got this job because of you.”
“You got this job because of your experience at Kingston.”
“With your help, but I really am going to make you happy you believed in me. I want to prove myself. I think maybe Mia can help me carve out my little place outside of your success.”