Total pages in book: 86
Estimated words: 85484 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 427(@200wpm)___ 342(@250wpm)___ 285(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 85484 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 427(@200wpm)___ 342(@250wpm)___ 285(@300wpm)
“Pretty sure she’s going to be busy tonight,” Jess says, wrapping his arms around me from behind.
“We’re getting you one of those fucking pillows,” Maddox says.
My eyes go wide.
“Not a fucking pillow,” Maddox says. “A pillow about fucking. It’s in the living room. Jess got it for the parents for Christmas of all things.”
Jess lowers his lips to my ear. “I can buy you a fucking pillow, though. Sounds like something we could get into.”
“Look who’s here,” Honey says. She and another older woman come from the hallway. “It’s a small world, isn’t it?”
“It really is,” I say, happy to see her.
“I heard you’re moving out, and we won’t be neighbors anymore,” she says.
“True. But I’ll still visit you.”
“You better.” She pats my shoulder as she goes by. “There’s the man of the hour.”
We all follow her gaze to Banks. He sits up as he sees Honey coming.
“Banks, you know your biggest fan, Gloria, don’t you?” Honey asks.
Maddox snickers.
“Gloria, my girl,” Banks says, getting up. “Good to see you, beautiful.”
“You’re the talk of the retirement center,” Gloria says.
The room bursts into a fit of laughter. Banks struggles not to look embarrassed.
“I have that effect on women,” Banks says.
“Ones that can’t see very well,” Moss says.
“Fuck off,” Banks tells him.
“Ones that might lose their dentures when they’re kissing him too,” Jess says, earning a scowl and a middle finger from the geriatric magnet.
Gloria sits beside Banks. “I’m putting together a fundraiser, and I need your help.”
“Shoot.”
“I need you to be auctioned off.”
His brothers howl with laughter. I look at Damaris. She’s giggling too. When she catches me looking at her, she shrugs.
“There will be a bachelor auction,” Gloria says. “It isn’t for a while. A month, maybe two. But I know if I announce that Sparkles is being auctioned, it’ll get us a lot of attention.”
Her voice gets drowned out by the laughter in the room.
Banks cheeks turn red, but he refuses to back down. “Sure. Want me to take new photos to really bring in the crowd?”
“That would be great,” Gloria says.
“I can’t,” Moss says, holding his stomach. “I can’t do this.”
Someone taps on my shoulder. I extract myself from Jess’s arms and turn to see Ashley.
“Hey, Operation Couch is a no-go,” she says softly. “We’ll all be briefed tonight via text.”
I snort. “Is it that big of a deal?”
Her eyes go wide, and she shakes her head. “You have no idea.”
“Let’s say grace so we can eat,” Kixx says from the back of the room. He looks at me and smiles warmly.
The room quiets, and hats come off heads.
Kixx clears his throat. “Dear Heavenly Father, I want to thank you for this meal we are about to receive. Thank you for the family gathering here to enjoy it and the hands that made it. Thank you for bringing our new friend Gloria to the table to share this meal with us, and thank you, Father, for our Pippa. We are so grateful to be able to welcome her into our family. Amen.”
A round of amens is said throughout the room. Then, like someone flipped a switch, it all comes to life again.
My heart swells as I take in this unruly, loving, amazing bunch of humans.
“Is this too much?” Jess asks quietly.
I stare up at his handsome face. “It’s perfect.”
“That’s a shame.”
“Why?”
“I wanted to take you home.”
I stand on my tiptoes and kiss him sweetly. “You’ll be able to take me home every night, my man.”
He wraps his strong arms around me and holds me tight.
It’s not this hug, in particular, that mends the ragged pieces of my heart. It’s not the hundred times he’s said he loves me today, and it’s not the fact that he cleaned his closet out for me on the night we were apart.
Jess Carmichael is the first person to care to find the scraps of me that others have ripped apart. He’ll never stop looking, never stop inspecting every crevice to find another piece to put back in place.
Because that’s what love is.
Love is patient, kind, and forgiving.
Tender and aggressive. Sweet and spicy.
It’s giving and taking. It’s work but also free.
Love is the exhilaration and euphoria I feel when Jess touches me. It’s the adoration and warmth that flows through my veins when our eyes meet. It’s the safety, the power that he gives me by just being him—and by letting me be me.
EPILOGUE: JESS
“Did you like that?” I ask Pippa, pulling her onto my chest.
She laughs, pulling her sundress down, and smiles. “Did it feel like I liked that?”
“It tasted like you did too.”
The past week has been amazing—perfect even. We have most of her things moved in. I offered to keep her apartment and pay the rent for her so she could have a place if she needed space. But she refused, canceled the contract, and had her stuff in boxes within twenty-four hours.