Total pages in book: 181
Estimated words: 177690 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 888(@200wpm)___ 711(@250wpm)___ 592(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 177690 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 888(@200wpm)___ 711(@250wpm)___ 592(@300wpm)
“Your aunt is crazy as hell,” I tell Faith after taking a bite of pizza.
“She’s good people though,” she says softly, staring up at the sky.
“Yeah, she is,” I answer and I’m not talking about her aunt. I clear my throat, because suddenly it’s tight.
“Titan—”
“Faith—”
We say the names at the same time and she smiles, her face gentle and kind.
“You first,” she prompts.
“No, you go ahead,” I tell her, because fuck, I have no idea what I was about to say. I just wanted to keep her here…with me.
“I was going to tell you that you didn’t have to stay here.”
“Are you offering your place?”
“What? No, of course not… I didn’t mean that.”
“Damn, for a minute there I had hope.”
She frowns and looks at me. “Titan you don’t need to live here at all. You have a life in California and you can still be a part of this child’s life even if we don’t live in the same state,” she says.
I put my pizza back on the box that sits between us. Faith and I are sitting on the top step of the porch. I push it back, out of my way, and move my hand along the side of her neck, holding her face gently.
“I want to be with you when the baby moves. I want to hold your hand when we see the baby for the first time… Hell, I want to be there for each of the doctor’s appointments. I want to be the one with you when we find out if we’re having a boy or a girl. If I’m completely honest I want a hell of a lot more than that, Faith. I’ll bide my time, but I will do it here, because that’s where you are, that’s where our baby is and that’s what matters.”
“It’s kind of crazy to move and start over, considering we don’t know much about each other and we’re…”
“We don’t know what we are yet, Faith. We’re going to find out,” I tell her, my eyes dropping down to her lips.
“We are?” she asks, her voice husky.
“Definitely,” I tell her and because I can’t resist, I bend down to touch her lips. It’s a brief kiss that I don’t press. It’s just lips touching, but it has depth behind it. It has meaning behind it—whether she realizes it or not.
“So we’re starting over?” she asks when I pull away.
I want to laugh, because starting over means we forget the past and that’s not happening. I’m never going to forget how it feels to slide between her legs and sink inside. I don’t want to forget.
“What?” I ask, giving in to the urge to smile.
“We’ll start over. We’ll be… friends.”
“Friends?” I ask, not really liking the sound of that. I have friends. I don’t have the urge to kiss them, to bend them over and bury myself inside of them—but I definitely do with Faith.
“Friends,” she says like we’re in agreement and she’s smiling large…
I’m frowning.
forty
faith
“Titan?” I squint at him through sleepy eyes and lean heavily on my front door frame. A smiling Titan is standing on my doorstep, wearing more jeans—these just as sexy—and a red cotton T-shirt. He’s holding a white bag and two cups and he looks… cheerful.
“Hey, I thought I’d bring you breakfast.”
“Breakfast?” I ask, wondering if I’m dreaming. I did dream about Titan last night and maybe I still am. I’m probably not awake at all. It’s not daylight and I’m not standing in front of Titan with morning breath, ratty bed hair and wearing pajamas.
“Friends buy each other breakfast, don’t they?” he laughs and all hope fades. The Titan in my dreams would not be talking about being friends. He’d be getting busy doing all the things that make me ache—and continue to dream about him.
“It’s early,” I complain. I look behind me at the clock. It’s barely seven thirty in the morning.
“It is, but I know you had work today, so I wanted to catch you early. I actually meant to make it over here sooner, but I had to have a talk with your cousins.”
“My cousins?” It’s then I notice he’s got a small cut on his lower lip. That’s it, but I frown. “Did you guys… fight?”
“There wasn’t much of a fight. A few punches thrown, but nothing major.”
“If that’s true, what happened to your lip?” I ask while reaching up to touch the spot I saw.
“Your cousin Black hits like a girl,” he mumbles, moving in closer to me, one hand lazily resting against my back. His eyes hold me in place. I’m so caught up in them I can’t breathe. All that beauty and I’m the focus of all of it. I couldn’t look away if I tried.
“I think you might be the only man to ever say that,” I tell him.