Total pages in book: 127
Estimated words: 120708 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 604(@200wpm)___ 483(@250wpm)___ 402(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 120708 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 604(@200wpm)___ 483(@250wpm)___ 402(@300wpm)
“Okay, do you want to talk about that?”
I looked out into the massive night sky that seemed to go on for miles and miles. I was starting a new life, and I knew with every ounce of my being that I very much wanted this man in it. “Yes.”
Tanner waited patiently for me to begin as he stared at me. I could almost feel the intensity of his eyes.
“I don’t know why, but I’ve always felt like a part of me was missing.” I reached down and played with the blanket. “Well, maybe I do know why. With my mother gone, something was so very different. I barely remember what life was like when she was alive. My mother and father were over the moon happy and in love. I might have been young, but I remember the way they looked at one another.”
I glanced up and met his intense gaze. “Your parents remind me a lot of them. When my mother died and my father pushed me away, I always wondered if it had something to do with me. I didn’t feel like I was good enough for him to love me. And by good enough, I don’t mean I was bad. More that I lacked something. I still feel like I do, where he’s concerned. I guess I wasn’t my mother, and maybe being around me reminds him too much of what he lost. Then, with Jase...” I sighed once more. “I trusted him with my heart, and he didn’t value it. It was another blow. All those years I spent with my feelings bottled up about losing my mother—and my father, in a sense—and then experiencing the ultimate betrayal from my boyfriend. I lost it. Once I finally got my shit together, I knew I couldn’t put myself in that situation again. I told myself I wouldn’t ever find true happiness because it didn’t exist for me.”
Tanner shook his head and placed his finger on my lips to silence me. “You, Timberlynn Holden, are good enough. Too good, if you ask me. I look at you sometimes and think that there’s no way someone like me deserves to be with a woman like you.”
I went to talk, but he pushed against my lips harder. “I don’t know about you, but I’m tired of worrying about things. I want that peace and happiness my heart has been searching for, and when you walked into my life, I got a taste of it.” He dropped his finger from my mouth.
“I feel the same way, Tanner. When I’m with you I feel…happy. Content. Sometimes you look at me and I feel so…” I released a nervous chuckle.
“Tell me,” he pressed.
“I feel sexy. I feel desired. I feel wanted. But wanted in more than just a sexual way. I think I was so stuck in my head that I didn’t know if I was dreaming that feeling up, or if it was really happening.”
Tanner almost looked relieved. “I do want you, but not just in my bed. I want to be by your side for whatever life throws at us, Timber. And trust me when I say you’re not the only one who’s scared. I’ve never felt this way in my life. Hell, I’ve had dreams of us walking hand in hand with kids running around us. I’m not entirely positive, but I’m pretty sure that’s not normal for a couple who’ve only been on two dates. And the first one was unofficial.”
My breath caught in my throat. “You’ve had…dreams like that? About us?”
He nodded. “Hell, Timber, I’ve been dreaming about you since I first met you in September.”
My teeth dug into my bottom lip, and I let out a small chuckle. “So have I.”
Tanner took my hands in his, and my stomach fluttered as he rubbed his thumbs over the back of my hands. “I want you to know that I’ll go as slow as you want. As long as I get to see your smile every day, hear your laughter on the breeze, and see those beautiful eyes of yours, I’ll wait as long as you need me to, for whatever happens next. But I need you to know that I’m in this for the long haul, and I will fight for us. And I swear on my life, I will never hurt you, Timber.”
The tears I tried to hold back slipped free and trailed down my face. Tanner watched them fall and then met my gaze again. “I don’t want to say those words too soon, so I’ll just do this instead.”
He placed my hand on his chest. My breath stilled as his heart raced under my touch. His hand landed over mine. With my gaze locked on our joined hands, I finally let the last wall down.
Slowly, I lifted my eyes to his and smiled as I took his other hand and placed it on my chest too. I put my hand over his. “I feel it too,” I whispered.