Total pages in book: 74
Estimated words: 69910 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 350(@200wpm)___ 280(@250wpm)___ 233(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 69910 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 350(@200wpm)___ 280(@250wpm)___ 233(@300wpm)
I’ve wanted to take care of her since the minute her dad didn’t fight me when I asked to marry her so his company would be safe. I hadn’t even met her since I came back, but I sensed she wasn’t okay.
Saving her was the wrong thing to do, though, because she could save herself. She knows that now, and I’m so proud of her. I hate the pain for her, but I’m so proud she can already say she’ll find forgiveness. That she’ll get past it. I’m so proud of her determination and strength, her resolve to find her mom.
I want to help if she’ll let me.
I don’t want to help because of that kiss. Or because being close to her is the very thing I’ve craved since I left. The caveman in me isn’t the only reason I want to protect her. I didn’t want to make her mine with this marriage because I knew she was her own person. Even if we were married, for real, she would never belong to me. One person never owns another. One person loves another, which means giving yourself over, not exerting domination.
“Our dads will figure it out,” she says softly, her voice coming from far away. She brushes all the wet, dripping hair out of her face and leans back on her heels. “They’ll be okay. Or they won’t. But that’s not on us. The company isn’t on me. He’ll accept your shares. I feel like everything back home will just be…that it will be alright. If I leave, I can forgive myself for it too.”
She rubs her eyes, and I realize how much she’s carried around with her all these years. How much she’s still carrying around. I want to get up. I want to hold her. In a friendly way. The way I could have done…back when I was younger, and we had an uncomplicated friendship because we were kids, and loving your best friend with your whole heart didn’t mean anything other than that.
I try to push up, but I can’t. My body has suddenly turned into melted cheese. Delicious as that might be, it’s highly unhandy. Patience offers her hand, and I slip mine into hers. The bones are so small, and her skin is slightly cold from being soaked in the cold pool water. She has to half throw herself backward to get me into a sitting position, but the momentum carries me up and stops her from falling completely on her back.
It lasts for about a second before I tilt backward. I’m not liquified cheese. I’m one of those poor earthworms that get caught out in a rainstorm. Or comes out in a rainstorm and then doesn’t go back. I used to pick them up and try and make sure they were okay. Even in the city.
Patience squeals as she gets sucked back with me. She tries to keep me upright, but she’s no match for how much weight I have on her. I get my other arm up to brace her as she flies forward. She straddles me and winces as her knees make contact with the cement.
No. No, no, no. I’ve hurt her. “Your knees. Jesus, that had to hurt.”
“It’s okay.” Her hands are locked in mine. She curls them around but shifts her weight so she’s no longer touching me. “I’ve had worse.”
Her heat is everywhere, even though we’re barely touching. I think about what this—her on top of me—would look like to our dads if they came out. Mine would just turn around and walk back inside. He’d be embarrassed. And he’d think it was none of his business. He never did talk to me about stuff like this. I was too young before, and then I left, and someone else had to do it. Mostly kids in school. When is it ever not kids in school?
I just have my boxers on. They’re wet and tight enough, but no match for the way my dick reacts to Patience being so close. I want to lift her off me because I’ll die if she notices. An errant boner touching my once bestie who just saved my life isn’t the thanks I want to give her. I get my hands on her waist and try to lift her up. Shit on a stick, I could really use my strength back right about now.
Her soft green eyes change. Maybe it’s the dark, the cramps coming back, or the fact that I just about drowned, and my brain is affected. Maybe it’s the pain. I swear I see heat in them. I check the rest of her face, but she’s not wearing a mask anymore. She’s not closed off. She’s more open now.
“Pa—”
“Shh.” She covers my mouth with her hand. Now I really need to lift her off me. That’s ridiculously hot. I want to taste her palm. The saltwater from the pool and her essence. That’s what all of her would taste like. Her neck. Her lips. Her—nope.