Total pages in book: 103
Estimated words: 97134 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 486(@200wpm)___ 389(@250wpm)___ 324(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 97134 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 486(@200wpm)___ 389(@250wpm)___ 324(@300wpm)
I scrubbed my face with my hands. “No. Not for one minute. Even when I first saw him at the gala, I felt like I’d been kicked in the gut. This guy… he’s like… he’s everything. He’s hot and sweet. He’s smart as fuck, but he’s naive in some ways because he just wants to think the best of people. He wants to help people. Make them better, make them happier. If he felt like he could get away with it, he’d sleep in a shitty third-world shack every night just for the chance to bring medicine to people who need it. And he’s devoted to his family. He plays that damned game even when he’s exhausted and on the verge of falling asleep because it’s important to his cousin. And he let us protect him even though he didn’t want to because he knew it was important to his grandfather.” I closed my eyes and wondered how I was going to convince Carter to give me another chance. “I’m fucking in love with him, and I don’t know how to tell him how I feel.”
There was silence for a beat before a beloved, familiar voice broke it. “I think you just did a pretty good job of it.”
I opened my eyes as heat flooded my face. Carter stood in front of me in a pair of wrinkled blue scrubs and rubber-soled shoes. His eyes looked incredibly tired, but his smile… fuck. It was a knockout punch. He was the most beautiful sight in the world.
“Duchess,” I breathed, wondering if my strong emotions had conjured an illusion.
He walked over and pushed my chair away from the table before straddling my lap. My hands moved around his back to hold him there.
“But feel free to try out different ways of convincing me,” he suggested before leaning his forehead against mine. “I’m open to hearing various attempts, and I’ll be happy to rank them in order of effectiveness.”
“I fucked up,” I said.
“Yeah. You did.”
“I’m so sorry. I was an ass.”
Carter pulled back and ran his hands up my chest before cupping my cheeks. “No, I’m sorry. I wish you’d told me what was going on, but I should have given you a chance to explain. I should have trusted you.” He pressed a brief kiss to my lips. “And you’re an ass who brought me Capybara chardonnay. Because I’m the only person in the world you’d save from a rampaging capybara.”
“You are.” It had started out as a joke, but it wasn’t anymore and hadn’t been for a while. I’d walk through fire for Carter Rogers. He was heartbreakingly beautiful sitting so close to me and looking at me like I was someone important, like I was everything to him the way I’d realized he was everything to me.
“I love you,” I said in a voice so low it was barely audible. Fear was a real thing, and it gripped me tightly around the throat. “Please forgive me. Please give me a chance to do better.”
Carter’s face was soft with affection that made my heart thunk double time in my chest. “Do you promise to stop calling me Duchess?”
I furrowed my brow. “No.”
His face cracked into a wide grin. “Good. Then yes, I think I’ll forgive you, if only for the close protection benefits. John is great, but there’s only one man I want close to my body.”
I grabbed the back of his head and kissed him hard, not giving either of us a chance to take a breath first. Wolf whistles split the air around us, reminding me my team had been there all along. I didn’t care. Carter Rogers was in my arms, and he was willing to give me another chance.
I pulled back and caressed his cheek with my thumb. “I was going to come find you,” I admitted. “I couldn’t leave town without trying again to tell you how I felt.”
Carter wound his arms around my neck and shifted in my lap. The press of his body against mine was making me lose focus. “Well, now you can go enjoy your program with a clear conscience.”
I shook my head. “I’m not going. I don’t want to leave you, not after we just—”
He cut me off with a quick kiss and met my eyes. “You’re going. When you love someone, you support their dreams, right?”
I nodded, even though I knew how hard it would be to watch him go off to another dangerous Doctors Across Continents assignment in the future. Hopefully Champ would assign me to his detail again. “Yeah. Why? Are you leaving again too?”
“No, babe. You are. And I am supporting you.” He leaned in close and pressed a soft kiss to my cheek before brushing his lips across my ear. “Because I love you too.”
Warmth filled my chest, and my muscles seemed to loosen as his words soaked in. It was too good to be true, but I wasn’t one to look a gift horse in the mouth.