Total pages in book: 140
Estimated words: 132649 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 663(@200wpm)___ 531(@250wpm)___ 442(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 132649 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 663(@200wpm)___ 531(@250wpm)___ 442(@300wpm)
“I’m sorry about that. Quinny and Dazza have been protective since the accident.”
She smiled and turned her head to plant a kiss on his stubbled cheek. He’d stuck to being clean-shaven, and part of Iris still missed the wild man who had met her at the door that first night.
“I don’t blame him. He doesn’t know me. I’m just a random stranger you’re suddenly introducing as your girl. If you were my friend, I’d find that totally sus too. Besides, you’re you and I’m me. It would be hard for anyone to reconcile the idea of the two of us together.”
He made an impatient sound at the back of his throat and turned her around to face him. His arms remained loosely wrapped around her waist.
“The fuck does that mean?” he demanded to know once he was able to glower down into her eyes.
“Trystan, your friend’s reaction is just a sample of how it would be in the real world. We don’t make sense together.”
“We make sense to me,” he said vehemently. “You make me happy, Iris.”
“Yes, I make you happy here. Now. In this place. Out there, I feel like I’d hold you back. I don’t want your life, Trystan. I don’t want the limelight, the glamor, the premiere parties, the press, the invasive questions about myself, my family, and friends. I can’t do that. Not even for you.”
“Iris, I’m falling for you. No, that’s not true. I’ve already fallen for you. Hard. I don’t want to consider a life without you. I refuse to.”
“How can you say that? You barely know me. You don’t know my family, my friends. You don’t know if I like sushi.”
His lips quirked at the last one.
“What? Why sushi?” he asked, momentarily diverted. And she shrugged irritably.
“It feels like the type of thing that could make or break a couple. You have two types of people, those who love sushi and those who don’t. There’s no in between.”
He laughed and the sound rang with pleasure.
“You’re full of enchanting surprises, sweet, I can’t remember the last time I laughed as much as when I’m with you. And you wonder why I love you?”
She went silent at his words, and his eyes darkened at the question he saw in hers.
“What did you think I meant when I said I’ve fallen for you, Iris? I’m in love with you.”
She stared up at him, wanting to believe, not knowing how it could possibly be real. “You can’t, it’s too fast.”
“It’s been ten days. My parents fell in love after two dates, they were married a month after their first meeting. Nobody thought it would last. They celebrated their thirty-fourth wedding anniversary this year. They’ve had three kids and are sickeningly happy together.”
“See? I didn’t know that about you, about your family. There’s so much we don’t know about each other.”
“Well, you know now because I told you. These are things we’ll learn as we go along. I just want you to give us a fair chance, Iris. Don’t give up because you think the obstacles are insurmountable. They’re there to be overcome and we can do that together.”
“You’re a romantic, Trystan Abbott. Who knew?” she said, her words laced with affection. “Let’s not talk about this now, okay? Let’s just enjoy each other and our time together.”
He dropped his forehead on hers, his warm breath washing over her lips.
“We’ll have to talk about it sometime, sweet, but I’m happy to put the conversation on hold for a while.” He hooked his hands beneath her armpits and lifted her onto the counter so they were, happily, at the same eye level. “Now, how about you tell me more about this sushi theory of yours?”
“Sam says they’ve started working on the road and bridge,” Trystan told Iris a couple of days later over breakfast. She’d been reading an email from her parents filled with news of work, Mum’s arthritis, and Robbie’s crush on one of the new waitstaff her dad had hired.
“What?” she asked, still focused on the email.
“Looks like the road and bridge will be fixed soon,” he repeated, and her stomach dropped as the specter of what she now thought of as The Real World loomed ever closer.
“Oh.”
“I was wondering,” he began, sounding tentative, which was unusual for him.
When he didn’t continue, she bumped his shin with her toe, “What, Trystan? Spit it out.”
“I was wondering if you’d let me read what you’ve been working on,” he muttered, and her lips quirked at the almost shy request.
“Why?”
“Because you look so engrossed when you’re busy with it, and so excited at times. I don’t know if you realize how often you smile when you’re writing. And it’s a part of you I want to know more about.”
She chewed at the inside of her lip as she considered it.
“I mean, it’s rough. And incomplete… and it needs editing.”