Total pages in book: 88
Estimated words: 79749 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 399(@200wpm)___ 319(@250wpm)___ 266(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 79749 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 399(@200wpm)___ 319(@250wpm)___ 266(@300wpm)
"I don't know," I whisper, trying to pull my chin away.
He holds me, but not in a way that hurts, although it does make me uncomfortable not to be able to run from his scrutiny.
"Come with me," he says, lowering his hand from my face and using it to clasp mine. I follow behind him until we're closed inside his bedroom. The warm afternoon sun filters into the room from the open curtain, the leafless trees in the distance swaying in the breeze. The view is incredible now, and I can only imagine how beautiful it will be once the foliage comes back in the spring.
"Will I be here in the spring?" I blurt.
"Do you want to be here in the spring?" he counters, smiling when I glare at him for answering my question with a question of his own.
"I do," I answer because I'm not in any position to play coy.
"Then you'll be here in the spring."
"It's that simple?"
He huffs a laugh without a hint of humor in it.
"There's nothing simple about any of this, Aspen. You know that better than I do. I'm angry beyond words. I hate that I've gone seven years without knowing my son. I hate the decisions that were made years ago, but there's no changing the past. All we can do is look to the future."
I swallow when he pauses to take both of my hands in his.
"Is there going to be a fight? Am I going to wake up one morning to find you gone and having taken Eli? Because I'll tell you right now, I'll fight for him. I'll fight for you, too."
I try to blink away tears but the action just has them swelling more on my bottom lashes and flowing down my cheeks.
He's territorial and possessive, but it's nothing like the way Damien made me feel. His concern doesn't come from a place of evil ownership and expectation.
"I've never stopped loving you, Aspen. Not for a single second. I don't know what that piece of shit told you or what he made you believe, but what we had was real." He swallows, his eyes searching mine. "At least for me it was."
My tears are now a torrent down my face, and I feel silly for having such a visceral reaction, but I can't help it.
"Nothing in my life has even come close to making me feel how I feel for you. I've missed a lot of years. I know there's a lot of pain in that, but we need a clean slate. I want you in every way possible, but this doesn't work if we don't let go of our pasts and start fresh."
He's not only asking me to forgive him, but he's also telling me that he forgives me too, and that carries with it such relief. With his words, all the pain and heartache fade away.
"Look to the future," I whisper, trying to give him a smile, but I know I look like a maniac trying to smile while crying.
I know I'm such an ugly crier, but he doesn't let me cover my face with my hands when I lift them.
"The future," he pledges, and in the next breath, I'm lifting up on my toes as he lowers his mouth to mine, and we seal our promises with a kiss.
Chapter 39
Jericho
Her lips on mine feel like coming home.
It feels like a place we were always meant to be. Maybe there was always a part of me that imagined us making it back to this place, but the answer would've been different if I had been asked only a few weeks ago.
I've never been a man to live in the past, despite my inability to keep this woman off my mind. Moving on for me wasn't simple. It wasn't trying to find a new love or someone to replace her. I knew the second that blade touched my skin that I would die loving only her whether that happened then or in a hundred years.
The concept of soulmates has eaten away at me for eight years because I knew I'd never have a life with mine. I was bitter about Hemlock finding Zara, although I didn't begrudge that of him. Even Ace, a man who was devout that love was something that made a man weak, found love eventually.
I knew I had experienced it only for it to be ripped from my hands.
But I have a second chance to love the woman I was only able to hold for such a short period of time, and I'll be damned if anything comes between us now.
I fully understand Hemlockâs reasoning for locking Zara away in the basement to protect her from everyone, including himself.
I'd crawl to the edge of the earth over shards of glass to keep them safe, and the thought that one day I might have to do that only makes me stand a little taller, ready for that battle.