Total pages in book: 60
Estimated words: 56893 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 284(@200wpm)___ 228(@250wpm)___ 190(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 56893 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 284(@200wpm)___ 228(@250wpm)___ 190(@300wpm)
Her mouth watered at the sight. God, she was going to miss him.
He patted the space beside him, and she walked over and climbed in. Meeting her gaze, he spoke first. “Let’s do this. It won’t get easier if we avoid the conversation.”
She nodded and swallowed hard. “Me first, okay?” She’d been going over it in her head as best she could.
He gestured for her to speak.
She took his hand and squeezed tight, holding on as she spoke. It was ironic that she counted on him to give her the courage to leave him.
“I never thought we’d have a second chance. Even when I saw your picture in the magazine, coming here was an act of desperation.” She swiped her tongue over her dry lips. “But you agreed to help. You took us into your home, your life. And I fell in love with you all over again.”
His eyes opened wide, flaring with hope she hadn’t meant to give.
She shook her head. “But love isn’t enough. As a teenager, I thought it was. Our love got me through a shitty life. Holding onto my feelings for you helped get me through the early years in Illinois. But I’m an adult now and I know better.” She blinked and the tears she’d been holding back flowed.
“Baby–”
“I need to get this out, okay? I’m Dani’s guardian now. Legally, officially, I’m all she has, and her home, her life is somewhere else.” She sniffed and wiped her cheeks with her free hand. “And so is mine.”
At least she thought it was. Her job, commitments, the ways she agreed to pay off her education loans. She didn’t have a lot of close friends, just teacher acquaintances because she always needed to be around for her sister. Like a parent would have been. She didn’t meet them for drinks or go out on the weekends. But she had a life she’d created, and she needed to go back.
“My turn?” he asked.
No sooner did she nod than his hand whipped out, grabbed behind her neck, and he pulled her in for a kiss. A long, delectable, wet kiss. One full of need.
By the time he released her, her belly was heavy, her sex throbbed, and desire pulsed through her body. “Zach–”
“Nope. My turn.” He sat up straighter, his gaze never leaving hers. “You can have a life here. You and Dani. She has a room here she can decorate however she wants. I know that’s important to teenage girls.” His lips lifted in a grin. “You two are a package deal and I love that. You’re independent and I respect that, too. We can work out the logistics of how you can teach here in New York. We can make anything work. If you want it to. Baby, I want you to stay.”
Her throat was so full she couldn’t speak. The tears just continued to fall. “I always told you I had to go back when the danger passed.”
He braced his hands on her shoulders. “And now I’m telling you, stay here with me.”
“Don’t you get it?” she asked, forcing the words past the huge lump in her throat. “From the day I was pulled into WITSEC, I’ve been told where to go, what to say, who to be. Now I need to go home and find out where I belong. Where Dani and I belong. And I won’t know for sure unless I go back.” She couldn’t say go home because she feared her home was right here.
But she needed to find out.
Pain etched his expression, his cheekbones seeming sharper as he pulled in a breath. “Then you need to leave, but know that back then? I would have gone anywhere with you, if I only knew where to find you.”
She sniffed, her nose threatening to run along with her weepy eyes. “We were kids. And now we’re adults with responsibilities.”
“I want you and Dani to be my responsibility, but you’re right. I’m stuck here with two businesses, and I have no right to ask you to make the sacrifice to stay. But I’m asking anyway. Even though I know you’re going to say no.”
She brought her hands up to cup his face, memorizing each feature. “I do have to go, and figure out the right thing to do for Dani, and for me.”
He nodded. “Then know you’re taking my heart with you.” Before she could reply, he rolled her onto her back, coming down on top of her and in minutes, he was inside her, probably for the last time.
Chapter Eighteen
Since the police had taken Hadley’s car as evidence, the next morning, Zach drove her to a car rental place where she picked up a vehicle to take her and Dani to Illinois.
After saying a difficult goodbye to Zach, Hadley and Dani stopped by Serenity and Michael Dare’s house to do the same, and to thank them for all their help. Dani and Layla cried as only teenagers could, loudly, as they promised to keep in touch and stay friends forever.