Total pages in book: 29
Estimated words: 27552 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 138(@200wpm)___ 110(@250wpm)___ 92(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 27552 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 138(@200wpm)___ 110(@250wpm)___ 92(@300wpm)
I walk past the addition and stop to look it over. It was severely damaged during the storm. What was left of the framing had to be torn down and rebuilt. But King’s enlisted the help of a contractor, and after repairing our damaged roof and the flood-damaged siding of the existing house, they made quick work of getting back to the business of expanding the house. Now, it looks like part of the house, an unpainted part, but part nonetheless. I run my fingers across the grey stucco and feel the excitement of using all the new space being created.
I don’t dare go inside. King has already warned me that I’m not to go in until it’s complete because it’s not safe.
My thoughts turn to the storm and how I was able to save Max while pregnant, while in labor, during a hurricane.
And King’s worried about me stepping on a nail or something.
I chuckle at the thought.
The wet air feels sticky and warm against my pale skin as I head through the grass toward the water, which is now back in its proper place within the bay. I sit and dangle my feet over the edge. The setting sun glistens off the water, and this far from the angry noise of the generator, I can actually hear the birds rustling the trees and occasional splash of a jumping mullet.
I close my eyes and lean back in the grass, but the second my eyes are shut, I realize that something’s missing from me entirely enjoying the moment.
Someone.
The man who has been everything to me for years. Suddenly, I feel guilty for how he must have been feeling while I was trapped under the haze for not being myself. King’s still every much the man I fell in love with all those years ago, but who am I now?
He must have heard my thoughts because, suddenly, I hear his deep voice above me, rumbling into my skin and covering me with more warmth than the sun ever could.
“Tell me what you’re thinking,” he says.
I open my eyes, and his beautiful face comes into view. Bright green eyes peer down at me with concern and love. I pat the concrete space next to me, and King sits, our thighs touching.
We haven’t talked much since the hurricane. In all honesty, there hasn’t been time. And with everything that happened during the hurricane, I think both of us were content with just knowing that everyone was alive and safe and the conversation, seeming much less important in the face of death, was temporarily put on a shelf.
It’s time.
“I was just thinking that I’m not the same innocent girl I was when we met,” I admit.
King points to the tattoo on my back. The one he gave me years before. He runs the pads of his fingers over the words written into the elaborate vine design. I don’t want to repeat my innocence. I want the pleasure of losing it all over again.
“You’re right. You’re not,” King says.
I’d be lying if I didn’t say I felt a twinge of hurt at his words.
He continues, “When we met, I thought you were the sexiest fucking thing I’d ever saw. You were feisty and quick-witted, and the way you defied me made me want you even more. After we got together, I didn’t think it was even possible for you to grow even smarter or sexier than you already were.” His voice deepens. “Or make me harder than you did, but you do. Yeah, you’ve changed. Because you’re more now. Not less. Not entirely different, but more.”
I remain silent because his words have stilled my tongue and stirred every other emotion. Ones that aren’t pooling in a puddle of brown, but separate and identifiable.
King leans back in the grass, keeping himself propped up on his hands. “You’ve lived. You’ve grown. It happens to everyone. Even me.”
I can’t help but ask, “What about Preppy?”
He quirks an eyebrow, the one with the scar through the middle. “Good point. Okay, maybe that doesn’t apply to Preppy.” He laughs at his own joke. The sound wraps around me. Deep and pure it invades my senses, and even after all these years I still feel his laugh vibrating throughout my entire body, vibrating straight through to my heart. “Does it bother you? That you’ve changed?”
“No, but I keep thinking that I’m not her anymore. The girl you fell in love with.” My cheeks burn with the admission. He may be forcing me to face him but my eyes lock on a patch of grass between us.
“Look at me,” he demands.
I want to look at him, but I’m still too embarrassed.
“Pup, look at me,” he repeats.
I finally raise my eyes to meet his. They’re beautiful and bright under the full moon, but there’s anger in them that hadn’t been there a few moments ago. The space between his brows lined with a deep frown. “The younger versions of ourselves are not the better versions.” His hand seeks finds mine and large fingers thread through my small ones. Tanned skin on pale, resting on my upper thigh. “Don’t you see that? You’re so much more now. So much fucking more.”