Total pages in book: 71
Estimated words: 68867 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 344(@200wpm)___ 275(@250wpm)___ 230(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 68867 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 344(@200wpm)___ 275(@250wpm)___ 230(@300wpm)
It was a lot, and I was both happy and overwhelmed.
“I too would be heartbroken,” Lang uttered, meeting my gaze. “Holidays are for family, which you have, yes?”
“Yes,” I concurred.
“And that has nothing to do with us,” he explained, and Talia had to be slightly confused if she was giving this her full attention. “That has to do with how we—meaning me, my sister, and my mother—all feel about you.”
“How do you feel?” I asked, staring into his eyes.
“I think I made that clear last night.”
“I would like to be reminded, please.”
“We’ll be there as soon as we can,” Lang told Talia, then ended the call and cupped my cheek. “You’re very needy this morning.”
“Yes,” I granted, still holding his gaze.
“Okay, so it turns out, I don’t love you as one does their best friend. I’m in love with you.”
“You are?”
He grunted.
“How do you know?”
“How do I know?”
I nodded.
“Well, see, when I’m with you, I feel the need to touch you, and hear you laugh, and have every drop of your attention on me.”
“You do?”
Quick lift of his eyebrows to tell me he did. “And even more telling is that when we’re apart, I think about you the whole time and count how long it will be before we’re back together.”
The sigh made me sound lovesick, but that was all right since I was. “That’s pretty good.”
“Well, it was messing me up until I figured it out.”
“Which is why you were still datin’.”
“Yeah. I’m not proud of that but I… I didn’t know what to do.”
“When did you figure it out?” I asked, ignoring his comment because I understood. We all retreated into the known when faced with something new. Change was never easy.
“I had it mostly done over the last month or so, but then last night, when you walked into the restaurant with Talia, I was like, finally, I can calm down. I don’t have to wonder what you’re doing anymore because you’re right beside me.”
“I knew before that.”
“And yet, you said nothing,” he pointed out.
“I was scared.”
“Which was dumb.”
“Yes,” I conceded, having trouble getting the words out.
“We’re both a little dense,” he said, drawing me close. “Don’t tell Kage.”
“Yeah, no. That’d be bad.”
He kissed me then, morning breath and all, and it was a good one, doing what all Lang’s kisses did, lighting me up inside like a pinball machine, all flashing lights and whistles.
We stood there, wrapped around each other, lips locked, when my phone rang. It took four rings for me to untangle myself enough to answer.
“Yeah?” I responded breathlessly.
“Why are you two standing around having a talk about Christmas?” she asked, sounding so very annoyed. “Who cares? We have months to discuss that to death. You need to meet me at Mom’s house ASAP!”
“Why are you yelling?” Lang asked her. “Are you worried our father means to do some kind of bodily harm to our mother, because I have to tell you, that doesn’t seem likely and good luck trying. She’s scrappy.”
“And has many weapons scattered around the house,” I reminded him.
“Yeah. See?”
“No, I’m not concerned about that.”
Something occurred to me. “You said he brought his new family? Are you worried she’s gonna be sad about that and needs emotional support?”
“Yes to that one!” Talia answered firmly. “Now will you two hurry the fuck up!”
“Our mother is one of the strongest people I—”
“She still needs backup, Lang,” she insisted.
“Okay, fine. Though I’d like to point out that she didn’t actually call me, so one wonders—”
“Lang!”
“That was loud,” I commented.
He groaned and then said to her, “Showering now, okay?” and hung up.
We looked at each other a moment.
“You look good in the mornin’,” I complimented him.
“You’re ridiculous in the morning,” he assured me, but his smile told a different story. He liked me noticing that he was gorgeous twenty-four seven.
“I’ll use the guest bathroom so we can shower at the same time.”
“This is not what I imagined,” he grumbled. “I had a whole other scenario in my head.”
“Oh yeah? Did you wanna soap me all up?”
“What? No.”
I grinned at him.
“Maybe.”
Chuckling, I left the room.
“I want you back here,” he called after me. “There is stuff—”
“That needs to go on my body, I know.”
“Or in your body,” he said sulkily.
“That was super pervy, man,” I shouted over my shoulder.
“So the fuck what!” came the bellowed reply.
Yeah. I liked us together already.
Once I was clean, which I did in record time, I was back in his bathroom, both of us in towels, standing in front of the huge mirror over his sinks. It was quite evident that neither of us had gotten enough sleep. Perhaps we went to bed by four, I hadn’t checked, and four to ten was six hours, so it sounded like it should be enough, but we both needed more. So much more.
“We look terrible,” he told me. “I wish we had more time because I have eye patches that would fix our bags.”