Total pages in book: 154
Estimated words: 142664 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 713(@200wpm)___ 571(@250wpm)___ 476(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 142664 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 713(@200wpm)___ 571(@250wpm)___ 476(@300wpm)
“You two can go easy on that. Thank you.” Brian was starting to look murderous while the others tried to keep up.
“What’s going on?” Cam asked, looking as lost as he was.
“Nothing!” Bri answered and gave me the big brother look.
“Come on, boys, I think we should leave these two alone to talk. The girls are waiting back at the hotel.” What the hell, Mom? Way to sell me out? She knows the last thing I want is to be alone with him right now or have this conversation.
“Mom?” Trey looked mutinous.
“Gigi?” I think that’s the first time Dad had called Mom by her nickname in fifteen years. That insane woman had the nerve to wink at me before walking over to kiss my cheek.
“Listen, boys, she’s only got one day to make up her mind. Speaking of which, we have to find a wedding dress.”
“All taken care of.” Said the asshole who was trying to wreck my life.
“What do you mean?”
“Your dress is hanging upstairs. The Helen Rose Princess Grace dress you’ve always wanted. Right down to the veil.”
“Get the frack outta here.”
“And you can’t see it unless you say yes.” Oh, this bastard. I should marry him just to make his life a living hell.
“Trust me!” Mom whispered in my ear and patted my shoulder. And then I watched my whole family get up and walk out of this strange man’s house, leaving me behind.
“So, do you want to see your dream dress?”
“Didn’t you say I can only see it if I agree to marry you?”
“That still stands. So do you wanna?”
“Let’s talk!”
I took a seat on the leather couch, and he went to one of the wing-back chairs.
“Seriously, why?”
“Why not?”
“Can you be serious for once?”
“I know you know that I’m serious. You’re nervous. What do you need? Tell me. What is it that would make you comfortable?”
“I don’t know, this doesn’t seem real.”
“I know, but that’s not what I’m asking. I’ll get you a pen and a notebook; you can write down the pros and the cons. I’ll give you some time alone.” He got up and left the room, only to return two minutes later with the aforementioned notebook and pen.
He gave them to me, kissed the top of my head for some reason, and left. Why did he kiss the top of my head? My father used to do that. Now, my brothers do it once in a while. But why does it make me feel so different when he does it?
GARRETT
Control that’s what she needs, but she doesn’t seem to know it. When her father left, she had no control over the situation going on around her, and she’d felt rudderless ever since. She needs to feel some kind of control to feel safe; that’s why she was fine with marrying someone she didn’t love because there was no danger of her being hurt if things went wrong.
That’s why she’s having such a hard time with me because she feels and it scares her. Too bad for her I’m not walking away. I’ll give her all the control she needs because I’m sure about us. My great-grandparents met and married two days later and spent the next eighty years together.
They had one of the most wholesome and beautiful relationships I’ve ever known. The men in my family tend to be monogamous, like mandarin ducks; we mate for life, and though I wouldn’t call any of them conventional, we’ve never let that stop us from going after the woman we want.
We’ve never given too much thought to class, race, or financial status when choosing a mate. All that mattered was that initial feeling of one soul meeting its other half. The half that it was meant to walk through this life with.
I already have everything in place anyway, so she’d better get onboard quickly, or she’d be at our kid’s first birthday party before she knows what hit her.
What she doesn’t know and what I’m sure her mother and at least oldest brother realize is that I have no plans on letting her go ever. I won’t live without my other half just because she decides to suddenly play the coward.
Somehow, I don’t think she would. From what I know of her practical side, once she weighs the pros and cons, she’d see that this was her best bet, much better than what she’d had planned for herself for the future anyway.
She could have no questions about me because I’m sure her company had done an in-depth background check on me, not to mention all the things I’d divulged in the folder I gave her. Well, there might be one. But I’m more than ready to answer anytime she’s ready.
I’d barely had that thought when I heard her come up behind me where I stood at one of the windows in the foyer looking down at the waves crashing against the cliff below.