Total pages in book: 124
Estimated words: 119005 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 595(@200wpm)___ 476(@250wpm)___ 397(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 119005 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 595(@200wpm)___ 476(@250wpm)___ 397(@300wpm)
I think it started to happen as I moved inside Beth, the pleasure slowly building as I glided in and out of her perfect, wet heat. We were on the bed, the desperation from earlier soothed by the frantic fuck we’d had in the bathroom. She was naked, though the mental picture of her in my shirt still lingered.
Her knees were drawn up against my hips, her hands coasting over my back as we rocked together. We kissed as our climax built, leisurely but spectacular, and as I pulled away to watch it build in her eyes, I knew at that moment, I could happily spend the rest of my life looking only in Beth Carmichael’s eyes.
“I love you,” she suddenly gasped out, voice hoarse, quiet but filled with emotion, “I love you so much.”
“I love you too,” I confessed without hesitation.
Because it was the truth.
She smiled, a soft, sexy smile I felt tight in my gut, and I started rocking a little faster, harder, more desperate. “Say it again,” I commanded.
“I love you, Captain,” Beth gasped again, arching her hips into my thrusts, tensing for a moment and then crying out as her orgasm shuddered through her.
“I love you,” I groaned as my own release took me.
We kissed as the last trembles shook through our bodies.
Her happiness radiated from her, making me feel a hundred feet tall. Reluctantly, I got up to deal with the condom. When I got back in bed, Beth rolled into me, resting her cheek on my upper chest, her arm thrown over my waist. I put my arm around her and kissed the top of her head.
“Love you,” she whispered. “Night.”
“Love you.”
Her breathing evened out quickly, the gentle noise the only sound in the room, except for that of my own heartbeat. It seemed thunderous in my ears.
Love you.
It wasn’t Beth’s voice, though.
Love you.
Mum. My chest tightened at the memory.
Love you.
She’d waved out the car passenger window as she and Dad drove off, leaving me at my mate’s house for the day. Love you, Cal. See you in a few hours.
I’d waved back, a bit embarrassed by her telling me she loved me in front of my friend.
I could see her face, clear as day. The smile in her eyes, the love. Dad reaching past her to wave at me as they drove off.
And I never saw them again.
Grief clawed at my throat as I blinked rapidly against the tears. Beth shifted in her sleep, bringing me back to the bedroom.
I love you so much.
Beth’s voice now. Gazing up at me, adoring. Coming around me at those three wee words given to her freely.
Every day could be the last day she said those words back to me.
Suddenly … I was fucking terrified.
My arm tightened around her.
I didn’t sleep a wink that night.
CHAPTER FORTY-SIX
BETH
Strolling through the doors of my childhood home, I mentally chastised myself for the butterflies flapping crazily in my belly. This was my mum and dad, for goodness’ sake. Maybe I was uneasy because it almost felt like I’d been lying to them since I was eighteen years old. Or maybe it was the dread plaguing me this week because Callan was acting … off.
I couldn’t put my finger on it. He was with me, but there was a wall up. He didn’t want to talk. He came home from training, we ate, we watched some TV, we had sex. We even made love. But we weren’t talking and that wasn’t us. Even if we had nothing in particular to chat about, he and I were still good with the banter. Once we had an entire twenty-minute discussion about the best flavor of Walker’s Crisps.
However, since we’d said I love you, there had been no banter. Sometimes I caught him watching me with a sad but worrisome intensity. I didn’t tell him I loved him again and he hadn’t told me. It frightened me. What it could mean.
For now, I had to put that to the back of my mind. It was difficult. I could feel that particular fear crouched there in the shadows, not willing to fully fuck off.
The front door slammed shut at my back. “It’s me!” I called.
Callan was training today for their away game tomorrow against Kingston, the other big Glasgow club. This game was the Scottish Series Cup semifinals, not the Pro League.
So I’d asked my mum and dad if we could talk alone.
“We’re in here!”
Following my mum’s voice, I found her and Dad in the kitchen.
They both got up from the dining table to hug me, their gazes searching. Concerned.
“Want a coffee?”
“I’ll get it.” I moved toward the coffee machine. “You two good?”
They sat back at the table and gestured to their mugs.
“So … what’s this about?” Dad asked without preamble.
There were those swooping nerves in my stomach again. “Let me get my coffee first.”