Total pages in book: 96
Estimated words: 90899 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 454(@200wpm)___ 364(@250wpm)___ 303(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 90899 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 454(@200wpm)___ 364(@250wpm)___ 303(@300wpm)
“A baby,” I whisper, cuddling closer to Anthony in the shadowy hotel room after I’ve put my phone on to charge. “I can’t believe it. Time is flying by so fast. It seems like just yesterday that we were staying up all night at a sleepover at Sully’s, daydreaming about the day we’d get our first kisses.”
“How was your first kiss?” Anthony asks.
I shudder. “Horrible. How about you?”
“Also, pretty bad. But it was Bailey Anne, so we laughed about it after and decided we should never be more than good friends.”
I prop up on my arms, studying him in the darkness. “Really? Bailey Anne? How old were you?”
“Twelve,” he says. “And we both thought kissing was overrated. Though she changed her mind about that pretty quickly when she and Charlie Slater started dating the next year.”
“Well, I’m sure Charlie had nothing on you, sexy,” I say. “Though I confess I’m glad Bailey Anne doesn’t like you in that way. I’d like to be her friend. She’s cool.”
“I bet she’d like that too,” he says.
But there’s a strained quality in his voice that makes me ask, “Are you sure? You sound funny. Don’t you think we’d get along?”
He shakes his head slightly. “No, I do. I was just thinking about Sydney and the baby. Her boyfriend’s older, right?”
I nod. “Yeah. She actually briefly dated his son before they got together. It was major drama at the time, but they all worked through it.”
“She isn’t worried about starting a family with someone so much older?” Anthony asks. “Worried that he might not be around for the long haul? I mean, I’d love to have a family, but I’ve kind of come to terms with the fact that it doesn’t seem to be in the cards for me. What about you? Do you want kids someday?”
I cock my head, emotion swelling in my chest as I realize where he’s going with this. “Yes, I would. And I wouldn’t hesitate to try for a family with a slightly older man. Especially if he was a kind, generous person who went out of his way to help teens in trouble, put family first, and loved coming inside me as much as a certain person I know loves coming inside me.”
“Yeah?” he asks, clearly touched. And amused. He’s smiling so hard our teeth bump together as he kisses me. “Speaking of coming inside you,” he mumbles, as he rolls on top of me. “I really do love it.”
As we make love again, slow and sweet, I’m suddenly awash in the certainty that everything is going to work out better than I could have dreamed.
And that the man I love is going to be there every step of the way, helping me dream even bigger.
epilogue
Anthony
The late afternoon sun slants through the chapel’s stained-glass windows, painting my graduating students in jewel tones as they file past Columbia’s president to receive their diplomas. The historic auditorium smells of wood polish and tradition, filled with the rustle of robes and muffled excitement.
Five months ago, I wasn’t sure if teaching was the right next step. I thought it might end up being a temporary thing, a way to fill the time while I reflected on where I want to go from here in my life and career.
Now, watching my brilliant students launching into the world, better prepared for everything they’ll encounter in the financial sector because of the work I put in, I can’t imagine doing anything else.
I love my new job almost as much as I love my new life.
And it’s all because of one person…
As if sensing my thoughts have turned to her, Maya squeezes my hand from her seat beside me in the front row. She insisted on coming, even though she’s had one hell of a week with the reno crew. The conversion of the lobby into studio apartments hit another snag when the custom windows she ordered arrived in the wrong size and the plumbers put the toilet in the kitchen in unit two, pushing her timeline back another three weeks. But she rallied by shifting her attention to other projects and got the all-clear on the new electrical several months ahead of schedule.
That’s just Maya—nothing keeps her down for long. She already has a waiting list of potential tenants for the studios, mostly young professionals drawn to her vision of affordable micro-living spaces with built-in storage solutions and Murphy beds. The existing tenants love her, too—she’s raised the rent less than any landlord on the block, while improving their quality of life and the safety of the building as a whole, just as she promised.
She keeps her promises. It’s one of the many things I love about her, this woman who hooked me hard at first sight and has spent every day since proving she’s the best thing that ever happened to me in a hundred ways—big and small.