Total pages in book: 137
Estimated words: 138683 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 693(@200wpm)___ 555(@250wpm)___ 462(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 138683 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 693(@200wpm)___ 555(@250wpm)___ 462(@300wpm)
“Your person, huh?” It was gruff.
She smiled, her shoulder coming up to her ear. “Maybe.”
“Do I know this guy?” I teased.
“Well, he’s big and burly and kind of gruff and crazy hot and good in bed.”
“Really?”
“Really,” she drew out.
“Well, I think he might have found his person, too.” My voice was thick, cracking on the truth. I forced down the traces of guilt that kept trying to erupt.
Redness flushed her cheeks, and she trailed her fingertip down my neck. “We make a really great team, don’t we?”
“Yeah, we do.” I brushed a lock of hair from her eyes. “Tell me about your brother. About your life before I knew you.”
Pained devotion moved through her expression, and her voice went soft.
Held down by old sorrow.
“When my parents died, it was this giant shock. Like how the hell were my parents just gone, you know?” Her brow dented as she blinked.
Hated taking her back to that time, but I needed to understand her, too. Get her the way she got me.
“I was devastated, Milo. Crushed and scared and lost. Everything I knew no longer existed. Our grandparents had already passed, and the only sibling either of my parents had was my dad’s brother, and he definitely didn’t want anything to do with two teenagers who’d been orphaned.”
My thumb traced along the sharp edge of her chin. “I’m so sorry, baby.”
Her shoulder barely hitched. “Me, too.”
“So, what happened?”
“We basically had two options. Either I live with Bobby and have a social worker come in and check that I was in a safe environment, being cared for, or go into foster care. Bobby was nineteen, free to live his life. But for my brother? There was no consideration. No other choice to make.”
She inhaled a shaky breath. “Luckily, Hope to Hands was able to help us at the very beginning, and Eden’s father, Gary, was there a lot, making sure we were okay. He’d even offered for both of us to live with him until we got things sorted out. But Bobby? He chose to take care of me. He stepped up and did everything he had to in order to provide for us. He worked so hard, every day, to give us the best life he could.”
Air wheezed from her nose, and sadness clouded the blue of her eyes.
“I lived with him until I graduated high school and left for college.” She dipped her gaze as she murmured, “You know he paid for that, too?”
My hand ran up her back, encouraging her to continue, promising to hold her burdens, just as she’d done with mine.
“He put his entire life on hold for me, so when he had his accident, there was no way I’d consider a different option, either. I didn’t care what it cost.” Her head shook as she stared at me, begging me to understand what it’d meant to her.
I threaded my fingers in her hair. “He sounds awesome.”
She choked over the affection. “So awesome. I wish you could have known him.”
“What happened to him?” I hedged, heart aching at the suffering she’d gone through.
Sorrow wrapped her whole, and for a beat, she glanced away before she returned her attention to me. “Bobby was this super outdoorsy guy. He was always wanting me to go camping with him. Explore the wilderness.”
Tears brimmed in her eyes. “He’d gone hiking by himself and fell down a ravine. Someone found him the next morning. They estimated he’d been lying out there for at least fourteen hours. Alone. I just pray he wasn’t in pain, that he wasn’t afraid, that he didn’t blame me for abandoning him.”
Agony clotted the words as she released them.
Fuck.
I wished for a way to change it for her.
But I guessed that’s what caring about someone did.
It made you want to erase their pain.
Soothe their sorrow.
Even when you had no goddamn control other than to be there for them.
“I’m so fucking sorry, Little Dove.”
She sniffled. “I wish I would have somehow gone with him that day. He’d finally given up on even asking me, since I usually had other plans. Every weekend, there was either some party or friends I wanted to hang out with. I always had some dumb excuse not to go. Some reason more important than spending time with him.”
Life had a way of showing us what was important when we no longer had the choice, didn’t it?
“He’d teased me that I was too much of a girly girl who didn’t want to get her hair messed up.” Regret tipped one side of her face into a broken smile.
A tender grin took to my mouth, words a soft tease meant to hold her up. “You are kind of a girly girl.”
She choked on an affected laugh. “Hey, cute shoes speak to my soul. Don’t judge me.”
“Never. Kinda partial to those shoes myself, if I’m being honest.”