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)
I pinned on a feigned smile, completely innocent. “Who, me and Milo?”
“Um…yes…you and Milo.”
“We’re getting married, obviously.”
“Tessa.” Her tone lowered in seriousness as a worried dent formed on her brow.
I blew out a heavy sigh and mumbled, “I have no idea what’s going on.”
“It looks like something is going on to me.”
“Oh, I don’t know, does it look like I’m glowing from the two amazing orgasms he gave me?”
“Shut up,” she choked as she tugged me closer. “You had cake, and you didn’t tell me?”
Laughter ripped from me, still half-disoriented from the impact of it. I still couldn’t process it. “God, and it was so good, Eden. Like, decadent, dark, delicious chocolate cake.”
I would never get enough.
She giggled. “My bestie finally got herself some good lovin’. Tell me you ate it all.”
“I wish. It was only a tiny taste. I’m, like, still starving, and I’d really like Milo to stuff me.” I angled my head to stress the point.
She cracked up, her laughter ringing over the lawn.
A bunch of faces spun our direction, and I turned my back to them, hoping I remained hidden in the shadows.
My hands shot to my face like I could cover the need that wanted to rush out. “I’m so screwed, Eden.”
She pried a hand from my face, and she dipped down to meet my gaze, all the lightness draining from her expression. “Hey, you’re not screwed…you’re just…in love, aren’t you?”
I blew out a sigh and glanced back at the man in the distance. Trent, Jud, and Logan had joined him, and he sipped at a beer, the faint lines of one of his sexy smiles tipping up behind his beard at something one of them said.
Hello, volcanic eruption spewing out the hotties.
But Milo was the only one I could see.
This man who’d changed everything inside me.
Stood up for me.
God, how desperately I wanted to stand beside him.
I slowly turned back to Eden.
“He’s my Ace, Eden. The one I never could have anticipated or expected. The one who makes me feel alive with just a glance. And when he touched me…” I trailed off, my mouth going dry at the memories.
“I felt like a treasure for the first time in my life. Like I found the person I belong with. My match. But he doesn’t see it the same.”
Sympathy deepened her features. “You’re blind if you don’t see the way he looks at you.”
Emotion thickened my throat, this love and this pain knitting together and becoming one. “He might want me, but he won’t love me, and I won’t settle for anything less. Not ever again.”
Affection wisped through her eyes. “No, don’t settle, not ever. But don’t give up on him, either. I’ve seen that look before, and that’s not lack of love, Tessa. It’s fear of feeling it when he thinks he shouldn’t.”
Possibility blossomed. It only took a second for it to get trampled by the fear.
“He’s got these demons…” The word hitched in my throat, and I looked at Eden in this broken hope as I touched that achy spot on my chest. “Secrets. I’m afraid he might be in trouble. He got jumped the other night by a bunch of men.”
I warred, wondering how much to share with her, if I’d be breaking Milo’s trust by confiding in my bestie.
Worry eclipsed her joy, and she barely nodded as she glanced at the group of men who looked like a pack of yummy, gooey trouble standing beneath the stars that shined down over the party. “And if he is in trouble? What then?”
“Then I face it with him. Help him get his kids back, whatever it costs.”
Eden squeezed my hand. “I’m pretty sure it’s you he could never expect. You who’s bringing faith back into his life after he lost it.”
“We all need someone to stand by our side.”
Eden wrapped her arms around me and hugged me tight. “And he’s lucky it’s you.”
Moisture stung the back of my eyes, and we both let go of these affected giggles when I stepped out of her embrace. Eden always got me.
Understood.
No judgment.
“Come on, everyone is going to be wondering where the bride-to-be ran off to. They’ll think you got cold feet.”
Hand-in-hand, we started walking back toward the party.
“Is it wrong I wish it were real?” I whispered so only she could hear.
“No, Tessa, there is nothing wrong with wishing for the things we want. The things we need. For believing in the chance of them, even when it feels impossible.”
“There you two are. I was beginning to feel left out. Way to leave a nursing mother over here sitting all by herself.” Salem sent us a pout, though there was curiosity blazing in her blue eyes, obviously catching the severity of what was riding on our demeanors. She had her sweet baby boy, Grant, pressed to her breast, where she sat at one of the round tables, her hand running over the back of his tiny head as he ate.