Total pages in book: 85
Estimated words: 82453 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 412(@200wpm)___ 330(@250wpm)___ 275(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 82453 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 412(@200wpm)___ 330(@250wpm)___ 275(@300wpm)
“What?” I laugh. “Since when?”
“Since tonight.” He laughs, too. “They looked wiped, but we need to tell them I found you so they can get some sleep.”
“They know you were looking for me?” I ask, even though it makes perfect sense why Rook showed up here. Abby must have told him to come.
“They know I love you,” he whispers.
Joy blooms in my heart. That emotion seeps over my expression. “Wow.”
“They’re happy for us.” He kisses me softly. “Not as happy as I am, but they’re happy.”
“Good.”
“Come home with me, Carrie,” he suggests. “Kirby is with her mom. It’ll just be the two of us.”
I need that. I need him all to myself tonight.
“Yes,” I say with no hesitation. “I want that. I need to tell you something.”
His gaze searches my face, stopping to look deep into my eyes. “Whatever it is, I want to hear it.”
I’m grateful because this man deserves my truth, every part of it.
CHAPTER FIFTY-EIGHT
Rook
Seeing Carrie in my home is evoking a multitude of feelings within me.
She belongs here. I see it now as I watch her crawl beneath the covers of my bed and settle in with her back against the headboard.
We showered after we got here.
I called for a rideshare, and as the driver journeyed through Queens and into Manhattan, Carrie explained more about her connection to Allard and their shared loss.
In everything I’ve read about his father’s death, there was never a mention of the two people who were on the plane with him that night.
David Allard’s death overshadowed both because of his vast wealth.
Yet, a man who had a small daughter and a wife at home died that night, too, along with a pilot, leaving a void that could never be filled.
She tugs on the front of the T-shirt I gave her.
It has the name of my law firm stamped across the front of it. That was Posey’s idea, and after the initial order of twenty had been filled, I shut it down.
I took all of them home with me.
Posey has used a few for painting shirts, and Kirby has one hanging in her closet for when she’s older, but the rest are in a drawer in my bedroom.
I directed Carrie there to find a shirt, and that’s the one she grabbed.
It’s never looked better.
“Come sit next to me, Rook.” She taps the spot on the bed where I normally sleep.
“I’m on my way.” I tug the waistband of my boxer briefs up a quarter of an inch.
I want to be pushing them down so I can slide into her, but she needs something else before we fuck. She needs me to listen and to hear every word she says.
She reiterated that as soon as we arrived, telling me that although she wanted to drop to her knees in the shower and take my cock in her mouth, she needed a few minutes to explain something vitally important.
I crawl into the bed and sit just as she is, with my back resting against the headboard.
Her hand falls into my lap.
I take it between my hands and draw it up to my lips to kiss it. “I’m here, beautiful.”
“Can I sit in your lap?”
I drop her hand and spread my arms wide. “Be my guest.”
With a small laugh, she kicks the covers off and lands in my lap quickly. Her hands fall to my shoulders as her gaze catches mine. “I like this.”
I fucking love it. I adjust her weight so she can feel my cock resting against her core.
“You probably wonder why I was a virgin for so long.”
I know she expects honesty from me, so I give her that. “I did in the beginning.”
“Not now?” she asks, pushing her eyeglasses up the bridge of her nose.
“You were waiting for me,” I say softly, meaning every word.
“I was,” she agrees. “I know that now, but I thought I would have sex when I was eighteen.”
“That was your initial plan?”
Her gaze wanders over my bare chest. “I liked a boy in high school. I thought he liked me.”
“Dalton?” I ask, instantly regretting it.
I saw the way he looked at her in the park. It was with reverence and respect. Whatever they shared in the past and will share in the future isn’t on the same playing field as what Carrie and I have.
“No!” She laughs, tapping my shoulder. “I told you he’s like a brother to me…was like a brother to me, Rook. I’ve never seen him that way.”
“I know,” I say.
She nods. “Who it was doesn’t matter anymore.”
She’s right. It doesn’t.
I’ve fucked more women than I care to admit, and they aren’t relevant to what I feel for Carrie.
“He asked me if I’d be with him on graduation night.” She closes her eyes briefly. “We hadn’t even kissed or dated or anything, but he was the guy everyone wanted, so when he asked me to do it, I wanted to.”