Total pages in book: 91
Estimated words: 91064 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 455(@200wpm)___ 364(@250wpm)___ 304(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 91064 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 455(@200wpm)___ 364(@250wpm)___ 304(@300wpm)
“What are ye getting at?” I ask.
He nods to the watch on my wrist. “Isn’t it about time ye take that thing off, lad?”
I tap the cracked glass and shake my head. “It doesn’t mean anything. It’s just a watch.”
“I disagree,” Niall says. “That watch- and the guilt you carry around with it- have been weighing ye down too long. And if there’s one thing I’ve learned about ye Rory, it’s this. Just when ye’re about to get yourself something good, ye go and sabotage it.”
The room falls quiet, and I can’t find the words to argue with him. Even if I did have them, I wouldn’t. I’ve always trusted Niall’s judgment. His advice. But right now, I don’t want to believe the things he’s saying are true.
“Ye say you’ve got yourself a good woman.” Niall leans forward and plants his elbows on the desk, his eyes boring into me. “So don’t go and feck it all up the way ye always do.”
Ten
Scarlett
I’m no good for you. You only get one warning.
Rory is quiet when he gets home.
Broody and different and surprised to see me still here.
He shouldn’t be since he saddled Conor with the task of making sure I didn’t run off on him.
I’d considered leaving. About every two seconds.
I considered telling Conor and Royce and Rory and everyone else to go fuck themselves and fucking off out of this city myself. But where would I go? Boston is my home.
And I’m done running.
That was a one-time deal. And I have no intention of doing it again.
Rory is observant. More than most men. He notices the tension in my body. The questions in my eyes. The doubt that always lingers there whenever he’s around.
He stalks across the room and pulls me against him. I let him. And I let him cup my face in his hands and look into my eyes and lower his mouth to mine.
He smells like sunshine and ocean air and he tastes like hunger.
I’ve never been with a man of my own free will. Not once.
No boyfriends. One night stands. No dates.
Who has time for that?
I wasn’t missing out on anything. I never wanted for more.
But when Rory pulls my body against his, shielding me from the outside world, there’s a curiosity inside of me that wasn’t there before.
Could I want him in this way? With his clean scent and his sunshine skin and his hard body. He’d have to be on the bottom, because I’m always in control. Which means I would have to do all the work, and I don’t know if I like that idea. It’s not like I’m a stranger to hard work, but there has to be a reward at the end, and I don’t know if there is one in this case.
The contemplation of who should be on top and doing the work ends when he pulls away. It’s cold without his body wrapped around mine and I shiver and Rory pulls off his hoodie and hands it to me.
“It’s a wee bit chilly in here,” he apologizes. “The place doesn’t have central heating yet. Still being renovated.”
“I can see that.”
I’ve spent all morning in his bachelor pad, picking it apart. Slabs of drywall and carpentry equipment abound and the place is dusty and a far cry from completion. The floor has been torn up and half the walls are missing. But with the space and my mind filling in the gaps, I see it differently.
I tried to imagine it the way Rory would see it. As a family home because there are three bedrooms. He’s really going to town on the kitchen where I suppose he imagines he’ll sit down to dinner with his wife. The children will play in the parlor and there will probably be a dog and cat too.
He will settle down here. Create a life here.
Given that I haven’t fucked him beyond repair by the time I’m through.
There is no residual sweetness left in my mouth from Rory’s kiss. It’s bitter now, and I’m twitchy and I hate this woman already and of course I don’t know her. But maybe it will be better if I fuck him up so bad that he never meets her because then I will get what I want even if I don’t know why I want it.
“Are you doing the work yourself?” I ask because I need to say something and not think about this.
“Aye.” He nods. “Mostly. The lads help out now and then. But I like the work. Gives me hands something to do.”
“You mean when you aren’t beating the shit of someone on Thursday nights?”
He smiles at me and it’s all dimples but I don’t smile back because I was really thinking of what else he does with those hands.
I turn away and walk to the exposed brick wall on the far side of the space.