Total pages in book: 62
Estimated words: 56462 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 282(@200wpm)___ 226(@250wpm)___ 188(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 56462 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 282(@200wpm)___ 226(@250wpm)___ 188(@300wpm)
I’m losing my fucking mind. I can’t handle it anymore. I’ve had her here all year, watching as she’s fallen in love with my home, built lifelong friendships, and created a home out of mine, and yet she’s never felt so far away. Don’t get me wrong, the past six months have been a little easier than the first six, but I feel her slipping away. She’s preparing to bail.
The shower stops, and a wave of nerves crashes in my gut, making me feel uneasy. This is it. The second she walks out of the bathroom, I need to know. Her time has run out.
The seconds feel as though they take a lifetime, and when the bathroom door finally opens and Mila strides out, wrapped in nothing but a towel, I see my whole world.
She finds me sitting on the edge of the bed, bypasses the walk-in closet, and comes to me looking just as nervous as I feel. She steps right into me, curling her hand around the back of my head, the two of us just being until I can’t handle it a second longer.
“It’s time, Mila,” I murmur, lifting my head to meet her stare. “I need to know what you want. If you wish to go back to New York and build a life on your own, you need to tell me now. You need to make your wish.”
Tears fill her eyes, and I prepare myself for the worst. “All I’ve ever wanted was to love you and be loved in return.”
“I know,” I say, reaching out and taking her waist, ready to tell her that I’ll be okay if she needs to destroy me, that I’ll find a way to survive, but we both know it’s bullshit. I won’t survive it even a little.
“I’ve missed you this year,” she continues. “That’s ridiculous, right? I’ve been right here, but I felt as though we’ve been living two different lives. I’ve never felt so far away, and I don’t like it. Everything was so easy last Christmas back home. We fit together so well, and this whole year we’ve been strained, and I know I’m to blame for that. Perhaps I wasn’t ready for the wishes I made.”
“Mila—”
“Let me get this out,” she whispers, taking my hand from her waist and squeezing it. “I know I started this year so angry, and it took me a long time to realize I wasn’t angry with you. I was angry with myself, and now . . . I’m so confused about everything.”
I stand from the edge of the bed, holding her to me, terrified that this is it, that this is the last time I’ll ever get to hold her.
“I love you, Nick,” she tells me. “I felt it the very first time we met . . . as adults that is, but I think a part of me knew, even as kids, that you were mine and I was yours.”
“I’ve always been yours.”
She smiles against my chest. “I’ve come to realize something,” she continues. “This whole year, I’ve been so hesitant to build a life with you, and I was wrong for that. I should have put my anger aside, should have understood why you swept me away. You were saving me. I belong here with you, but I need to go back to New York.”
My heart crumbles right out of my chest and I nod.
“Mila, please,” I start, not above dropping to my knees and begging her to stay.
A smile pulls at the corners of her lips, and she pushes up onto her toes, gently kissing me. “I left my Christmas charm bracelet there, and I have to get it before I wake up on Christmas morning.”
“Wait . . . what?”
“My bracelet with all the charms you gave me. I’m going to need that before I turn my back on New York entirely. Oh, and the red dildo. I can’t have the purple one without the red one. It’s a matching set, and we can’t keep them apart like that.”
“You’re staying?” I ask, not giving two shits about the bracelet or the twin cocks. All that matters is her.
“Yes, Nick. I want to truly start a life with you. I’m done being a stubborn bitch,” she tells me. “I’m ready to let you in. I’m ready to love you and really be loved in return. I want this, Nick. I want it all with you.”
My lips crash down on hers, and she smiles through our kisses. “I wish it,” she murmurs through our kiss. “I wish you’d never leave me alone. I wish you’d wake me up every morning with your mouth between my legs. I wish you’d make me come apart every time you touch me. But most of all, I wish that every single day I will love you even more. I wish to always be yours and that you’ll always be mine. I wish to be the woman of your dreams and have the most perfect life with you.”