Total pages in book: 68
Estimated words: 69018 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 345(@200wpm)___ 276(@250wpm)___ 230(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 69018 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 345(@200wpm)___ 276(@250wpm)___ 230(@300wpm)
“What else?” I tapped him on the chest.
“Shhh,” he said. “Do you want your dad to come up here? Remember, he told me to leave.”
She rolled her eyes. “Dad’s asleep. He’s been asleep for an hour, because, might I point out, you were gone for a whole lot longer than you said you would be.”
He sighed and looked down at his bottle of water that he’d had me run down to the kitchen for.
“He told me that I couldn’t play pro ball, or he’d be back.” He shrugged, as if it wasn’t a big deal.
My mouth fell open. “What?”
He moved fast, placing his hand over my mouth. “Shh,” he ordered. “I’d love to be able to come back, and if your dad catches me here, he’s going to make me leave and stay away.”
That would never happen.
I wouldn’t let it happen.
My dad knew what Banner meant to me now.
If it hadn’t been obvious at the hospital after I’d been beaten, then it’d been obvious about how I’d pleaded with my dad to let him stay.
I had a feeling my dad knew that Banner was here.
That was why he went to bed and allowed me to ‘sneak off to my room’ at such an early hour, and why he told my mom to leave me alone for the rest of the night.
“What do you mean by you won’t be able to play pro ball?” I asked.
He looked at me like he wanted to curse himself for talking.
“I…” He shook his head, and I realized that he was about to lie to me.
“Don’t tell me then,” I said. “Just don’t lie to me, okay?”
I wanted to know this secret of his. I wanted to know all of his secrets. His hopes and dreams. His goals out of life.
But, honestly, tonight I was just tired.
Tomorrow, I’d get out of him what was going on.
Tonight? I just wanted to wrap myself up in his arms and go to sleep.
Tomorrow would be soon enough to think. Tomorrow would be soon enough to pursue this topic.
But for tonight, rest was what I needed.
“Let’s go to bed,” I said softly. “I know you’re tired.”
He looked at me warily.
“I am,” he confirmed. “Did your mom say that she was going to church tomorrow like you thought?”
I nodded, walking over to my bed and pulling the sheets down.
My mother had come in here and made my bed earlier while I was showering.
My mother was of the generation that always made their bed. I was of the generation that slept on top of the covers and didn’t need to make the bed.
It always drove her nuts.
But tonight, with Banner in my bed, I couldn’t just use the top blanket. He’d get too hot. He needed the thin sheet.
Something I’d found out over the last couple of times that we’d been sleeping in the same bed together.
“She is,” I confirmed as I tugged off my sweats and stood there in my panties and long-sleeved t-shirt. “She’s also going to lunch with the congregation afterward. My dad’s got to leave early for work. He’s got some things to make up after missing today.”
Banner kicked off his boots, then shrugged out of his shirt.
I shrugged out of mine and then picked up the shirt that he’d just discarded.
He grinned when I tugged it on over my body, then removed the bra from underneath the shirt seconds later.
“Looks good on you,” he murmured, his eyes going hot, and his smile getting lazy.
I posed for him, causing him to chuckle.
He hooked his fingers into the waistband of his sweats then, causing my eyes to slowly roll down his body.
“Mmmm,” I said. “More gray sweatpants.”
He chuckled. “I’m not quite sure what your obsession with them is,” he teased as he pushed them off, revealing a pair of black boxers. “But I kind of like the way you’re looking at me right now.”
I felt things inside of me tighten. Things that only tightened when he was the one looking at me. Or touching me. Or doing anything with me, really.
Hell, all it took was me lying in his arms and I started to think about things that had never once crossed my mind before.
“Which side of the bed do you want?” he asked as he kicked his sweatpants to the side.
I turned and walked to the bedroom door and locked it before flipping off the overhead light and making sure the fan was on high.
I heard the bed squeak as he climbed into it, and instead of ‘choosing a side’ I crawled up the bed and laid directly on top of him.
He chuckled, and I heard the rumble deep in his chest as I placed my head over his heart.
“Am I too heavy?” I asked quietly.
He wrapped his arms around me, spread his thick thighs wider so that I was lying more comfortably between them, and said, “Never.”