Total pages in book: 26
Estimated words: 24314 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 122(@200wpm)___ 97(@250wpm)___ 81(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 24314 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 122(@200wpm)___ 97(@250wpm)___ 81(@300wpm)
I inhale deeply and exhale slowly and finally turn and face the door.
“Macy? Let me in, baby.”
His endearment has my heart skipping a beat again.
“Can I come in?”
I open my mouth, but no words come out. I want to see him, want to tell him how I feel, that what he saw on the TV doesn’t define me.
I’m a thief, yeah, but who I’ve been while with Braden is the real me. I haven’t been pretending to be someone I’m not.
“Yeah,” I finally say but it’s a whisper.
A second later the knob turns and the door is pushed open.
He stands there for a moment, his hands in his pockets, this concerned expression on his face. Although I wiped the tears away, I know he can see that I was crying.
“Macy. Baby.” He takes a step into the bathroom and I find myself taking one back.
I’m shaking my head, but I don’t know what I’m saying no to.
My feelings?
The situation?
The heartache that may come from all of this?
A deep, stuttering breath leaves me. I stare into his face, memorizing it. He’s got a days’ worth of scruff on his jaw, and his hair is slightly messy from being in bed with me. All I want to do is go up to him and wrap my arms around his body, rest my head on his chest.
“What you saw, the mugshot…” My tongue is thick, and I can’t force the words out. God, my mouth is so dry. He’s shaking his head slowly and steps farther inside, then takes another step until not even a foot separates us.
“I don’t care about any of that, Macy,” he says and I’m shocked, feeling my eyes widen. “I don’t care. I don’t care about what I saw, that they call you a criminal. I know who you are.” He lifts his hand and moves a piece of hair away from my face.
“But your reputation,” I whisper.
He’s shaking his head again. “I don’t care about any of that, baby.”
A few seconds pass before he says anything else, and I can see his throat working as he swallows, as if the act is hard. He lifts both hands and covers the side of my face, his touch comforting, masculine.
“Don’t you understand?”
I’m afraid to say anything. “I don’t want to be that stain on your life, Braden. I’m not like you, or the people you hang out with.” He’s moving his thumb along my cheek, right under my eye.
“And that’s what drew me to you,” he says and smiles softly. “I don’t want some runway model from Paris. I don’t want someone used to living a certain way and having everything handed to them on a silver platter. Those people don’t know what real living is, Macy.”
His words are so soft that I feel my heart skip another beat.
“I want someone who’s strong, who’s a survivor. I realize I’ve spent my entire life in this void. There was nothing before you came along, but I didn’t realize it until I fully let myself go with you.” He smiles again, and I want to rise up on my toes and kiss him. “That’s why I stayed away from, hell, everything. It’s why I stayed away from women for years. Years, Macy.”
A long moment of silence passes between us.
“I love you. I love you so fucking much it’s fucking insane.”
He leans in and kisses me then, but I’m frozen in place, so stunned by his words I can’t think straight, let alone move.
Braden doesn’t care about anything but me.
He pulls back and leans down a little, so we are now eye level. “I love you, Macy. Do you understand that?” He’s so serious and all I can do is nod. “And there’s nothing that will ever be able to change how I feel for you. There’s no one who will ever take you away from me.” He pulls me into an embrace then, his hand on the back of my head, my cheek pressed to his chest.
I know what I want to say, but I’m so consumed with emotions that all I can do is listen to the steady beat of his heart and feel the way he strokes the back of my hair. I squeeze my eyes shut tightly and feel a smile spread across my face.
“I love you, Braden.”
His body tightens, and he pulls away from me, his hands on my upper arms, this stunned expression on his face.
“Say it again,” he says in this gruff voice, as if he can’t believe I’ve just said that.
I rise up on my toes and I’m the one to cup his cheeks now. I smile as I stare into his eyes.
“I love you. I love you so much that the very thought of you not in my life actually hurts my heart.”
Braden takes a shaky breath, his hold on me still firm. And then he’s grinning from ear to ear and pulling me back into the hardness of his chest, and just holding me.