Total pages in book: 138
Estimated words: 128260 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 641(@200wpm)___ 513(@250wpm)___ 428(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 128260 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 641(@200wpm)___ 513(@250wpm)___ 428(@300wpm)
“It’s okay. The timing’s off anyway. I just ended my period a couple days ago. I think we’re good.”
“Okay,” I said, rolling off and pulling her against me. I was quiet for a minute. In all the years that I had had sex, except on film, I had always used a condom. As I considered it now, I couldn’t bring myself to care that we hadn’t used one this time. I knew I probably should, but I just didn’t.
After a couple minutes, I felt her breathing slow. I pulled the comforter all the way up to our necks and grinned up at the ceiling. She was asleep. I wasn’t surprised considering she’d been up all night.
I could hardly believe that Grace was in my arms. Gratitude and a deep peace fell over me, bringing calm and relaxation. I gave in to it, drifting into a restful sleep, warm and cozy inside, while outside it continued to snow.
CHAPTER 29
Grace
I woke up slowly and snuggled into the warmth surrounding me. Memory filtered in and I sighed in happiness and contentment. Carson. I didn’t know how long I’d been sleeping since the shades were closed and the room was dark. But Carson wasn’t here. I remembered waking briefly to hear him talking in his sleep. What had he said… Ara? Was it a name? I had a moment of insecurity… but no. No. We were beyond that.
I lay there for a minute, thinking about how natural it’d felt to be with him again, and how I couldn’t wait to spend more time with him, here in this dreamy cabin that felt like a refuge from the world.
I sat up and saw his duffel bag sitting near the closet and so I got out of bed and went over to it, peeking inside. The cabin was chilly but not freezing, and I smelled the very faint smell of a wood fire burning.
There was a thermal, long-sleeve shirt right at the top of Carson’s bag and so I pulled that over my head. I dug through his clothes a little bit more and found a pair of boxers, pulling them on and folding the waistband down so that they would stay up on me.
After using the bathroom right across the hall and brushing my teeth, I headed toward the front of the house. Where is he?
A blazing fire was burning in the stone fireplace, and now that I wasn’t frozen and overwhelmed, I took a moment to really look around the cozy cabin. The kitchen was right behind the living room—an open floor plan, although because of a bar with upper cabinets separating the two, I couldn’t see it in its entirety. The furniture was comfortable and rustic, plenty of throw blankets draped on the arms of the couch and side chairs. It was a room that made you want to snuggle up and stay awhile.
There were large windows on every wall with a view of the snow-covered pine trees surrounding the cabin. Snow was still falling gently outside.
“Sleep okay, buttercup?” I heard as Carson’s arms came around me from behind. He kissed the side of my neck and I tilted my head to give him better access.
“Hmmm,” I sighed. “There you are. Why do you call me buttercup?” I tilted my head a little more, relishing the feel of his lips on my skin.
There was a slight pause behind me as his body stilled against mine and I turned to face him. “When I was a boy,” he said, his eyes filled with warmth, “I used to pick buttercups in my granny’s yard. She would hold one underneath my chin and I would hold one under hers. She said that if it reflected yellow, it meant we liked butter.”
I smiled, tilting my head, charmed by the picture of him as a little boy, holding a flower beneath his grandmother’s chin as she played a silly little game that made him feel special.
“When I asked her how the buttercup made a glow,” he went on, “she told me that when something brought you happiness, its glow became a part of you and made you glow too. The very first time I saw you Grace, to me, you glowed. I thought I disliked you”—he laughed softly, his expression tender—“but I couldn’t deny that you glowed. You made me so happy, Grace, in a way that I never even knew was possible. And that weekend, even when you left, I kept your glow with me and I’ve never let it go.”
“Oh, Carson,” I breathed. I pulled him to me and kissed his lips. We stood there for long minutes, cuddling and hugging each other close. “Thank you,” I said softly. What he had given me hadn’t come in bright, shiny paper, hadn’t been tied up with a bow. But it was a gift nonetheless—he had given me the gift of his heart. And finally an answer to the age-old buttercup question that was better than I could have expected. The sun slanted in the window, falling over us and I asked, “What time is it anyway?”