Total pages in book: 70
Estimated words: 67095 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 335(@200wpm)___ 268(@250wpm)___ 224(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 67095 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 335(@200wpm)___ 268(@250wpm)___ 224(@300wpm)
“Fawn wants to have a small reception when they get home to celebrate.” She grins before turning and dropping the phone on the side table.
“Do your parents know?”
“No.” She shakes her head.
I wince, remembering Christmas dinner. “Your dad is going to be pissed.”
“I know, but I think they did the right thing. If they had a normal wedding, Mom would have taken over the entire event, and Levi’s mom would have been right there cheering Mom on. I think it’s better that they got married in Vegas. Even if I’m a little annoyed that I didn’t get to be there with her since that is something we’ve talked about since we were kids playing dress-up.”
“We can go to Vegas and get married . . . ,” I say.
She laughs like I’m joking, only I’m not joking at all. I’m being 100 percent serious.
“We’re not getting married,” she says, brushing me off and shaking her head with a smile on her face.
Lying back down in the bed, she closes her eyes. “I’m so tired.” She yawns.
Sleep . . . seriously? Watching her breathing even out, I lie back down. But I don’t sleep. I spend the rest of the night awake, wondering why the hell she doesn’t want to marry me and what I can do to convince her that she does.
“Morning, sleepyhead.” I greet Mackenzie with a kiss when she wanders out of the bedroom looking like she’s still half-asleep. Her hair is a mess, and she has an indent on her cheek from the pillow. She’s always beautiful to me, but there is nothing better than seeing her first thing in the morning wearing my T-shirt because she spent the night in my arms.
“Morning.”
She squints her eyes at me, then at the coffeepot in my hand, which makes me smile.
Getting her a mug, I pour her a cup and hand it to her. I lean back against the counter and watch her wander around the kitchen, fixing the coffee to her liking.
“What’s the plan for the day?” she asks once she’s finished and taken her first sip from her cup.
“I have to work in a couple hours.”
“Oh.” She pouts before taking another sip of her coffee.
“Sorry, gorgeous.”
“It’s okay. Maybe I’ll see if Libby wants to go see a movie with me.”
She leans back against the counter across from where I’m standing. Her eyes heat as they slide up my abs and my chest.
I start to take a step toward her, but then I see her eyes stop on the bullet wounds on my shoulder. My whole body tenses because I know what’s coming.
“You’ve never told me how you got those,” she says quietly.
My hand tightens around the mug in my grasp.
“It was during a bust,” I say. Then I ask, “What movie do you want to see?”
“Why don’t you like talking about it?”
“Because I don’t.” I jerk a hand through my hair, and she flinches. “Sorry. Look, it’s—”
“It’s not a big deal.” She cuts me off with a shrug, but I know that it is a big deal because I can see the hurt in her expression. “I should go.”
She drops her still-full cup in the sink before she starts back toward the bedroom.
Grabbing her hand, I stop her before she can make it. Then I spin her around to face me. “I’m sorry. It was a long time ago, and I don’t like talking about it.”
“Why haven’t you unpacked?” she asks, pointing at the boxes in the living room. I frown.
“What?”
“You still haven’t unpacked. This place looks like it’s not even lived in. There is nothing here that says an actual person lives here. A person with friends and family. A person who has a life and adventures. Why is that?”
“I don’t know.” I shrug, looking at the stack of boxes that holds my old life in them.
“You don’t know, or you just don’t want to tell me or talk to me about it?” she asks.
I see her chin wobble.
“I didn’t say that, baby . . .” I soften my voice.
She shakes her head. “I know you didn’t, but you also didn’t have to. Anytime that I have touched that scar on your shoulder, you’ve closed down on me. Every time I’ve asked you what happened to you before you moved here, you’ve avoided answering. You tell me that you want to get married, but you won’t even talk to me about things that are important. The things that have made you the person that you are today.”
“None of that matters. All that matters is us. The person I am when I’m with you. The person that I am now.”
“To you it doesn’t matter, but to me it does.” She pokes herself in the chest. “Whatever happened to you affects us. It affects you.”
I jerk my hand thought my hair as my stomach clenches.