Total pages in book: 165
Estimated words: 154925 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 775(@200wpm)___ 620(@250wpm)___ 516(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 154925 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 775(@200wpm)___ 620(@250wpm)___ 516(@300wpm)
“You are not an itch I want to scratch, MaeBe Vaughn,” Kyle said, his eyes solemn on her. “You’re a blanket I want to pull around me because I think you might be able to keep me warm for the rest of my life. Please sit down and let me take care of you. It’s all I want to do for the next couple of days. Please.”
It was the please that did it. Kyle Hawthorne wasn’t a polite man. He was a lot like his uncle, though she knew they didn’t share DNA. Some families didn’t need DNA to share obnoxious traits. Sarcasm was Kyle’s chosen language, and the fact that he was saying please meant something.
She moved to the couch he’d already folded up and turned into a sofa again, the only evidence that it was something else being the fluffy pillows on the chair beside her. He had something he wanted to say, and it was only right for her to listen. He likely wanted to tell her he’d changed his mind about the whole “let’s go to bed and fuck each other out of our systems” thing.
He felt guilty, too. Kyle thought he’d gotten her caught in this and he was the reason she’d taken a beating. It wasn’t true, but she wasn’t sure she could make him believe it.
This was one conversation she was going to have to get through as quickly as possible. She would go back to her room, and it wasn’t like he could actually stop her from leaving.
She accepted the coffee from him. It was the perfect color, a mix of the dark coffee and light-colored cream. When she sipped it, it was like she’d made it herself. “You put sugar and cream in. That was lucky for me. I forgot to tell you how I like it.”
“I know how you like your coffee, MaeBe. Just enough cream to change the color and one spoon of sugar unless it’s a dark roast and then you taste it and your nose wrinkles up and you put an extra one in. This is a lighter roast. You only need the one.” He sat down beside her, twisting that big, gorgeous body of his with only the barest hint of the discomfort the motion must have cost him. He was in his recovery uniform, flannel pajama bottoms and a white V-neck undershirt that clung to all those muscles in his chest. He didn’t wear socks, and she wished she thought his feet weren’t sexy, but they were as hot as the rest of him. Something about sitting with him when he was barefoot felt way too intimate. Way too comfortable.
Especially as she sat here drinking perfectly made coffee. “Why would you know that?”
“Why do you think?” he asked, his eyes steady on her. “Because I like to watch you. Because sometimes getting to see you is the best part of my day, and the weird thing is I’m starting to have really good days. I’m starting to enjoy work and home in a way I didn’t think was possible. I like my brother’s place. I like hanging out with him even when he’s grading papers. I like his cat. When did I become a cat person? I like seeing my mom and stepdad and having dinner with Carys and Luke. I went to his football game. I never thought I would do something so normal, and it felt good. I know I’m talking a lot, but what I’m trying to say is it means something that seeing you is the best part of my day because now I like my days.”
He was not going to make her cry. “Then you’re healing from losing your girlfriend. That’s a good thing, Kyle. I’m happy for you.”
“She wasn’t my girlfriend. She was my fiancée, and I’m not ready to talk about her,” he admitted. “I want to eventually, but I can’t right now. What I can tell you is that before she died, I was getting ready to break up with her. Our relationship was toxic, and I had a part in that. Can you accept that I’m not ready to talk about her?”
He was a confusing man. “You don’t have to talk to me about her at all.”
“You are not a placeholder. I need you to understand that. You are special to me.”
She shook her head. “You don’t have to do this. I take back all the shit I said before. I thought I couldn’t handle a short-term, all-sex relationship. Turns out nearly dying makes me think less about the future and more about the right now. You were right. We want each other. We should do it.”
His brows formed a deep V over those green eyes. “I was wrong and you were right.”
He was so frustrating. “So you don’t want me.”