Total pages in book: 103
Estimated words: 95147 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 476(@200wpm)___ 381(@250wpm)___ 317(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 95147 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 476(@200wpm)___ 381(@250wpm)___ 317(@300wpm)
I needed to be away from her to think, to get myself in order before I jumped the gun, but I didn’t want to leave her, not now when I’d only just realized that she was part of me. Love really is like this. All the flowery bullshit I used to scoff at, things I never held to be true. How could it be? How could one human being disrupt your well-ordered life so effortlessly?
She never asked for more than I was willing or ready to give, never pushed for anything. Even times when I knew she wanted me to stay and I left anyway because I had to, she never complained, just accepted. Is that why it happened so soon? I laid there with her head on my chest as she drifted off, my mind in a whirl as I tried to make sense of it.
For a practical man, it shouldn’t. Anyone else would laugh me to scorn if I shared our story, and I’m sure there are many who would tell me that I’m wrong, that it’s not possible. I, too, used to think that love should take time, that you should get to know every aspect of a person before your heart gave in like this.
But I never knew that the heart had a mind of its own and that when it hit, it hit hard and fast, and there wasn’t a damn thing you could do to stop its course. “I think I love you.” The words sounded loud in the quiet of the room, but I knew she didn’t hear them because she was asleep.
Steph
I can’t move, I shouldn’t move, because then he’d know that his words had awakened me. I know he hadn’t meant for me to hear them, but how can I stay still when my heart was beating so fast, and my body wanted to jump for joy? Still, I was able to force myself, but nothing could stop the tears that fell.
“Steph? You’re awake?” I didn’t answer, but I didn’t have to because he lifted my chin with his finger and looked down at me. I swallowed hard, afraid he might be angry that I’d eavesdropped on his private thoughts or think that I was trying to fool him somehow. His love was like a hot potato, at least those words were, and I was deathly afraid of losing them.
“It’s okay if you heard.” I’d have been mortified had I been in his shoes, but when I read his eyes, he didn’t seem angry or upset, and the feelings that had led him to say what he did still lingered in his eyes. If it was possible to capture moments, I’d want this one. This is one of those moments I would pull out at least three times a day just to feel what I was feeling right at this moment.
“I think I love you too.”
“The fuck! You only think?” Saints above give me the patience to deal with this nut.
“You said the same thing.”
“So? I’m a man; aren’t you people supposed to be softer when it comes to this shit?” He did not appreciate my burst of laughter, and I had to wrestle him to keep him still. He’s so cute when he pouts.
“You’re so adorable when you pout.”
“Get off me.” Lord love him, he might need psychiatric help, but I hope he never changes.
“No!” I propped my chin on his chest and looked down at him. I wanted to keep things light though there were a thousand questions running through my head, and besides, I couldn’t put two words together if you paid me; I was that excited.
I wanted to get up and dance around the room naked, to open the windows and shout it loud enough for the whole neighborhood to hear, but his arms came around me just then, and I didn’t want to be anywhere else. Mace loves me, me; it shouldn’t be possible, no matter how much I’d wished. And to think one drunken night had led to this.
“Did you tell that prick you love him?”
“No, never!” I realized the truth in my words; I never said those words to my ex, and he never said those words to me either. Isn’t that strange? We were married for so long, and in all that time, he never made me feel an ounce of what Mace has in the little bit of time we’ve known each other.
“So, what do we do now?”
“What do you mean?” He’s such a male.
“What do you mean what I mean? You just said you loved me.”
“Yeah, and?” I huffed and tried moving away from him, but he held on tight. “Where’re you going?” I pouted though I wasn’t really upset; in fact, I was so tickled I was like a jumping jellybean inside.