Total pages in book: 32
Estimated words: 29718 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 149(@200wpm)___ 119(@250wpm)___ 99(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 29718 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 149(@200wpm)___ 119(@250wpm)___ 99(@300wpm)
"If we don't go this summer," Charlotte began, "then do you have a certain date in mind—-"
"How about twenty years from now?"
Charlotte was incredulous. He wanted them to wait for two decades to pass before they could go to Japan? Seriously?
"I'd be thirty-seven then, and you'd be thirty-six. That's the perfect age, I think—-"
"No, it's not," Charlotte protested. "Don't you think it's too old?"
"Only because your mental age right now is already thirty-six, so by then you'd be sixty-seven—-"
She made a face. "Very funny."
"It's not, though." Landon's tone was solemn. "I just have a gift for making my Charles smile—-"
"Yuck!"
"And yet she blushes while saying it."
"No, I wasn't—-"
"My Charles is just too damn cute!"
It was nice that he thought so, but did he really have to pinch her cheeks every time he did?
"Promise you'll always be cute like this?"
Charlotte suddenly felt like someone had walked over her grave, danced and peed on it even, and all she could think about at that moment was how terrifying it was not to know the future. Just as Landon wanted her to always be cute, she also wanted him to always be there...but was that possible, considering what Landon wanted to do with his life?
"Can you promise me something in return?" Charlotte heard herself ask. "Can you promise to always be there and never leave me—-"
"I promise."
"I'm not joking!" And she wasn't, even though she knew she was also asking for the impossible.
"Who says I am?"
Charlotte gazed up at him in a mixture of frustration and fear. "You can't promise what's impossible—-"
"But it's not," Landon said softly. "I promise, Charles. I'll always find a way to be with you—-"
Inspiration struck, and Charlotte's face lit up. "Like Demi Moore's Ghost?"
"Hell no."
She looked at him in surprise.
"They didn't end up together," Landon pointed out. "When I said I'll never leave you, I mean it. So think of something else like—-"
"Somewhere in Time!"
Landon groaned.
"They ended up together—-"
"In heaven," he growled. "I want us to live happily ever after here and in heaven, so think of something like..." Landon rubbed his jaw. "Ah. I have it. Remember Yuyu Hakusho? That's one of your favorite animes, right?"
Charlotte frowned. "Yes, but..." Yuyo Hakusho was not a romantic anime in any way. Was it?
"Remember the part where Yusuke possessed his friend's body, and his girlfriend recognized it was him even without actually seeing him?"
Her face cleared. "I do."
"That's what I mean by finding a way to be with you, no matter what happens."
While a part of Charlotte knew that everything they had been talking about could never actually come true in reality, his words still comforted her, and she found herself playing along as she asked, "How do I make sure it's really you?"
Landon touched her lips. "With this."
Huh?
Landon bent his head, and as he brushed his lips against hers, he whispered, "You'll know it's me...the moment I kiss you."
Chapter One
TWENTY YEARS LATER
Charlotte sleepily reached for her iPhone as her alarm went off. She used to hate waking up, but being married to a CIA agent changed things. If waking up at three in the morning was all it took to hear her husband's voice, then—-
No.
Her chest tightened as she crashed back into reality, and tears were already trickling down her cheeks by the time Charlotte managed to open her eyes.
It was always like this.
Always.
Ten years had already gone by since Land...went away. Ten years. But every time Charlotte woke up, her mind would still manage to forget this. In those few seconds that her mind would be swimming in the gray waters of her subconscious, Charlotte would be all excited and eager, thinking that she would soon hear Landon's voice over the phone. She would try to remember the time zone of Land's current location, and whether his last instructions were for her to call him or wait for her phone to ring. She would think of all sorts of things, and it would all feel so, so real...until it just suddenly did not.
I miss you so much, Land.
Her body curled into a ball, but it still wasn't enough to ward off the pain. His absence was like an unseen wound that never healed, and although Charlotte had long learned to mask her never-ending grief, it was impossible not to cry when she was alone. Impossible not to remember the precious times - God, they were so, so precious - when Land would be back home after completing a job, and they'd spend every waking moment together, just the two of them at home. Laughing. Talking. Cooking. Eating. And having lots...and...lots...and...lots...of sex.
If she were to make a chart of their daily activities, sex would've had the biggest slice in the pie, and oh, the things she had ended up doing (and saying!), and all because she couldn't get enough of her husband's deliciously sexy body...