Total pages in book: 43
Estimated words: 40759 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 204(@200wpm)___ 163(@250wpm)___ 136(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 40759 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 204(@200wpm)___ 163(@250wpm)___ 136(@300wpm)
“Tate,” I greeted the man I’d lost touch with after Frank and I were over. “Hi.”
“Hello to you,” he teased me, smiling.
“What are you doing here?”
“Oh, I’m Dylan’s film teacher’s plus-one.”
“Excellent. How are you?”
“I’m fine, thank you, and you?”
“Great. I’ve been great.”
“You certainly look it,” he said, taking a step closer. “I don’t remember you looking this good when you and Frank were together.”
It was an interesting statement, and I had to think about it for a moment. I had to wonder if I’d been as happy then as I was now. If my life, even crazy and unpredictable, had been as stable and solid as it was now. When I thought about Frank, I realized that all the time we were together, I’d worried about losing him. And while worrying about something happening to their hearths, an accident or an attack, was the affliction of most warders, being abandoned for another didn’t normally enter the equation. Most people didn’t walk around worrying that when they left the house in the morning, someone else was just waiting to swoop in and steal their love. But that had been my fear, and though some would say it was a self-fulfilling prophecy, perhaps, in my perceptive brain, the brain of a warder that noticed everything, I’d known the truth from the beginning. That I was never truly enough for Frank Sullivan.
Funny how life unfolded when you weren’t even looking. It was like something you saw out of the corner of your eye, a trick of light that could be missed if you weren’t watchful.
Tate said, “I would love to—”
“What’re you doing?”
We both turned to see Raphael, breathtaking in his navy-blue suit, striding across the patio toward us.
“We’re supposed to be loading gifts into the car,” he grumbled, reaching me and sliding an arm across my shoulders to draw me close so he could kiss my temple. “I love you, but you’re a slacker.”
I chuckled and looked at Tate. Introducing them, I watched Tate map my husband with his eyes. Big, strong, beautiful man. He retreated quickly, gone in moments.
“Who was that?” Raphael murmured, putting his hands on my face, pushing my hair out of my eyes.
“No one important,” I said with a sigh, smiling at him.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
“No,” he countered softly. “Tell me.”
“I just realized that I don’t know how to live without you.”
Instant scowl. “Of course not. Why would you?”
“You’re right,” I agreed, leaning in to hug him.
“I will love you through this lifetime and every one after,” he promised. “Always.”
I nodded into his shoulder. “I love you too, but you know that.”
“I do,” he rumbled, letting me go, but then grabbed my hand because it was his way. He loved holding my hand. “Now come on. There’s a lot of crap down there, and I don’t want to still be packing at midnight.”
I was right behind him.