Total pages in book: 83
Estimated words: 77980 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 390(@200wpm)___ 312(@250wpm)___ 260(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 77980 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 390(@200wpm)___ 312(@250wpm)___ 260(@300wpm)
“You’d be willing to accept my scraps if not for our baby?”
She nodded. “Which is pretty fucked up because you never would have made the offer if not for the baby.” Her laugh was sad and bitter when it bubbled out of her. “A baby, I should remind you, that you don’t think is yours. Maybe you ought to wait until you get those results.”
A slow smile stretched across my face as the answer came to me. “Come on.” I took her by the wrist so she wouldn’t try to get away and dragged her to the main room where our bags sat unpacked beside the closet.
“I don’t need to see anything, Jasper. Really.” She sounded worried, and I would deal with that after I found what I was looking for.
“I think you do. It’ll help you understand.” I wished I could just say the fucking words, but when I opened my mouth to tell Mo that I couldn’t live without her, nothing came out but a grunt.
“I understand perfectly. Your upbringing has you believing that you can grow to love me since we made a child together. I’m telling you, here and now, that you don’t need to do this. I get it.”
“You don’t get it, and that’s the fucking problem,” I growled when my hand brushed over the still unopened envelope I was looking for.
“Got it.” I clutched it in my hand, nearly crumpling it before I could wipe that sad, smug look off Mo’s face.
“Got what?” She stared at the envelope, and her shoulders fell in resignation. “Oh.”
I knew exactly what she was thinking this time; it was written all over her face.
“Open it.”
“I don’t need to open it now. I’ll do it when I’m alone. At home.”
I smiled. “You’ll do it now because the plane isn’t coming back for seventy-two hours, per my orders. And you’ll never be alone at home again because you’re moving in with me.”
She sighed and shook her head. “Stop, Jasper. Please, just…stop.”
“Open the fucking envelope, Mo. Please.” The woman could try the patience of a saint, and I was no fucking saint.
“Fine. I’m sure your offer is more than generous,” she growled and opened her palm to accept it. Mo fanned the envelope and ripped a neat line at the side before turning it upside down until the sheet of paper slid out.
I knew the moment she realized what it was because her dark blue eyes lightened to a stormy morning sky. The fact that she kept reading proved something I think I already knew. Mo was brave, probably braver than me because I was too much of a pussy to open the damn envelope. She tore into and read every word before she looked away.
“Got any other objections?”
Mo shook her head, soft red waves falling around her shoulders, momentarily distracting me from the importance of this moment.
“But I don’t…why didn’t you open it?”
I shrugged. “I didn’t want to risk that the baby wasn’t mine.” Saying that shit out loud was scarier than any fight I’d ever experienced, but she needed to hear it.
A nervous laugh escaped. “I don’t get it, Jasper. What’s going on?”
“Ah, you finally admit that you don’t know everything about me? About how I feel?”
“So, tell me.”
“I tried to tell you, but you weren’t listening. You weren’t ready to hear it.”
She folded her arms over her chest, breath hitching unevenly. “I’m listening now.”
“I got that envelope a week ago, maybe longer since these fucking days just blend together lately. But I couldn’t open it. Been carrying it everywhere with me, hoping to find the right moment to open it, but that moment never came.”
Mo took a protective step backward. “Okay, then, why are you talking about moving in together and raising this baby? Why now?”
“I don’t know, Mo. Ma woke up, and everyone was there. They were happy, and I realized I didn’t need to worry about them every second of the day. I started to figure that maybe it was time I started to focus on myself for a little while, figure out what the fuck I wanted for the future.”
I hadn’t realized it then, but now it was clear.
“And what did you figure out?”
“Nothing,” I laughed. “I didn’t figure out until just now what it meant. I thought of my future and what I wanted and who was missing from the family this morning, and you know what?”
She shook her head. “What?”
“It was you. Your face came to mind. Instantly, without me doing a fucking thing to conjure you up, there you were with that smart ass quirk of a smile on your face, dressed in your Midnight Mass uniform.”
“And?”
“And usually, when I think about you, Mo, you’re naked and on your knees or riding my cock with your tits bouncing in my face. Or best of all, begging me to give you the dick.”