Total pages in book: 115
Estimated words: 112903 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 565(@200wpm)___ 452(@250wpm)___ 376(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 112903 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 565(@200wpm)___ 452(@250wpm)___ 376(@300wpm)
Of course Mom didn’t hurt or leave me on purpose. Rationally, I know this. But her death rewired a part of my monkey brain, and somehow, I’ve ended up with the misbelief that love inevitably equals pain. It equals losing years to the darkness of grief.
Love and darkness—they’ve been a package deal for as long as I can remember.
But Sally? She’s not leaving.
She stays in my lap, and she listens. By the time I’m finished talking, she’s running her fingers through my hair, and then she’s drawing soft circles with her fingertip on my chest.
Little reminders that she’s still here.
“You should run,” I murmur into her hair. “That was…a lot.”
“I’d rather stay.”
“If you insist.”
She laughs, a pretty, feminine sound I feel inside my rib cage. Then she sits up and does that thing where she looks me in the eye, her expression soft, gaze softer. “I admire the hell out of you, you know that?”
My heart dips. “Say more.”
Another laugh. “How do you feel? After getting all that out?”
I suck in a lungful of air, tinged with the smell of the dying fire. “Lighter? Empty, but in a good way?”
“And how did you feel before?”
Swallowing, I think on that for a minute. “Too…full.”
“You were scared to let it out. You’ve been scared for a while, yeah?”
“Yeah.”
“But tonight, you decided you were going to let it out anyway. I think that’s one hell of an accomplishment.”
“Me crying is an accomplishment?” I smile though as I say the words.
“Totally. Cowboys cry, too, especially when they talk about their feelings.”
I scoff. “I feel like we’re always talking to Ella about how it’s okay to have big feelings. Sometimes, I think adults aren’t much better at handling that shit than kids are.”
A flicker moves across Sally’s eyes. The energy between us shifts. Takes on an edge of heat.
“What?” I run my hand up the side of her thigh.
“Self-awareness. It just might be the sexiest thing about you, Wy.”
I glance at the table. “Are we done with dinner?”
Sally digs her teeth into her bottom lip. “We’re done with dinner.”
“C’mon then.” Slipping an arm underneath her knees, I slide my other arm down her back and cradle her against me. “How you’re still attracted to me after I babbled on like that, I don’t know, but—”
“Are you kidding?” Sally’s turn to scoff. “Take off my pants and see just how attractive I find your courage. Your honesty. Your way with mashed potatoes.”
I’m always laughing with this woman. “Oh, yeah?”
“Yeah.”
“Arms around my neck. I’m taking you to bed, Sunshine.”
Because she’s trying to kill me, Sally nuzzles her face against my throat and kisses me there as I carry her to my room. Electricity bolts through my skin, blood rushing to my dick, and I’m already hard by the time I set Sally down just inside the door.
I turn on the bedside lamp. Turn down the covers. I make quick work of lighting a fire in the fireplace. One of the benefits of having a house as old as this one is the multiple chimneys that kept the rooms warm before central heating was a thing.
Once the flames get high, I turn off the lamp. The fire fills the room with low, soft light and the sound of crackling wood.
Sally waits by the door. Her eyes have this funny look in them as she watches me approach.
“You okay?” I ask.
The fire snaps.
She swallows. “This is so perfect. Everything about this night has been perfect, Wyatt, and it’s…overwhelming. In the best, most beautiful way.”
I slip my hands inside her shirt, her belly caving at my touch. Her skin is impossibly soft. I lean in and kiss her mouth.
You’re the one overwhelming me.
Sally rises onto her tiptoes to kiss me back. Her hands find the hair at the nape of my neck as my tongue finds the seam of her lips. I open her, my heart thundering at the needy little moan that sounds in the back of her throat.
My dick feels heavy. My skin is tight. I slide my hands up, my thumbs finding the swell of her breasts. She moans again when I feather my thumbs over her nipples, drawing them to sweet little peaks against the lace of her bra, which I unhook with one hand.
“Arms up, Sunshine. That’s a good girl. Look how well you listen.”
I guide her shirt over her head and slip the straps of her bra off her shoulders. Looking down, I take her tits in my hands and marvel at her naked beauty. The fire paints her skin in shades of red, auburn, gold. I gently press a finger to the dark freckle just above her left nipple.
When I meet her eyes, I see that they’re heavy-lidded. Alive with desire.
“Beautiful.” It’s all I can manage. A single word.
Her lips curl into a hazy smile. “That’s how you make me feel, Wyatt.” She cups my cheek in her hand. “Beautiful.”