Total pages in book: 188
Estimated words: 179812 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 899(@200wpm)___ 719(@250wpm)___ 599(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 179812 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 899(@200wpm)___ 719(@250wpm)___ 599(@300wpm)
Most of it has gone by in perusing the menu—I didn’t really grasp anything and have asked for more time with no intention of ordering because I’m getting out of here at the thirty minute mark—and flagging down the server because Alex wanted a drink. So it didn’t feel like it. I thought I still had a long way to go before I could run to him.
And yes, I’m running to him because God, I can’t stay away from him. I’ve tried and tried and always failed. And he’s already done everything I asked him to do. He’s done more. I never even expected him to agree to my absurd condition, let alone get through the whole me-asking-another-guy-out part. Let alone sitting through fifteen minutes of my date with the said guy.
Fifteen minutes. He’s made it halfway. That should be enough to teach him a lesson, right? It’s definitely enough for me to believe I’m safe with him. My heart is safe with him. Not that I ever truly believed otherwise but maybe I got scared of heartbreak, of the pain. But then how can I expect him to open up himself—the man who’s never done that in his life and for such a noble reason as to take care of his family—when I’m trying to take the easy way out.
All he had to show me that he was willing to try and he has. So there’s no reason to prolong this. I spring up from my seat, cutting Alex mid-speech. “I’m so sorry. But I have to go.”
I look away from his flabbergasted face and lock my gaze with the man I love. I give him a tremulous smile and his eyes flare. And I see palpable relief going through his body but it’s so big, in his case, that his entire frame shakes with it and he ends up shattering the glass of water he had a hold on.
The noise makes me flinch and I take off toward him. He springs up from his seat, his chair screeching against the floor and he opens his arms for me. I’m so fast that I practically dive into them and he picks me up off the floor. My legs go around his hips and his arms snake around my back, and then he’s taking me away. He’s carrying me away from this place and all the shocked onlookers as I burrow my face in his neck and hug him tightly.
But not as tightly as he hugs me back and burrows his face in my hair. I left them loose and flowing down my back, just as he likes it. Actually, everything about me is just as he likes it. My red lipstick, my make up free face and a pretty green dress the exact color of the t-shirt he saw me in for the first time.
I’m not sure where we’re going but I feel him turn the corner into a hallway at the back of the restaurant. He keeps walking until he finds the bathroom and lets us in. At which point, he pins me to the door, and I look up at him. “Your hand. Your—”
He’s shaking. He has tremors going through his body now that weren’t there before. Probably because he thought he had to get me away from Alex and quite possibly all the eyes that were watching. And now that he has, he can take a breath. Only that breath is coming at a price.
“That was…” His chest shudders, his eyes looking almost haunted. “The w-worst thing I had to…”
I frame his face with my hands, my heart twisting in my chest. “It’s over. It’s over now. I’m here.”
He shakes his head, his hands on my waist gripping me so tightly. “I c-can’t… Don’t ever make me…”
I press my forehead to his and whisper, “I won’t. Not ever. I promise. Just… breathe, okay? Just breathe with me.” I coach him through it like I’ve done before. I tell him to breathe in and breathe out and we do it several times. He does calm down a bit but it’s still not enough and then it occurs to me. And I say, “I love you.”
His eyes snap open at this and I tell him again. “I love you so much, Shepard. And I will never ever leave you. Never.”
He stares at me a beat as if trying to ascertain the truth of my words before closing his eyes again and at last, breathing easy. His body going loose and his grip on me relaxing a bit. God, he’s crazy, my baby. Then, “You were really going to sit there for all of thirty minutes, weren’t you?”
He opens his eyes again, still as intense but no trace of agitation. “Yeah.”
“Without attempting to ruin it.”
“You told me not to.” Then, swallowing, “Although I would’ve liked to kick his fucking teeth in for calling you pretty yesterday.”