Total pages in book: 141
Estimated words: 141428 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 707(@200wpm)___ 566(@250wpm)___ 471(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 141428 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 707(@200wpm)___ 566(@250wpm)___ 471(@300wpm)
Her mouth opened and closed. “You have a wife?”
He’d deliberately worded it that way. To make it sound like he was married. He often spoke about May as though she was still alive.
Maybe wishful thinking.
Also because he still considered himself married.
Interesting that she focused on that part. “I do,” he said, watching her closely. She seemed to close down on him, her shoulders slumping slightly. “She died from an asthma attack a few years ago while I was overseas serving.”
And it was his fault.
Her entire face filled with horror. “Oh no. I’m so sorry.”
“May is the love of my life. I’ll only ever be married to her. I can only ever love her.”
“I can understand that.”
“Most people don’t. They think I should move on.” He inwardly winced after saying that. Why was he saying these things to her? For some reason she was easy to talk to.
Strange.
He’d never talked to anyone like this about May. Not even Zeke or the guys in his squad who he had known for years and had considered close friends.
But this sweet, gorgeous, sassy girl just seemed to make him chatty.
Why?
Because you like her. Because she’s a good match for you. You need someone to challenge you but who also needs taking care of.
Fuck.
He was definitely losing his mind. Why would May think that he needed that?
Not that he was actually hearing her voice.
“I get it,” she said quietly. “I think that if I ever meet the love of my life . . . I couldn’t imagine moving on if something happened to him. If I was going to fall in love, I would want it to be that sort of love. The kind that just consumes you and ruins you for any other kind. Otherwise what point is there in loving someone? If you are going to do something. Do it right.”
A strange look crossed her face that he couldn’t decipher.
Yes. Exactly. She got it.
He should have felt relief that she understood. Instead, he felt strangely out of sorts.
“Would you really have spanked her?” she asked. “Your wife?”
“Yes, I would have.” May had been his Little. She’d had rules that if she’d broken them would have resulted in her going over his knee.
“For putting salt in your coffee?” she asked.
“No. for a prank you would generally get a different sort of consequence. I mean, she. She would have gotten a different sort of consequence.”
What was with the slip of the tongue?
“She’d be spanked for putting herself in danger. Because she holds my heart. And putting herself at risk means that she would risk me losing her.”
Which was just what had happened. He’d lost her. He should have been there for her instead of overseas.
Nothing had been more important than his wife.
And he’d failed her.
Now his punishment was to live without her.
“But you just apologized for overreacting. So you’re probably doing that now. And we should just call everything even.”
She took a step back.
He thought about reaching out and grasping hold of her hips to keep her still, but kept his hands to himself.
Because she could move wherever she wanted. He didn’t have any right to touch her.
“Call it even? I don’t think so. Also, I didn’t apologize for overreacting. I didn’t overreact. You put salt in my coffee. Now, how do I punish you for that?”
“You’re not going to spank me.” She let out a high-pitched laugh.
Hmm . . . did she sound almost disappointed?
“Right?” she asked in concern.
It might be a bit sadistic of him, but he did seem to like making her squirm.
“I think I might have to think on it.” He sat back and rubbed his chin with his finger.
“What? You’re just going to make me wait? That’s not fair!”
No. It wasn’t. But that was the only punishment he could think to give her. He wasn’t going to make her pay for his coffee. And that didn’t seem a fair trade.
Although he also didn’t want her to lose sleep or stress over this.
“Don’t stress, though. It’s not going to cause you pain or humiliation. I mean, I could make you eat a cookie filled with salt instead of sugar. Or something along those lines.”
“That doesn’t sound very nice.” She pouted. “Can’t you just forgive and forget? Just this once?”
“Let me think about that? Nope.”
Her gaze narrowed, those brilliant blue eyes glittering. “You didn’t even think about that!”
“Didn’t I? Hmm, seems that I didn’t.”
A huff of breath left her and he bet she was wishing that she could stomp her foot. She looked adorable.
No.
He should get away from her. Now.
She glanced over at Silla who was watching them intently, her mouth slightly open. Was there something wrong with her?
“I have to get to work,” she said. “Until I do, Silla will just stand there gaping at us and nothing will get done.”
“Is she all right?” he asked. The other server was a bit . . . odd. And loud. Very, very loud.