Total pages in book: 59
Estimated words: 58442 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 292(@200wpm)___ 234(@250wpm)___ 195(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 58442 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 292(@200wpm)___ 234(@250wpm)___ 195(@300wpm)
“Thank you,” Grandma says. “I know I’ve said it before, Raiden, but without you and your grandmother, we wouldn’t have been able to overcome these monsters. We would’ve been stuck. You changed that. You saved us.”
Raiden waves a hand. “It’s nothing, Margot, really. It’s the least we could do.”
“It’s not nothing,” she says fiercely. “We won’t forget this, will we, Aurora?”
My smile is wide as I look at Raiden, whom I’m swiftly starting to think of as my man. Every time I look at him, there’s this sense of belonging. It’s not love-at-first-sight sharp, yet it’s realer and more significant than surface-level attraction.
“I think I’m going to call it a night,” Grandma says, standing from our dining room table.
“Do you need…”
She scowls at me, full of a fire that had been missing since the stroke. The doctors are optimistic she’s over the worst of it. “With all due respect, my sweet granddaughter, I believe I have graduated from invalid status.”
“Okay, prickly.”
She softens and squeezes my hand. “I’m sorry. I hated being reliant upon you and dear Ellie. I’m happy to be able to take care of myself again.”
I kiss her hand. “That makes sense. I can’t blame you for that.”
“I am grateful, however,” she says. “To both of you.”
“You’re welcome, Margot,” Raiden says.
She walks into her bedroom and closes the door. Raiden washes his pasta down with some water and then sits back, and lets out a contented sigh. When he sees me looking at him with my eyebrows raised, he smirks.
“What?” he says.
“What?” I counter.
“You’re… looking at me.”
Something about his delivery makes me laugh so hard my stomach aches. “Is that a problem?”
Another smirk. I’ll never get tired of looking at his face lighting up for me. “A problem? No, it normally means you’re hatching some scheme, or you’re going to use the S-word, which might be a mistake with your grandmother next door.”
The S-word. Sir. He doesn’t even like to say it unless we’re ready to consume each other because neither of us can hold ourselves back.
“I was just wondering what masks we’re wearing now,” I murmur, as a soft wind rustles against the window.
“I’m wearing the mask of a man who feels damn lucky to have you in his life.”
Warmth flows through me. “I was thinking… well, what does that mean?”
“Calm down, Miss Casual, or you’ll make me ruin everything.” His tone is sarcastic and warm; it’s clear he wants to have this conversation.
I take his hand in mine, and look meaningfully into his eyes. “Maybe it wouldn’t mean ruining everything though.”
“If you’re saying what I think you are,” he says. “There’s nothing stopping me. I was ready from day one to make this official.”
“So–what masks are we wearing?”
He stands, walks around the table, and pulls me to my feet. When he lifts me up, I wrap my legs around him instinctively. I’ll never grow tired of how easily he carries me. He sits me down on the back of the couch and crushes my lips with his.
The kiss sends pleasure surging through my body.
“Don’t get carried away… sir.”
He bites down and takes a moment to bring himself under control again. Once he’s regained his composure, he kisses me on the cheek tenderly. “You know what masks we’re wearing.”
“It feels silly to make such a big deal out of it, but I feel like I made such a big deal out of us not being official, you know?”
“That’s why you need to be the one to say it,” he tells me.
I lick my lips. “Is that an order?”
“You’re goddamn right it is. Tell me what mask I’m wearing.”
I lean back in his arms, confident he’ll support me. The more time that passes with us being together, the more confident I become that he’ll keep supporting me, not just my business, but my soul, my quirks, my weaknesses, me.
“Boyfriend,” I whisper.
“Excuse me?” he says playfully. “I didn’t hear you.”
I slap him on the chest. “I said you’re wearing the boyfriend mask.”
“Good. I’ve thought of you as my girlfriend almost from day one. I’m happy you’ve finally caught up.”
I chuckle. “Jerk.”
“Try and say that like it’s a bad thing…”
“I don’t think I can.”
He lifts me up, pulls me against him, letting me feel the burning heat in his pants, the desire, and the belonging that never stops expanding.
Before we get carried away, he sets me on my feet and takes a stumbling step backwards.
“Are you okay, sir?”
“You need to be seriously careful with that word,” he tells me.
“Do I?”
“Hmm,” he groans.
“Sir, sir, sir…”
I yelp in surprise and delight when he darts forward and then throws me over his shoulder. The world turns upside down as he carries me into my bedroom. I think that’s fitting, the world being flipped.
That’s exactly what we did for each other. Flipped the world upside down.