Total pages in book: 122
Estimated words: 112884 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 564(@200wpm)___ 452(@250wpm)___ 376(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 112884 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 564(@200wpm)___ 452(@250wpm)___ 376(@300wpm)
“I did, once I got a little bit of confidence in me,” she admits and I chuckle. “People are going to ask you questions.” She takes a bite of her waffles.
“They can ask, doesn’t mean I have to tell them anything. That’s the beauty of all of this. You tell them what you want them to know and keep some things to yourself.”
She nods. “Are you okay with meeting my sister?”
“Yeah, why?” I ask her and she shrugs.
“I’m scared,” she finally says. “Like, I’m so happy, I’m scared it’ll all go away.” She looks over at me and gives me a small almost sad smile. “I’m scared this whole thing is going too fast and then it’s going to crash and burn.” She grabs a piece of strawberry on her fork and then plops it in her mouth. “But it’s like I can’t stop it.”
“I’m scared also,” I admit to her, “scared that I am going to be the rebound guy and then you will just up and leave when you realize how strong you are.” Her eyes look at me in bewilderment. “But living in fear has never served any of us,” I state, and then I don’t know why I say it but I do, “I’m falling in love with you, Lexi.” I put my fork down. “Pretty much I have fallen in love with you. When I met you the first time, I thought you were the most beautiful woman I had ever seen. Then I saw you with Trent and I was so jealous of him because he had you and he didn’t know how good he had it.” She puts her fork down and looks at her plate, and I can see her chest rising and falling. “I felt like a total dick feeling what I was feeling for you, knowing you were a married woman. I barely knew you and yet I knew you were one of those people who would come into my life and leave a mark.” I put my hand on her leg. “Then I really got to know you, and I just fell deeper and deeper for you.”
“Kirby,” she says my name and looks at me with tears in her eyes, and all I can do is shake my head side to side.
“You don’t have to say anything to me. I’m not telling you so you can say it back to me, or telling you to pressure you into anything. I’m telling you because I’ve never in my life told another person, who wasn’t my sister or my mother, that I loved them.” Her breath hitches. “But I wanted you to know, I can be patient with you. With us. With this.” My hand moves from her leg to her cheek as my thumb catches the tear. “I’m going to be patient because you are worth it and deserve the time to figure this out too, Lexi.”
“I don’t know what to say.” Her voice quivers.
“You don’t have to say anything. I just wanted you to know that you aren’t the only one who’s scared.” I lean to kiss her lips. “We can go as fast or as slow as you want us to go. I don’t have to meet your parents this time. Or your sister.” I rub her cheekbone. “You’ve already made such big steps in the last couple of months.” I smile. “It’s a marathon, not a sprint.” I turn and cut another piece of waffle. I can tell she’s not ready to finish this conversation, so I change the topic, hoping one day she’ll be ready. “I’m off today. Did you want to go and spend the day at your house and take a walk on the beach?”
“Yeah,” she says and I can hear her voice quiver, “that would be nice.”
“We can invite Kylie over for dinner, if you want?”
“You are okay to stay at my house?” she asks me and I look over at her.
“You are the one always wanting to come here.” I point at her.
“It’s Ms. Jefferson’s fault. I don’t want her to be all alone.”
“I leave tomorrow,” I remind her, “and I’m already back on Friday.”
“Who is watching her?” she asks me.
“She has food all the time,” I remind her. “She has her own personal water bowl that is hooked up to the bathroom faucet and gives her fresh water. She’s fine.” I push away from the counter. “But if you want to come and check in on her, I can give you a key.”
“Do you think I can take her to my house?” she asks and I snort. “Probably not, right?” she backpedals. “Okay, I’ll come over every night and sit with her so she doesn’t get lonely.”
“That works,” I agree. “I like the fact you’ll be in my house.”
“Oh yeah,” she says, loading the dishwasher and cleaning up, “why is that?”