Total pages in book: 90
Estimated words: 90315 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 452(@200wpm)___ 361(@250wpm)___ 301(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 90315 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 452(@200wpm)___ 361(@250wpm)___ 301(@300wpm)
“It’s not the same.” She drags her knuckles down my cheek. “Were you mad that Willow and I drank too much last night?”
“Of course not. You weren’t hurting anyone. I’m just glad that you had fun and that Willow has finally come around.”
She nods and rests her forehead against my cheek, snuggling close. “I like her a lot.”
“I’m glad. She’s not so bad.”
“She told me a lot of things.”
I scowl. “Seems she has a big mouth.”
“I don’t think it was anything you wouldn’t have told me yourself.” She kisses my cheek, and it soothes my soul. “Just more about Ray and Debbie and how much you all loved them.”
“Yeah, we loved them, baby.” I kiss her head and lift her in my arms, taking her inside. “It’s too cold to sit out here, but we’ll watch from the sofa.”
“Okay.”
She holds on tight as I walk through the house to the living room and take the wet blankets off her, then bundle her in dry ones and go upstairs to change my wet clothes.
When I get back, she’s leaning on the arm of the couch closest to the windows, her eyes glued to the huge flakes falling.
“You’ve seen lots of snow before,” I remind her as I sit next to her and wrap my arms around her.
“It’s always magical, and there’s something extra special about the first snowfall of the year. It gets dirty so fast in the city. I bet it’s gorgeous here for a long time.”
“Hm.” I kiss the crown of her head, enjoying the quiet with her.
“Gideon?”
“Yes, sweetheart.”
“I’d like to ask you a question, but I don’t want to upset you or hurt you.”
I frown down at her and tip her chin up. “You can ask me anything. No guarantee that I’ll answer.”
Her lips tip up in a smirk. “Your standard response. Okay then.”
She takes a deep breath, as if she’s gathering her courage, and I press a kiss to her forehead. I haven’t been able to keep my hands off her. And for as long as she’s here, I won’t stop touching her.
Because for now, she’s mine.
“What happened to your biological family, big guy?”
I sigh and push my fingers into her damp hair, brushing it back from her face.
“It’s not a good story, Lena.”
“I’m trying to get to know you, and I feel like that’s kind of a big deal.”
Fuck. I hate talking about this. I haven’t in years. Since I was interviewing for the Secret Service, and it was brought up in that meeting.
“My birth certificate says that my name is Gideon James, and that my parents are Debbie and Ray James.” I swallow hard and drag my hand down my face. “And after I talk to you about this tonight, I’ll never speak of it again.”
She nods, her lavender eyes full of compassion and tenderness, and I know without a doubt that I’d give her anything she asked for right now.
Even this.
Even this horrible, twisted darkness that I come from.
“I’m originally from Bozeman. My parents were normal middle-class people. Dad ran a construction company, Mom was a teacher.”
She tilts her head to the side, listening intently. She links our hands together and kisses my knuckles, easing some of the tension in my shoulders.
“Dad was an alcoholic, and had a gambling addiction. He owed money to the wrong fucking people. Got arrested for theft, starting hitting Mom and got arrested for domestic abuse. He was a piece of shit.”
She clears her throat but doesn’t interrupt.
She also doesn’t pull away from me.
“I don’t know what happened that last day. Not for sure. I was about twelve, and I’d been at school. When I got home, I found my mom dead from a gunshot wound to the head, and my father nowhere to be found.”
Lena gasps, but she still doesn’t pull away from me.
“Gideon.”
“He’d killed her. He was probably high on something, who knows. They found him and arrested him, and he pleaded no contest because the evidence was everywhere. Because Montana has a three-strikes rule, he’ll never get out of prison.”
“He’s still living?” she asks.
“Last I heard, which was when Ray and Debbie petitioned the state to adopt me. He contested.”
Her jaw drops. “He fucking contested?”
I love that she’s pissed on my behalf.
“He didn’t have any rights to me anyway. I don’t know how he heard about the adoption. Obviously, it went through, and I’ve never heard from him again. I don’t care to. He died along with my mom and my unborn sister. Did I mention she was pregnant?”
Lena climbs into my lap, straddles me, and hugs me tight, her face pressed to my neck.
“Fuck, I’m sorry,” she whispers.
“It’s not your fault.” My hands rub up and down her slender back, down her sides. She feels so right pressed against me.
“Still sorry,” she murmurs. “I know your mom would be happy that you landed here, with these good people.”