Total pages in book: 135
Estimated words: 139088 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 695(@200wpm)___ 556(@250wpm)___ 464(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 139088 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 695(@200wpm)___ 556(@250wpm)___ 464(@300wpm)
We lay that way for a long time, after he naturally slid out of me, and longer.
Finally, he lifted his head and said, “Clean you up.”
“I’ll clean up. You get your arm back in that sling.”
“Babe—”
“But take your shirt off before you do it. You’re sleeping here.”
He made a noise. It was pain and something else. It came from way down deep, so it sounded guttural.
And so beautiful.
I’d never forget that noise. Never.
Then he kissed me, soft, wet, and so, so, so, so achingly sweet.
After that, he slid off me so I could clean up and he could take his shirt off, get back in his sling.
And in my bed.
We were man and woman and dog again in the moonlight.
Knox was on his back, arm in the sling, and I was tucked to his good side, head on his shoulder, but avoiding his bad leg.
Jacques was laying over our ankles.
“Cap got in my face after you sang that song,” he said. Then he admitted, “When I laid it on him, I omitted a few things. Him hearing you sing that song, he figured that out.”
He was there.
With me.
I had him.
I knew I had work to do with him (seriously, the man didn’t think he was worthy? I got it with his history but…hell no), but I had him. Right there. With me. So I could do that work.
And I was going to do that work.
Therefore, I refused to get angry.
“Raye heard, so did Eric,” he continued. “Eric took me outside, had a few words to say. I listened. And called a Lyft.”
“I’ll bake Eric some cookies.”
His arm around me gave me a squeeze.
“What now?” he asked.
“What now?” I parroted.
“Babe.”
I lifted my head and looked at him in the dark.
“I think what now is obvious,” I stated.
“We got shit to work out.”
“Sure,” I said offhandedly.
“Serious shit.”
“Okay, breaking that down, I am aware that there’s a rather glaring outstanding issue with your sister. Though, good news, things are progressing well with mine.”
“I kinda noticed that tonight.”
“Yes, she’s an evil genius, something I admire greatly. But…moving on, it also appears I have some work to do so you’ll settle into the fact I’m not going anywhere. However, I will point out at this juncture that you tested me, repeatedly, and actually, I did not fail. Okay, so we were apart for thirteen months. There was Cheyenne, who’s also an outstanding issue. But I one-upped that bullshit play with an even more bullshit play with Brady, so I’m taking that as even stevens.”
He interrupted my litany with a grunt after I mentioned Brady, therefore, I addressed that.
“And you and Brady will be making up,” I declared.
That got another grunt, this one I ignored.
“I mean, I thought you and I were just friends, and I still nursed you through the worst of your injuries. So I figure we were on shaky ground, but with my awesome Florence Nightingale skills, I solidified the shit out of that. Now you just did your bit by coming clean about all your triggers and then fucking me stupid. In future, I’ll be aware of those triggers. As long as you promise to talk to me, fully, so I get what’s going on, I figure we can face anything.”
I stopped talking.
He said nothing, didn’t even grunt this time.
So I kept talking.
“That said, feel free to lose your shit again. Though, just sayin’, you don’t get thirteen months anymore. You can have a day. Twenty-four hours before you come clean then eat me out before fucking me.”
He was turning toward me before I heard his chuckle.
God…
God.
I’d missed the sound of that.
Even so.
“Knox Chambers, you’re putting weight on your bad thigh.”
“Chill, baby,” he murmured, pulling me closer with the arm he had under me.
“I will chill when I attend your next doctor’s appointment, and she says you can rest on your side.”
He blew out a breath and fell again to his back.
“Thank you,” I snapped.
“Fuck, I love you,” he replied.
I blinked.
Then I bitched, “Goddammit, now I need to attack you.”
The humor was back when he invited, “Have at it, gorgeous.”
“Can your stitches hack it if I play cowgirl?” I asked.
“I don’t give a shit if they can’t.”
“Knox!”
With one arm, he pulled me over his body and said, “If they don’t, I got you to drive me to the emergency room.”
“The key is for that not to happen and mess up our reunion with a hospital visit.”
“Are we reunited?”
“You love me. I love you. You just bared your soul. I understand it. We have shit to work out, but we’re together, and we understand each other better, so we can do that. Hence, yes. We are one thousand percent reunited.”
He lay with that for a second.
I let him.
It was a second that was warm and cozy, sweet and lovely, and it filled my bedroom with so much of all that, I knew that was something else I’d never forget: the feel of that moment.