Total pages in book: 36
Estimated words: 34934 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 175(@200wpm)___ 140(@250wpm)___ 116(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 34934 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 175(@200wpm)___ 140(@250wpm)___ 116(@300wpm)
“All set?”
I stare out the front windshield, and I’m not sure what comes over me, but suddenly everything hits at once. The last six months have been hard. Everything from morning sickness, finding out Jason cheated on me, saying that he doesn’t want a baby with me, and now my car. It’s like it’s all built up, and I can’t hold it back. I try. Hell, I bite my lip until I taste blood, but it doesn’t stop me. Huge, wracking sobs come out of me. I hold my head in my hands and cry. And once I start, there’s no holding back.
CHAPTER 3
ELIJAH
My mouth drops, and I stare at Sam in horror.
Her sobs tear free, gut-wrenching and raw. Her body is trembling as the sounds of her grief fill the air. I lift the console between us, and without thinking about it, I slide over to her, lifting her into my lap.
She tenses but almost immediately, she melts into me. “I’m… so… sorry…”
I hold her tighter, trying to soothe her. I slide my hands up and down her back. Her face is pressed into my neck, and she’s crying harder and harder.
“Honey, please don’t cry. It kills me to see you like this. I promise you from today forward, life is going to be good.”
She leans back and looks at me. Her eyes are red and bloodshot. She shakes her head and sniffs. “You can’t promise that.”
I use the pads of my thumbs to wipe under her eyes. “I can promise that. Hell, honey, I’d sell Wolfe Construction to the highest bidder and give you the money if it meant that you wouldn’t be sad again.”
She searches my eyes, and I know she sees the truth in them. She shakes her head. “I wish it was that easy.”
I brush the loose blond strands of her hair away from her face. “Talk to me. Tell me what’s going on.”
She adjusts herself in my lap. “Uh, first do you want me to get off your lap? I know I weigh a ton and—”
I put my hands at her hips and hold on to her. “Nope. None of that. You’re perfect. And I’m right where I need to be. If you start crying again, I’ll have you close.”
She sighs and leans into me, resting her cheek against my chest. I wrap my arms around her and hold on to her because I don’t know how long she’s going to let me do it.
She burrows into me. “We should probably get back. You’ve wasted your whole day dealing with me.”
I shush her. “I didn’t waste a second. Now talk to me, Sassy.”
It’s like I can feel her roll her eyes at me. “I can’t believe you still call me that. I’m a grownup; you know that, right?”
I run my hand down her back. “I know you are. Trust me. I know. But the nickname was never about you being a kid or younger than me.”
She breathes in. “What is it, then?”
“I started calling you that because you always challenged me.”
She rears back. “I don’t challenge you.”
I smirk at her. “I don’t mean it in a bad way. I don’t know how to explain it. I always enjoy the way you push back. You’re fierce, confident, and quick-witted… I mean it as a compliment.”
She sighs and shakes her head. “I’m none of those things.”
My heart starts to race. “Oh baby, what happened to you?”
She tries to make a joke of it and laughs. “Oh I dunno, I fell for a man that promised me everything and then cheated on me and told me he didn’t want our baby.” She sucks in a breath and looks as if she’s on the verge of tears again. “I’m twenty-five years old, no home, no job, my car broke down, and—”
I stop her because I can’t take any more. “Stop. Stop. Listen to me. You will have a car by tomorrow. You know that you can stay with me.”
She barks out a laugh. “Yeah, I’m sure your girlfriend would love that.”
I almost blurt out that I haven’t had a girlfriend in five years, not since the kiss we shared, but I don’t. “Uh, there’s no girlfriend. And a job. You’re what? Shit, I don’t even know. How far along are you?”
She grimaces. “Six months.”
I grit my teeth. I’m about to kill my best friend. “You’re six months pregnant and no one told me.”
She rolls her eyes. “It’s not like my brother is going to go bragging to everyone that I’m pregnant, not married, and dating an asshole.”
I try to hide the hurt. “But it’s me. You guys can tell me anything and—”
She huffs a breath. “I asked him not to tell you.”
It’s my turn to be surprised. I point a thumb in my chest. “You didn’t want me to know?”