Total pages in book: 88
Estimated words: 86105 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 431(@200wpm)___ 344(@250wpm)___ 287(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 86105 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 431(@200wpm)___ 344(@250wpm)___ 287(@300wpm)
He stands then. My eyes track him as he approaches me.
“I spent my entire life terrified of becoming my father,” he says. “Terrified that I’d hurt the people I loved. Fearing that I’d destroy anything good.” His voice drops. “But I finally realized something.” He stops in front of me. “Running isn’t how you break free. You don’t escape the past by being alone.”
He reaches for my hands, pulls me up from the couch so I’m standing in front of him.
“You build a future that’s stronger than your past.”
His thumb brushes my knuckles.
“And you, Daisy,” he says, voice shaking now, “are that future.”
My heart shatters open.
“I love you,” he says, a confession and a vow all at once.
The room spins. Tears spill before I can stop them. I can’t believe I’m hearing this.
“I love you too,” I whisper, stepping into him, pressing my forehead to his chest.
He lets out a sound that’s half sob, half relief, arms coming around me. He buries his face in my hair, breathing me in.
“I’ve loved you for a long time,” he admits. “I was just too scared to say it. Too scared to believe I deserved it.” He pulls back enough to look at me, eyes wet and shining. “I should’ve said it when I first felt it. I should’ve said it before I let fear decide for me.”
His hand cups my face.
“So I’m saying it now. And I’m going to keep saying it. Today. Tomorrow. And every day after. For as long as you’ll tolerate me.”
A laugh breaks through my tears, shaky and real. “How about I tolerate you just this side of forever?” I ask with a watery laugh.
“That’s an offer I’d be a fool to reject,” he says, smiling so brightly, I feel warmed to the depths of my soul.
“We do have a problem, though,” Grizz says, and I stiffen slightly.
“What’s that?”
“I heard through the grapevine that you took that job in Los Angeles.” He angles his head, cocks an eyebrow as if he can’t quite believe I’d dare try to move so far away.
“Grapevine?” I ask, frowning in confusion. “Who? I mean… wait… how did you know I was here?”
Grizz chuckles, pulls me back into him, his arms going around my waist. “I was wandering aimlessly around New York, sunk in a depression over losing you—”
“You were not,” I exclaim skeptically, slapping him lightly on the chest.
“True story.” He holds up the scout’s honor sign. “And Julian found me. Invited me into his home for Thanksgiving dinner.”
“And he told you I was here and about the job,” I muse. What a busybody the owner of the New York Vipers is.
“More than just told me where you were, he sort of made me take my head out of my ass. While I’d like to believe I’d come to the same conclusion on my own, he made me see the risk of putting my heart out there would be worth it. And so… here I am.”
I don’t answer with words.
I kiss him.
It’s slow and deep and certain, a kiss that feels like coming home after being lost for years.
Behind us, Roscoe erupts into joyful chaos, barking as if he’s announcing the end of the world. Or maybe the beginning of a new one.
Grizz laughs into my mouth, pulling me closer, and for the first time in a very long time, the past loosens its grip. “About that job,” he murmurs. “You can’t go out west. I don’t know if I can get a trade out there.”
“We’ll talk about it later, but I’m sure we can work out something,” I reply, pulling his mouth back down on mine.
And we kiss, under my parents’ roof, in the middle of the night, with a barking dog and love finally spoken out loud.