Total pages in book: 109
Estimated words: 101622 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 508(@200wpm)___ 406(@250wpm)___ 339(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 101622 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 508(@200wpm)___ 406(@250wpm)___ 339(@300wpm)
She slides against me until she’s covered by the spray instead. I want to laugh, but it’s not the time for that. With her eyes closed and head tilted back, the water runs down the length of her hair. She rubs her hands over her face, focusing on her eyes before lifting and opening them. “No matter what happens, I hope you can remember how you felt when you said you loved me.” She holds my gaze, not looking away, but searching for something I don’t know if I can give her.
The conflict I’ve felt inside from falling for her to feeling used isn’t lessened by her words. They’re deepened, though. When did I tell her that? I scroll through the short time we’ve had together, and when my feelings were heightened. Sex.
Oh shit . . .
My lips were attached to her neck.
Our bodies pushing us closer to coming.
Fuck.
“I love you” is not the same as “I love your body.” Though I’m not so sure that I didn’t say what I mean, I know it’s not how I would have chosen to tell her the first time. I remember what we were doing and how incredible it felt. The emotions attached are more powerful. I might be dabbling in enemy territory and walking a fine line. The wrong words could send this all spiraling, but the right ones sit on the tip of my tongue. I love her and can’t lose her.
She pours shampoo into the palm of her hand but doesn’t wash her hair. She washes mine, moving behind me and reaching up on her tiptoes to massage my scalp and lather the hair. “I know things aren’t perfect, Warner, but they’re ours and we’re each other’s—flaws and all. And that’s something I’m okay with. More than okay. Rinse.”
I dip my head under the water and rub my fingers through it to get the soap out. Flaws and all. Is that what the lies are? Simple flaws in the biometrics of our relationship? When everything else is so good, can I, will I, be able to overlook the issues?
Watching her now as she washes her own hair, still feeling cared for after she washed mine without me even asking, but it’s the way she makes me laugh that has been eye-opening. I was stuck in the boredom of my life, but she’s shown me another way to live.
I don’t want to fight with her, and I don’t want her on the defensive when she’s with me. “I want us to be together, Sass. How do you feel about that?”
Beaming up at me like I wasn’t giving her the third degree not ten minutes ago, she says, “I thought you’d never ask.” She might have known where this was going already, but she waited patiently for me to catch up. Now that I’m by her side, and this is my girl, officially, who cares how we got here? We’re where we’re supposed to be. That’s all that matters.
CHAPTER 24
Warner
“You look very handsome, Hotshot,” Sass says, running her hands down the front of my freshly starched shirt. I wince, thinking how much can go wrong wearing a white shirt without a jacket. I can’t go into a meeting with dirt on my shirt, or food, or residue from the lotion she just put on her hands not five minutes ago.
The Monday morning sun still rests below the tops of the surrounding buildings, leaving the much-needed light for getting ready just beyond reach. I didn’t bother turning on the overhead light, trying to be respectful of Delaney’s sleep. It’s not unusual for me to be awake this early, but I have a feeling she isn’t used to it.
But she crawled out of bed and rubbed her eyes as I slid a white button-up over my cast. After pressing her lips to mine, she ambled into the bathroom to be with me. She might be new to my morning routine, but I like her here. Even if she doesn’t hustle at this hour the way I do.
I stopped asking questions last night, deciding that daily life with her would be served on a platter of surprises. Each revelation would have its time to shine. It goes against my nature, how I was raised, and the makeup of my being. It’s just what I needed to shake me back into living my life again. The ordinary has become extraordinary because Delaney has steamrolled her way into my life and shaken up my world.
It doesn’t bother me so much, not even the mark she left on my shirt. Much. “Since I can’t wear a jacket, I think I’ll pull on a sweater.”
“In May?”
“It’s thin, like a spring sweater.”
Her gaze glides down the shirt to the spot, and then she looks back up at me. “I have an idea that might look nice and less wintry. Stay right here.” She runs back down the hall to the bedroom. She’s dressed in a T-shirt from a half-marathon I ran four years ago, and I don’t think much else, which allows me a peekaboo view of the lower curve of her ass when the shirt lifts in the back. I stay where I was told.