Total pages in book: 77
Estimated words: 77398 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 387(@200wpm)___ 310(@250wpm)___ 258(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 77398 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 387(@200wpm)___ 310(@250wpm)___ 258(@300wpm)
I opened the bottle, pouring her some wine. “No.”
“Fine.” She grabbed the glass out of my hand. “We can talk about this later.”
“Can’t wait.”
“Harley is going to be so heartbroken.”
“What do you want me to say, sweetheart? My boy’s a little shit. You more than anyone knows how he ticks.”
“Like father like son, huh?”
I grinned, laying down on the lounger with her following suit on the one next to me. A soft, classical melody filled the humid air from Camila’s phone. Adding to the ambiance between us as we looked up at the stars.
“My boys and I are a lot alike, but we’re also very different. They’ve never wanted for anything, I made sure of it. Bailey and I would often argue about how much I’d indulge them.”
“Were you a flirt like Jackson?”
“I was.” I glanced over at her. “But only for one girl.”
“You told me before you met Bailey when you were seven. Was it always just her?”
“Yeah.” I nodded, bringing the glass up to my lips. “It was me and her against the world.”
The silence was deafening, while I waited for her to go on. Fully aware her questions wouldn’t stop there.
When I looked over at her again, her head was hung low and she was playing with the seam of her dress.
“Ask me.”
She took a deep breath, exhaling, “Do you miss her?”
“Everyday.”
Her cautious eyes met mine.
“I struggle with it though.”
“With missing her?”
“Mmm hmm.”
“Why?”
“Because of the way I feel about you.”
“Are you ever going to tell me what happened to her?”
“I will, when I’m ready. I promise.”
“Okay,” she hesitantly replied.
“Tell me.”
She zeroed in on my face as if she didn’t understand how I knew what she was thinking.
“I’ve felt this deep connection to you, since I walked into your house.”
“I know. I felt it too.”
Her eyes held nothing but sincerity and confusion, suddenly making the air so goddamn thick between us.
“I guess, I don’t know what to make of all of it. I like you, Aiden. A lot. I love your kids. I can see myself, not only with you but with them as well, and that scares the shit out of me. I know I’ll never be able to live up to your once-in-a-lifetime love, and I don’t want to feel like I’m here because she isn’t.”
Her vulnerability didn’t stop me from taking in the glow of her smooth tan skin, or the way her hair kept falling around her face, or the rosy flush of her cheeks from the wine.
There was something in the way she was looking at me…
The concern.
The sadness.
The understanding in her eyes.
That had me sharing, “My mom died in my arms when I was seven-years-old.”
Her lips parted as a slight gasp escaped her mouth, waiting for me to go on.
“For the next nine years of my life, I was placed in twenty-two different foster homes. None of which were anything I’d ever call a fuckin’ home. That is until the last family I was placed with. For the first time since my mother died, I felt what it was like to be loved by someone who wasn’t Bailey. She was my only family until them,” I paused, allowing my words to sink in.
“I met Bay at the kids’ shelter the night my mother passed. You see, Cami, growing up like we did, bonding over the bullshit our lives had become made things easier on us. Left us feeling like there was someone in the world that gave a damn if we were alive and well. When you grow up in those circumstances, where all you have is each other, it adds another element to your love and devotion to one another. I’m not going to pretend Bailey wasn’t my soulmate. She is.”
Camila swallowed hard, her big, brown eyes brimming with tears. Shining beyond fucking bright against the moonlight.
I stood without hesitation, setting the glass down on the table, going to her, needing to feel her in my arms for what I was about to say. I sat down next to her in the lounger, and tugged her toward me, making her straddle my waist.
Her tight dress hiked up her toned thighs and without thinking, my hands immediately traveled up her legs.
They were as soft as they were inviting.
And I knew, I was done for.
<>Camila<>
Hearing him talk about his wife with so much devotion in his heart, hurt in ways I never saw coming.
There I sat, straddling the man’s lap I was falling in love with. Only feeling the fear I was going to get hurt by him. And even still, I wanted him.
All of him.
Even if it came with a price at my expense.
Would I ever have him? Truly have him?
My mind told me no, but my heart, my soul, was in his hands. Choking the life out of me.
“You have me questioning everything I believe in, and it hurts me as much as it heals me,” he openly affirmed. “I don’t know the purpose for you being brought into my life. All I know is I want, need, crave you in it. I can’t imagine a life without you anymore. It doesn’t feel right because you feel so goddamn perfect. Do I love and miss my wife? Absolutely. But don’t think for one second it takes away what I feel for you… For the first time in my life, I’m struggling with the reality that maybe you’re allowed to love more than one person in a lifetime. That maybe you’re allowed to have more than one soulmate. Because ever since you walked into my home, Cami, that’s what you’ve felt like to me… Mine.”