Total pages in book: 93
Estimated words: 86367 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 432(@200wpm)___ 345(@250wpm)___ 288(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 86367 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 432(@200wpm)___ 345(@250wpm)___ 288(@300wpm)
“Where are we going?” she asks as we walk up the steps to the front door.
“My house,” I inform her, putting the code into the front door. “This whole block is ours.” I motion with my finger up and down the block. “Well, not ours but every single one of the houses on this street and in the cul-de-sac belongs to one of my family members. My uncle Matthew found a developer, and we all bought houses.”
“That sounds like your family,” she mumbles as I open the door and wait for her to step in before locking the door behind her. “Where do you want to do this?” She looks around.
“Naked with you in my arms.” My mouth doesn’t give my brain a minute to think. “But I’ll settle for the living room.”
“Good choice,” she huffs, walking down the hallway toward the family room. “How many houses do you own?”
“A few.” I shrug. “It’s an investment.”
She steps into the sunken family room, turning to face me. “I don’t really think there is anything else to talk about.”
“There is a whole lot of stuff for us to talk about.” I close the distance between us, putting my hands on my hips. “Like the fact you gave up everything for me.”
“I didn’t give up everything for you.” She glares at me. “I gave it up for myself.”
“So you didn’t quit your job to move to Nashville and be with me?” She’s about to argue with me, but I hold up my hand and touch her cheek with my thumb. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I didn’t want to get your hopes up, in case it fell through.” Her voice goes higher. “How would you have taken that, Stone?” she asks. “Do you even know what that did to me?”
“Yes.” It’s almost a whisper. “Your job meant so much to you.”
“Obviously, not as much as you since I gave it up,” she says.
“So now what?” I ask.
“Now, nothing. Now, we go on with our lives. You were fine, anyway.”
“Why would you think I was fine?” I ask. “I was the opposite of fine.”
“Well, you look fine,” she mumbles.
“Are you saying that you’re fine without me?” It hurts my heart to ask her that question because what do I do if she says she is fine without me? What if she really is done with me? “Because I’m not fine without you.” I grip her hip. “I will never be done with you. Never.” She looks down, and I close the distance to her. “I meant what I said before.” I lift her chin with the other hand. Only when she looks at me do I continue. “I’m going to marry you. We’re going to have babies together. We’re going to fight, and you will always be right.” I wrap the arm that is holding her hip around her. “Living without you has been the worst time of my life. I felt like I was dying every single minute of every single day. I refuse to live like that again. I know what it feels to have you in my life, and I know what it feels like not to have you in my life. I never ever want to do that again. So, Ryleigh…” I exhale, stepping into her.
She puts her hands on my chest, right over my heart. “I’m not fine without you,” she admits, blinking away the tears in her eyes, but one escapes and rolls down her cheek, stopped by my fingers. “After you broke up with me, it was too late to turn back. I had already given my notice at work, and they were bringing in someone new. I was days away from meeting with a couple of firms in Nashville, which I called to cancel. One called me back the next day. It’s a firm that specializes in family law and I spoke with the owner who told me to take some time for me. He told me to take some time for myself, and that I had an office waiting for me when I was ready. After that, I packed up some clothes and headed to my family’s home in Montana. Some nights, I would sit outside by the firepit and think back to every memory we had together. It would hurt, the agony of loving you and not being able to have you.”
“I should never have let you go.” I put my forehead on hers. “I should have listened to you.”
“Yeah, you should have.” She sniffles. “It would have saved us a lot of heartache.”
“You could have shown up,” I tell her, “with your bags.”
“You could have gone skating without skates,” she snaps, “and hot feet.” I chuckle at her joke but only for a minute. “You hurt me, Stone.” Her voice is like a whisper. “Like no one has ever hurt me before.”