Total pages in book: 58
Estimated words: 55738 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 279(@200wpm)___ 223(@250wpm)___ 186(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 55738 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 279(@200wpm)___ 223(@250wpm)___ 186(@300wpm)
“You make me a wild man,” I tell her, trailing my hand up her body. Lying on her side like this highlights her shapeliness so much. “I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
“Forever?” she asks, reaching over and touching my cheek.
“Forever,” I say fiercely. “I meant what I said. The first time I saw you…”
I trail off when I see the panic in her eyes. I’m about to ask what’s wrong, but I don’t need to. She’s thinking the same thing I am. How can this ever work when James feels the same as me?
“What are we going to do?” she asks a moment later.
“Tell him the truth,” I say. “Be upfront. Be honest. Hope he understands.”
“And if he doesn’t?” she asks.
Part of being a good operator is having multiple avenues for accomplishing the mission and, most importantly, improvising when the job calls for it. As I lie here with the only woman I’ll ever want or need, I can’t think of any other options. I can’t imagine any different outcome.
“I don’t know,” I admit.
“He might make you choose.”
I sigh darkly. “That wouldn’t be good.”
“You can’t choose a woman you barely know over your own son.”
I lean forward and kiss her tenderly on the cheek. “You’re not just any woman, Samantha. I don’t feel like I barely know you. Maybe we can’t list a bunch of surface-level facts about each other, but I know you’re going to give me children one day. I know you’re going to be my wife. I know…” I love you, I almost say, but the phantom of my son holds me back. “You’re mine.”
“So you’re saying you’d be with me even if it meant never seeing your son again? I don’t know if I could ask you to do that.”
I sigh, roll onto my back, and pull her into my arms. Stroking my hand gently through her hair, I say, “Let’s not think about any of this right now. I know it’s selfish, but I want to be here just with you, only you.”
“Me too,” she murmurs, hugging closer to me.
A minute later, I hear scratching at the door. With a chuckle, I say, “Well, maybe we can make room for one more.”
My woman laughs as I stand, pulling on my briefs. Walking across the room, I open the door. Loki runs in, tail wagging so much his whole body is shifting from side to side.
“Somebody’s starved for attention,” Samantha says with a smile, putting on her underwear.
Loki runs right past me and leaps on the bed, snatching Samantha’s bra out of her hand before she can put it on. We laugh when he leaps down from the bed, running around with it, shaking it from side to side.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
Samantha
“Thanks for waiting with me,” I tell Lexi, wrapping my hands around the cup of hot cocoa. We’re at a café a short drive from Fletcher’s house. It’s the day after we had sex—the day after I experienced the most intense pleasure of my life, both physical and emotional. Now Fletcher’s going to tell James just how much I mean to him and wait for the fallout.
“It’s okay,” Lexi says quietly, seeming more withdrawn than usual as she stares into her coffee mug. “He said he’d call if he wanted you at the house, too?”
I nod. “Yeah. If James wants to speak to me about it, but I’m not sure what he’d say. Last night feels like a dream. It was so perfect. It was like we could pretend nothing else existed, but now…”
“It’s going to work out,” Lexi says, her voice confident, even if her demeanor seems beaten down.
“Are you okay?” I ask. “I know it’s been a bit me, me, me lately.”
Lexi laughs, but it sounds so fake. Finally, she looks up at me, only to turn back to her coffee immediately. It’s as if she finds staring into the coffee mug easier.
“Lexi?” I ask when she doesn’t say anything.
She swallows and looks up at me again. She doesn’t immediately turn away this time, but I can tell it’s a big effort for her. “I did something bad,” she says. “I should’ve told you back when this started.”
“Okay…” I wait for her to go on. When she doesn’t, I reach across the table and touch her hand. “Whatever it is, I’m sure it’s not that bad. We can get through it together.”
“I don’t know.” She pulls her hand away. “You might hate me.”
“Oh, come on. I could never hate you.”
“Seriously.” Lexi’s tone gets cold, sending a chill through me. “You don’t know that.”
I fold my hands. “Okay, then lay it on me.”
“I don’t know if I can.”
“Well, you can’t bring it into the conversation and then clam up. That’s definitely not fair.”
“You’re right,” she sighs, leaning back as though afraid of my reaction, as if she thinks I’ll turn feral and leap at her. Feral like my man, panting, moaning, rushing toward a shared end. I need to stop. I need to focus. “Okay, fine. You know how I set you and James up?”