Total pages in book: 47
Estimated words: 46717 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 234(@200wpm)___ 187(@250wpm)___ 156(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 46717 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 234(@200wpm)___ 187(@250wpm)___ 156(@300wpm)
“I know,” she says softly. “I felt exactly the same.”
“But we couldn’t. We can’t. There’s something between us, something more than I can understand. And yet I can. I know you’re mine, and we’re going to be together.”
“Forever,” she finishes, laughing as she playfully prods my arm.
“What?” I say, chuckling, grateful and yet not surprised at how easily she can draw laughter out of me, even with thoughts of Graham clashing in my mind.
“Do you think you’ll always trust me to finish your sentences?” she says.
I roll onto my side, moving down the bed, so we’re face to face. She looks so effortlessly beautiful as she moves onto her side, too, her figure framed by the lamplight, her hips declaring how well she’s going to carry my children.
“Always,” I whisper after a pause, leaning over and kissing her.
She returns the kiss, and then we’re lost to the world, unable to think about anything but this kiss, this moment, the fact of what we just did.
“I can’t believe I’m not a virgin anymore,” she says as the kiss breaks off, both of us breathing heavily.
“Was it better than the phone stuff?” I tease, smirking.
She trails her fingernails down my chest, making my balls swell, my shaft growing hard again. Even all sticky from her wetness I want her again, over and over.
“That’s an obvious question,” she says. “At first, I was a bit worried. I didn’t think I’d be able to…but then it was so good, so perfect. It’s easier now, Hayden.”
“Easier?”
“Thinking about our future,” she says, voice rising. “Before, I had to overcome this…I had to wonder if I’d even be able to do it. But not now. Now we only have….”
She trails off, wincing as though she feels guilty.
I shake my head, then kiss her cheek gently. “It’s okay, Hallie. You can say it.”
“I don’t want to.” She laughs in a distant way. “Does that make me a coward?”
“If it does, I’m the same,” I tell her. “But we have to face it, especially now. Graham.”
“Dad,” Hallie says, sighing. “Yes, dad. What the heck are we going to do about him now? It’s not like we can say, Oh, sorry, dad, we tried only to have phone sex, but we can’t resist each other, so we had sex-sex. Oh, and we’re going to have a family one day. In fact, we’re going to be together forever, so you better get used to it.”
She breaks off, sucking in a breath, then laughs quietly. “Sorry, I kind of got carried away.”
“I understand. It’s difficult. The truth is, I’ve got no idea how Graham’s going to react. We should’ve….”
I cut off, and Hallie says, “It’s fine. You wanted to tell him. I didn’t. We don’t have to dance around that.”
“I don’t blame you,” I say. “I understand why you didn’t want to. I’m scared, honestly. There wasn’t a chance I was going to let you go before, I thought maybe I could lie to myself. But now I’ve claimed you, there’s no going back. You are mine. The question is….”
“Is dad going to accept it?”
I swallow, nodding, bleakness touching me.
“What if he says no?” Hallie murmurs. “What if he makes us choose?”
“I don’t know. Jesus. I hope it doesn’t come to that.”
“You’ve been friends for so long.”
The usual run of vignettes flash across my mind, images of Graham and me and all the times we’ve leaned on each other. I remember breaking down after my parents’ joint funeral, the only time I’ve cried in front of Graham, unable to stop.
And my friend is always there for me, clapping me on the shoulder and telling me everything will be all right.
But then I see Hallie, cradling our child, with the sun shining through the window behind her.
I imagine her small hands in mine as she looks up at me, her eyes glistening with happy tears, both of us desperate to say I do.
“I know,” I say after a pause. “But I know something else too, Hallie. No matter what happens, no matter what consequences there are, I’ll never be able to give you up.”
I lean over and find her lips.
She kisses me with the same passion, the same affection, the same love.
The word flurries around my mind, and then Hallie gasps and stares at me wide-eyed. She gazes as though something truly unnatural has just happened, and then it slams into me.
What just happened.
I didn’t just think about it. I said it.
“It’s the truth,” I go on, knowing there’s no way I can back out now and not wanting to back out. “I love you, Hallie. I love you so much I can barely understand it. I loved you the moment I came home and saw you. That’s when I knew you were the woman for me. The only one.”
“I love you too,” she whispers, sobs making her words wobble. “So much, Hayden. Are we crazy?”