Total pages in book: 108
Estimated words: 105301 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 527(@200wpm)___ 421(@250wpm)___ 351(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 105301 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 527(@200wpm)___ 421(@250wpm)___ 351(@300wpm)
“Gwen,” Kerim barks loudly, making me wince.
“I have to go,” I whisper and step away from the man I love. He entwines our fingers. “Don’t wait up for me; you need your sleep.”
Nodding, he kisses me again and watches me go back inside before heading to his car.
The smile on my face is so wide my cheeks are in different countries.
“You focus now?” Kerim asks harshly, though I’m too happy to allow his mood to sour my day. “Good. Get working.”
“Yes, Chef.”
“And no more visits.”
My smile still doesn’t shift. He rolls his eyes at me but before he walks away I see his lips twitch. I’m off the hook.
Yay.
“Remind me to take my car in for its MOT next month. I think my radiators are broken. They take a lot longer to heat up than they used to and sometimes they don’t work at all.”
Nathan blinks, his eyes holding no small amount of irritation. “You’re talking about that now?”
“We’re finished so it doesn’t count.”
“How is it even on your mind?” He grinds his hips against mine and kisses the corner of my mouth.
“Ask yourself,” I remark, shoving him off me.
He laughs as he rolls to the side and slaps the side of my thigh. When I spin around, tempted to punch him in the face for making my skin sting, I melt when I see his cheeky smile. There’s no way I’m going to be able to mark that handsome face.
“I love you,” I tell him as I grab my dressing gown and tie it tightly beneath my breasts. “Shower?”
“Are you seriously asking me that question?” He’s up and out of the room before I make it around the bed.
As I reach for the handle, the sound of Nathan’s phone vibrating on the bedside table forces me back a step. I put it to my ear after noticing the number has been withheld. “Hello?”
“Gwen?” A man asks, sounding taken aback.
“Speaking.”
“I thought… is Nathan available?”
“He’s just stepped into the shower.” I hear the spray hitting the shower curtain from across the hall. “Can I ask who is calling?”
The line goes dead before he answers; he either hung up or we were disconnected. Either way I can’t call him back due to him withholding his number.
How strange.
What kind of person calls and doesn’t introduce themselves?
Then a thought hits me, regardless of the fact I doubt Mr Weston, aka Nathan’s father, would be stupid enough to call at such a delicate time.
Would he?
Something tells me that he most definitely would and something deep down tells me that I know his voice. I really hope that he doesn’t call again.
“Are you coming?” I hear Nathan ask and I really wish he wouldn’t be so noisy while the kids are sleeping.
To stop his racket and also because I need to feel clean, I finally enter the shower. My mind is a war of, ‘should I, shouldn’t I?’. If I tell him his dad called and I’m wrong, I’ll be causing him unnecessary panic. If I don’t tell him and he finds out, he’ll be really upset with me.
I’ll tell him tomorrow. There’s no need to upset such a peaceful night when I haven’t seen him for so long.
“So, now we have a second…” I turn the shower head so it’s pointing more towards me. Nathan’s soapy hands move around my back. He always knows just what to do to make me shiver. “How was your trip?”
“Successful. I’ve found a store and I’m looking to buy it as soon as I can.”
Annoyed that he hasn’t discussed this with me at all, though I don’t show it, I simply hug him instead and tell him how wonderful that is. It really is wonderful; I just wish I’d been a bit more included. I suppose I will be once we’ve gotten more of a routine established and I can get time off work to actually enjoy it over there with him.
“I’m not sure when I’ll be going back as we both know how much we’ve got going on here and I need to oversee the manufacturing of the newest line of Forever Connected charms.”
“Well as long as we don’t miss Sasha’s birthday gathering. I think Tommy might propose.”
“That’s nice.” He coughs a little and I worry that he might have caught something during his time away. “It’ll be nice getting together again; it has been a while.”
“Yeah.” I turn off the shower and step out, the chill instantly tightening my skin. Nathan wraps me in a towel and kisses the tip of my nose. He coughs again into his shoulder quickly after and my hand, despite the moistness of my palm and his skin, goes to his forehead to feel for any sign of a temperature. He rolls his eyes but lets me check him over. He knows how paranoid I get when somebody gets ill. I can thank Caleb for that one - his sudden death has tormented me forever. I know it was his fault; he should have told me and I don’t want to hate him for it, but I think a small part of me will always blame him.