Total pages in book: 38
Estimated words: 34955 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 175(@200wpm)___ 140(@250wpm)___ 117(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 34955 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 175(@200wpm)___ 140(@250wpm)___ 117(@300wpm)
Thatcher grabbed my hand before I got far. I glanced back at him. “I won’t be long,” he told me, not caring who heard him.
Feeling like this was when I was supposed to say, “Take your time,” or something similar, I smiled and said, “No rush, “ although I would like him to rush very much.
Royal excused herself to go to the restroom, leaving me with Mandilyn.
When we entered the sunroom, Mandilyn picked up a glass of champagne from the tall, skinny table that also seemed to serve as a tray and sat down. “Well, that was a nice dinner.”
“Yes, it was delicious. Thank you for having me.” The manners my mother drilled into me came out easily enough. I could survive this.
Mandilyn’s eyes slowly drifted over me as if observing me. “You are a tiny thing, yet not at all intimidated by my son.”
I straightened as I held her gaze. “Not now. Once, he intimidated, frightened, and excited me. I never knew what to feel around him. He’s a complex man.”
She took a drink from her glass. “He’s detached. He always has been. Even as a child, he lacked emotion. It surprises me that he’s let someone so close to him.”
I licked my lips and took a calming breath. Snapping at Thatcher’s mom was a bad idea. “He has emotion. It’s not something he displays for others to see, but it’s powerful if you’re lucky enough to experience it. I imagine that, as a child, he only needed someone to let him feel safe and give him the opportunity to display it.”
Her eyes widened slightly as if she wasn’t sure that was a comment directed at her. News flash, Mandilyn, it absolutely was.
“And how do you suggest that one does that? To a child that doesn’t even cry. Shows no remorse. Feels no guilt or pain?”
“Love. When Thatcher knows someone loves him. When he doesn’t have to question it or seek it out, he is anything but unattached. He just requires the security that he will still be accepted when he shows vulnerability. Wanted. Unconditional love.”
She stared at me, saying nothing. Her gaze, however, told me so many things. Most of all, I suddenly realized that she’d missed that—failed to give him what he required.
“Sorry, I got lost,” Royal said as she entered the room.
Mandilyn stared at me for a moment more before recovering. When Royal passed me, she turned her head and winked at me with a small smile before sitting beside me. Had she left us alone on purpose? I dropped my gaze to my hands, which were clasped in my lap, and smirked.
Mandilyn continued the conversation, but every time her eye met mine, I saw the uncertainty and the worry that I was right. It was her fault that she lacked a relationship with her oldest son.
• Nineteen •
I’d break into Heaven and take you back if I had to.
Capri
Miller talked about the turn and how he wanted me to take it when I hit full speed. I listened as I snapped my helmet. He was more serious about this than he normally was when I took Bloodline out. Were they planning on him racing soon, and if so, did I get to ride him?
“Here he is,” Miller said, looking over my shoulder.
Turning, I frowned as Zephyr, led by Jim, walked toward us. I thought I was going out first. I glanced around for Carmen or Rog but saw neither of them. I turned back to Miller, who was looking at me but didn’t say anything or explain. I opened my mouth to ask him where Bloodline was, but another voice stopped me.
“What are you waiting on, little doll? It’s your chance to show me just how fast you can ride my horse at the Derby.”
I spun back around to see Thatcher walking this way with a wicked smirk on his face. His eyes watching me closely. He was serious. Thatcher was… he had brought out Zephyr for me. To ride in the Kentucky Derby. I glanced at Miller, who had broken into a grin. This was real.
I broke into a run straight for Thatcher. Joy burst inside my chest as my vision blurred from the tears that were filling them. When I reached him, I let out a squeal and jumped, throwing my arms around his neck. He caught me as my legs locked around him. I grab his face, slamming my mouth down on his. My tears making it salty as his hands tighten their grip on me, his tongue plunging into my mouth as if the taste of me was all he needed to survive.
I pull back, looking down at him, and let out a laugh. Then wipe at my tears and laughed some more. “You mean this. Right? You aren’t gonna change your mind?” I needed reassurance.