Total pages in book: 80
Estimated words: 75723 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 379(@200wpm)___ 303(@250wpm)___ 252(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 75723 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 379(@200wpm)___ 303(@250wpm)___ 252(@300wpm)
That’s it. Pretty much all of it is out there now. I don’t know what to expect except silence because it feels right. Like it’s the only thing that can be between us right now. Darius isn’t going to let it last, though. I should have known he’d always find me, even in the dark.
“Thank you for earlier.”
My head jerks around. He’s so sincere, and his eyes are shining. They’re not misty, just shining. “You don’t have to thank me for that.”
“I do. I stole all your thunder. I know you’re missing your mom and sister, which is why I’ve been thinking about it, and I think it’s best if you spend some time there—an extended amount of time back in Philly. It would be understandable since your sister is sick.”
“Do you really mean that? Darius, I’m sometimes so scared. That’s what I never tell anyone. That underneath, I’ve always been so scared. I’m scared now because I keep calculating the odds, and they’re good odds, but I fixate on every single one of those percentages that are against her. I don’t know what I would do if something happened to her. I think I’d cease to exist. I’d never get over it.”
He soothes me by stroking my hair, which is probably one of the most intimate things one person can do for another, at least in my books. “Nothing is going to happen to her. Nothing.”
“I want to believe that, but—”
“She isn’t just going to have the best doctors there. I’m going to make sure she has access to the best anywhere. If she needs it and wants it, then it’s done. That’s how I know nothing is going to happen because they will fight for her. I’ll fight for her. Because fighting for her is fighting for you.”
“Darius, I—”
“No. It’s a fight that doesn’t expect anything back. We don’t have to trade favors. It’s not like the contract for the will because that’s done. The rest from here is because I want to help you. Because I know you all now, and I care about you.”
“Even the cat of hot death?”
He laughs. “Yeah, even the cat of hot death.”
“She said something to me. Something that is always said, but I’ve really stopped taking it for granted after she got diagnosed. It’s about time and how none of us know when our time is going to be up. It makes it so much more real when you’re diagnosed with a really bad illness or when someone you love is fighting it. It makes it so different. And I’ve been thinking about that. I’m thinking about it now. It’s not exactly right, but I need to be honest. I’m thinking about kissing you now.”
Chapter sixteen
Everleigh
Darius’ eyes widen. Because, yeah, I just went there. Way the hell out of the friend zone. Alarms are blaring for me, too. “I can’t lose the company, Ev. It’s everything my dad worked for. He built it from nothing, and he wanted it to be passed down to us. I can’t get locked out or do that to my brothers and sisters. It’s not about the money for me. I have a degree, and I’d be okay even if I had to bike to work every single morning. But if we didn’t have that agreement hanging over us…if we weren’t running on borrowed time and were just two people who met and liked each other… if I said I was thinking about kissing you too?”
I’ve got to be honest here, yet again, even if it kills me. “I’ve been thinking more about your nipples.”
“Ahh.” He takes that in perfect stride.
“And the peanut butter thing. And what we did in the kitchen.”
“Okay.”
“Can I kiss you, Daddy D?”
“For the love of jelly, do not call me that.”
I tumble into him, and he catches me. His arms wrap around me and stop my descent into him, transforming it into something else as he pulls me close and tips my face up. His kiss is a crush, a relentless energy that flows through me and makes me feel alive. He kisses me until I can’t breathe. And when we stop, we’re both breathing like a herd of elephants after a stampede.
“Can you do that again?” I whisper raggedly, pleading and begging. “Can we do that again? Because that was really good. Can we do it again if I take my pants off, and you take yours off, and—”
Before I can say anymore, he claims my lips, his tongue hot and furious against them. I groan and let him in, my hands sweeping to the back of his neck and holding on. He’s trembling, but I know I’m shaking too.
I think it’s been a long time for both of us, the incident in the kitchen notwithstanding. I worked myself half to death, and I didn’t have time for a love life. I might have dabbled here and there, but there were nothing more than stolen moments at the peak of pure frustration and later my own fingers because I couldn’t actually be bothered with trying to fit dating into my schedule on top of everything else. And Darius? He’s been alone for a long time, too.