Total pages in book: 145
Estimated words: 147733 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 739(@200wpm)___ 591(@250wpm)___ 492(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 147733 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 739(@200wpm)___ 591(@250wpm)___ 492(@300wpm)
Goddamn, this woman.
I find her lips and kiss her madly, truly—fuck, I don’t care—desperately.
Tasting her for the first time in months feels like windows thrown open in my soul, letting in the light after a long, cruel winter.
How did I ever let this girl go even for a second?
How did she decide to give me a second chance?
“We should go inside,” she whispers.
“Sure. Let me grab the placards.”
“Later.” She breaks our embrace, tugging on my shirt. Then she takes my hand and leads me in. “You won’t leave me tonight, will you?”
I stop and stare at her.
There’s something so hauntingly vulnerable in her words.
She still questions my commitment, of course, and that’s my fault. I’ll never stop trying to make up for the damage I’ve caused.
“The only way I’ll ever be away from you again is if you lock me out,” I say.
“That won’t happen,” she whispers.
I pull her closer and kiss her again, rebranding her lips in my memory until she pulls away, gasping.
Too soon?
“Miles, we... we should probably go upstairs. I have a couple guests downstairs tonight.”
I twine my fingers through hers and nod.
She leads me up and we stop just long enough for the dogs to come flying out. Coffee immediately sits in front of me, staring up and wagging his curly tail.
With an exaggerated sigh, I give him the signal.
He shoots up on his hind legs, licking my face, and Cream is right behind him.
“They missed you like crazy!” Jenn laughs. “Almost as much as me.”
After they’re out of the room, we step inside and she locks the door before sitting on the bed. “God, I’ve missed you so effing much.”
I sit down beside her, taking her hands in mine. “You were so afraid. You wouldn’t talk to me.”
Tears stream down her face.
“I was scared. So scared you’d change your mind again...”
I’m such a fucking idiot.
I haul her into my lap. “Jennifer, I never changed my mind, not once. Not even that day I lost my shit and said some terrible things. I didn’t want you on Simone’s radar. I just didn’t want you getting hurt to get to me and—fuck.”
I can’t finish.
Not when she looks at me with green eyes so soft they reach to my depths, lighting everything in witchfire.
“And?”
“And I’m terrified of you, truth be told.”
“What?” She gives me a startled laugh. “Yeah, right. Because I’m so scary.”
I lift her hand and kiss it.
“I’ve lost practically everyone I’ve ever loved. Nothing hurt like losing you, knowing you were still here. Somehow, knowing it was my fault—knowing I fucked up and made it happen—seemed better than you leaving me on your own.”
Her lips are on mine in a heartbeat.
Our tongues mingle until she breaks away.
“You should have just told me, Miles. There’s no chance I’d ever leave you.”
“I see that now,” I growl, finding her lips again.
We kiss like the love starved creatures we are until we tumble backward on the bed.
Then we lie there tangled up in each other, neither of us making any effort to move.
It’s languid and sweet and so intense it’s almost blinding.
It isn’t even sex—that’s bound to come later—but goddamn, it’s enough.
Her head rests on my chest where it belongs.
Her legs lock around my thigh.
Finally.
I won my kitten back.
“I love you, Jennifer Landers,” I whisper, pressing my forehead to hers.
She kisses me with a fluttery moan.
This time, her nimble fingers move to the top button of my shirt.
Undressing her feels like unwrapping a present I’ve waited my entire lifetime for.
Sinking into her mends my soul.
Every stroke brings us to another level of heaven we never reached before.
When I release in her and she goes off gloriously in a fit of shaking ecstasy, her screams barely muffled against my shoulder, I’m fucking home.
I’m home, and they’ll need an entire SWAT team to evict me from this woman again.
Waking up with her a few hours later is paradise, and this time, I won’t let it slip away.
Two Months Later
I look out the window at the dusting of snow, standing impatiently inside the tiny jewelry shop in Pinnacle Pointe.
My own reflection gazes back in the glass.
“Are you sure about this? You haven’t been back together that long,” Benson reminds me with a severe look.
I cock my head. “We’re back together for good, and I’m done delaying my future. You know that.”
He smiles. “I do. But you made me promise years ago to check your mental health if you ever planned on tying the knot.”
“I said that?” I stare at him in silence, catching my reflection in the window again.
It stops me in my tracks.
He looks like the same Miles Cromwell, but I’m looking at a different man.
“You did. So, one more time, are you sure, Miles? And are you certain you need to do it next week?”
“Surer than I’ve ever been in my life.” I mean it.