Total pages in book: 58
Estimated words: 54966 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 275(@200wpm)___ 220(@250wpm)___ 183(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 54966 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 275(@200wpm)___ 220(@250wpm)___ 183(@300wpm)
“This is all just moving so fast.”
“I know what it’s like to share a home with you. Spending time with you and Cole, having dinner, hanging out, talking… I don’t want to go back, Cat. I just want us to move forward. I love you, and you love me.”
She puts her hand to my cheek. “I do love you, but I have an impressionable teenage son, and what’s he going to think about his mom shacking up?”
I interrupt her. “We’re not shacking up. You’re going to be in your room and I’m going to be in my room—”
She looks at me with doubt. “Oh yeah, how long do you think that will last?”
“Until I wear you out and convince you to marry me.”
She rears back. “What? You’re serious about that?”
I put my hands on each side of her face and hold her close. “I know what my life is like without you in it, Cat. I need you like I need air to breathe. I want you to be my wife. I want to share every day with you and Cole. I want to hear about your days, be here when you need me. I want the good, the bad, all of it.”
She wants to say yes. I can see all the emotions on her face, but she shakes her head. “This is crazy, Holden.”
But she’s here with me now, and I plan to take full advantage. “Stay here with me. I’ll give you time to get used to me, we’ll date, we’ll do all the things… and when you’re ready, you will be my wife.”
She loops her arms around my neck. “Are you sure about this, Holden?”
I kiss her because I can’t hold back anymore. She is the one for me, and I have no doubt about it. The kiss is heated, holding the promise of a future between us. I have to force myself to pull back. “Yeah, I’m sure. I love you.”
“And you know I’m a package deal?”
“I love Cole,” I tell her simply. “The kid is amazing, and I want to be the man he looks up to.”
She shudders a breath. “Okay, we’ll try this out.”
I chuckle. “This is not a trial run, Cat. This is for me to shamelessly convince you to be mine.”
“Okay.”
I grip on to her waist. “Okay?”
She presses her breasts against my chest. “Convince me.”
And I promise myself right now that I’m going to do just that.
EPILOGUE
CAT
Three Months Later
“Any regrets?” I ask Holden as I look around the big space. Only one month ago, this was an empty warehouse. Now it’s full of pitching lanes, hitting lanes, a weight lifting area, and a therapy room.
He wraps his arms around me. “Not one.”
Since the day he retired as a professional baseball player and then turned down the coaching job, I’ve asked him the same question at least once a week. “You don’t miss it at all?”
He kisses the top of my head. “Where is this coming from? I thought you’d be happy about me opening the training center.”
I curl into him, pressing my cheek against his chest. How do I explain to him everything I’m feeling? Of course, I’m happy he put the training center here in Whiskey Run. And he’s already proven that he’s going to be busy. Heck, there are pro athletes that are scheduling time to come here and train with him, and I have no doubt he’s going to make a success of this, but I still can’t help but question him. I don’t want him to ever resent me for this decision. “I am happy… I just want you to be happy.”
He pulls back to look me in the face. “You make me happy.”
I can’t look at him and let him see all my insecurity. I was scared when I moved me and Cole into Holden’s home and I kept thinking it would be temporary. For the first month, I held a part of my heart back, waiting for it all to fall apart, but Holden made it so easy to love him. He made it so easy for me to let my guard down and let him in completely. How could I not? Everything he did, he included me and Cole into the decision. He has shown up for everything. Practices, games, parent teacher conferences, he’s brought me lunch more times than I can count, he asks me about my day and actually listens, and at night—well, at night, he brings me to his room and shows me how much he loves me in the best way.
“I’m just checking. There have been a lot of changes these last three months, and I wanted to make sure you’re handling it all okay.”
He nods. “Yeah, well, I wanted to talk to you about something.”
I lean back and search his face and stutter, “Okay.”