Total pages in book: 127
Estimated words: 127715 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 639(@200wpm)___ 511(@250wpm)___ 426(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 127715 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 639(@200wpm)___ 511(@250wpm)___ 426(@300wpm)
He was there.
Right there.
And I wasn’t breathing.
“Now, are you with me on that?” he demanded.
“Yes,” I wheezed.
“Finally,” he muttered, like he’d been trying to convince me of something for millennia, and it took me that long to believe him.
Therefore, my eyes grew squinty. “You’ll have to cut me some slack. I found you during that seriously shit time. I don’t want you to think I’m some emotional leech or something.”
“My job is dealing with people in their shittiest times,” he reminded me. “I’ve met those kinds of emotional leeches. I know you aren’t that.”
“Well…good, I guess.” I said, like it wasn’t.
His shadowed head angled to the side. “Are we sliding into an argument about how much I like you and am glad we met so I could be here for you, and me knowing you’re not an emotional leech?”
“No.”
But…yeah.
I was still kind of snapping.
“Christ, she wants my dick,” he muttered like I wasn’t there.
“Well…yeah.” Totally still snapping. “Harry, have you seen your body?”
Another moment of stillness before his laughter boomed through the room.
I slapped part of that fabulous body, particularly his pectoral.
“Girls need it too,” I declared.
His face dipped close. “Are you gonna play on my guilt and my innate nature to protect and provide to get yourself some of my cock?”
“Will it work?”
“No.”
I huffed again.
Harry chuckled again but shifted us, so he was on his back, and I was draped down his side (again, this was not making things better!).
His fingers then sifted into my hair, and he started playing.
I was beginning to think he might be a bit of a tease.
Then again, it certainly took my mind off other things.
“Let’s talk about something else,” he suggested.
“Like what?” I asked.
“Whatever you want,” he offered.
“Okay, do you like cats?”
“Yes.”
“But you like dogs better?”
“I’m active and my dogs run with me. I’ve got a little land, and they like roaming it with me. If Smokey was a cat being starved by a useless bitch I’m very glad moved out of my county, he’d be at my house living the good life with someone who gets he needs food and clean litter and love. I don’t like dogs better. They just fit my life better. Do you like cats better?”
“I had to hustle when Mom and Dad left. For the first few years, I had two jobs and was lonely, so I got a cat because I didn’t have the time I needed to devote to training a dog and looking after him.”
It was then I remembered something, with all that was happening, that had totally slipped my mind.
So I shared, “That reminds me. I forgot to tell you Willie called me the other day.”
I found myself suddenly sitting in bed with Harry since he jackknifed up and took me with him.
“What?” he demanded.
“Willie called the other day.”
“When?” he bit off.
“Um…” I tried to remember when he called. “Sunday morning. After our first date. Wait, I mean, our fourth.”
Or was it our third?
I got another moment of silence from Harry, but this one wasn’t a precursor to him laughing, I knew, because the air was heavy and snagged.
“Harry?” I called.
His voice was low and vibrating when he asked, “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Someone died in a car accident,” I reminded him.
“Again, why didn’t you tell me?”
“You’d had a shitty day.”
“Four days have elapsed since then.”
“Well, I don’t think I have to mention I then got my own supremely shitty news.”
With another sudden movement, I was on my back again, and Harry was on me.
Full on me this time.
“Okay, honey, I need you to pay close attention,” he started.
Oh, I was paying close attention all right. Having Harry’s weight on me felt amazing.
“Lillian, you with me?” he called.
I forced my focus on him.
No, my focus was totally on him, all of him. So instead, I forced my focus on what he was saying.
“Right here.”
“Never, sweetheart, never, no matter what shit I’m dealing with at work, do you bury shit you’re dealing with. Never keep it from me. Never.”
Oh my God.
Could I take him being more awesome?
“Okay, Harry,” I whispered.
“Do I need to say the word ‘never’ again?” he asked.
“No, Harry,” I promised.
“He called before we found out about your parents,” he noted.
“Yes,” I confirmed.
“What did he say?”
Oh boy.
Harry must have felt my hesitance, because his voice got kind of scary when he repeated, “What did he say?”
“Well, he found out we’re dating, and he was mad.”
“He was mad,” Harry repeated dully, like he didn’t get it.
I knew how he felt.
Ugh!
“He said he was my husband, and we were a thing.”
“But you’re divorced.”
“Very.”
“And it was over after you kicked him out.”
“So over. Totally over. We redefined the word ‘over,’ we were so totally over after I kicked him out.”
Maybe I went a little overboard on that, but nothing in it was untrue.
“He didn’t try to come back?” Harry asked.