Total pages in book: 61
Estimated words: 60342 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 302(@200wpm)___ 241(@250wpm)___ 201(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 60342 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 302(@200wpm)___ 241(@250wpm)___ 201(@300wpm)
I’m not sure why it seems important to answer this fully—but it does.
“Tom didn’t love me, Luke. Not like a man should love a woman if he’s going to marry her. And I didn’t love him like a woman should love her husband, either.”
He stares into my eyes.
“I was convenient for him,” I say. “I helped him reach his goals. I bolstered his public persona. But there was little respect there. No fun.” I gulp. “No sex.”
“What?”
I exhale and turn to the sink, watching a horse approach the barn.
“Tom isn’t a terrible human being,” I say. “He’s no saint, but he’s not the devil. Mutual friends set us up, and it was great at first. But then I went off on tour, and he went off making movies, and we weren’t really around each other all that much. A weekend here, a couple of weeks there.”
Luke drags a chair out from the small round table near the sliding glass doors and sits.
“Then Tom asked me to marry him in front of the world, basically, and I couldn’t say no. And, before I knew it, a wedding was planned, and I was neck-deep in this whole … production. Then what do you do? Everything is ordered and reserved. The entire planet knows it’s happening. I just stuck my head in the sand and worked and tried to block it out.” I laugh sadly. “It didn’t hit me until this morning that we would be married. I would be attached to this man who I barely knew, a man who I hadn’t had sex with in six months. A man who if I had to start dating all over again, I would pass. How could I marry him?”
“You can’t.” His voice makes me jump. “For what it’s worth, I’m proud of you. It had to be hell to walk out of there today.”
I try to reply but fail. I can’t speak. All I can do is swim in the depths of his kind eyes.
“Oh, and in case you’re wondering,” he says, a smile tugging at the corner of his mouth. “If another woman had been here today, I wouldn’t have asked you to leave.”
“You really don’t know how much that means to me,” I say softly.
“I told you once that I would always be here for you. I meant it. And you don’t know what it means to me that you knew that.”
I start to respond, but the sound is hollow. A sob catches in my throat.
“But I am telling you that if someone comes here looking for you, you better tell me so I can get backup,” he says, winking. “I’m not as young as I once was.”
It’s enough to break through my emotions and elicit a laugh. He glances at his phone.
“You’re thirty,” I say, sniffling.
“It’s been a rough thirty years.”
He stands and walks to me, grinning. “Come here.”
I nearly collapse in his arms, burying my head against his shoulder. My arms wrap around his middle, and my knees buckle. But I don’t care.
“You’re tough,” he says, holding me against him. “You’re going to get through this and be stronger than you were before. Just hang in there.”
I breathe him in, letting his proximity soothe me.
This. When was the last time I was hugged like this? When did I last feel like someone was pouring their strength and care into me? Who was the last person to take me in their arms and make me feel so … whole?
“Why does it seem possible when you say it?” I ask.
“Because I’m always right.”
I giggle. With every move, my cheek brushes against his rock-solid chest.
“Now, I have to tell you something, and I hope you’re not mad,” he says.
What? I pull away, my heart leaping to life. “What in the heck does that mean?”
“I told Gavin you were here,” he says, wincing. “I only told him so he could pick you up a few things. He won’t say a word to anyone. I promise.”
My jaw drops. “That’s what you have to tell me, and you hope I’m not mad?” I smack his chest, earning an ouch from Luke. “And don’t patronize me with that ouch.”
He laughs, licking his lips.
“I’d like to see Gavin,” I say, thinking about his adorable smile.
“Good. Because he’s here.”
“He is?”
Luke gives me the sweetest, sexiest grin that melts me to my core. “Come on.”
Chapter Seven
Luke
“It’s me!” Gavin shouts from the entryway moments before Laina and I come around the corner. “Wow. She really is here.”
Laina giggles and runs toward my brother. He thrusts a pizza at me and drops a few bags to the floor just in time to catch Laina in a huge hug.
“Sure. Leave me here holding the pizza,” I mumble.
Gavin looks at me over Laina’s shoulder and winks.
“My gosh, Gavin,” she says, pulling away from him. “It’s so good to see you.”