Total pages in book: 82
Estimated words: 79850 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 399(@200wpm)___ 319(@250wpm)___ 266(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 79850 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 399(@200wpm)___ 319(@250wpm)___ 266(@300wpm)
“Now I know. It was for you.”
Mine. For my stuff. I liked his thought process.
I was certain that to other people, he was moving too fast. To me, who knew life could change in an instant, it was perfect. While everyone else could ponder and make lists, take time to figure out what they wanted, Gale knew. He’d decided. It was me. He had looked at the insane series of events that had led me to his tiny town and decided that it wasn’t crazy but, instead, fate.
“I moved that chair and stool in here so you can sit by the window and read or watch the rain or whatever you want.”
It was a deep-buttoned leather wingback armchair with a matching ottoman, and I couldn’t have picked myself something I liked better.
“The bathroom is right through there. There’s double sinks, the right side is yours, and there’s space for all your stuff.”
“So that’s it? You just want me here?” I asked as Misha came into the room, rushing over to me. I gave him a quick pat and deposited him on the huge king-size bed.
“Yes,” he said flatly. “You need to be here, with me, so I feel grounded, but…I will admit to feeling the same when I’m with you at your place.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. It’s you, not the house.”
“That’s very romantic.”
“Listen, I’m just being honest. As long as at the end of the night I get to be in the same bed as you, wherever that is, I’ll be happy.”
“Okay.”
“You’re good for me.”
I’d never been good for anyone before starting over in this new life.
“And I think I’ll be good for you too.”
I couldn’t stop staring at him.
“If I wake up and you’re here, if I think of you coming here at the end of the day, and think of Misha’s bed in front of my fireplace instead of the ugly one in the bungalow—”
“Ugly?”
“Then I’ll be good.”
I smiled at him.
“I’ll be able to breathe.”
The fact that his words flushed my body with warmth was not a surprise.
“And Misha can sleep in bed with us as long as he stays on your side so I can have every night what I’ve had since I met you.”
He meant that he liked being wrapped around me, plastered to my back. I liked it too and had missed him there, in bed, with me, more than I was ready to profess.
“The renovations on that house are going to take time, and I need my space, and so does Ada, and you belong here with me, not there with her.”
I was quiet for a moment. “She still needs us, though, so does back and forth work for you?”
“Yes,” he said, grinning at me. His gorgeous pale-green gaze had darkened, heated, and all I saw there was desire. “If I get to sleep with you, it works for me.”
“Then I speak for Misha as well when I say we’re all yours.”
“Oh my God, I’m so happy,” he said, leaning away from me, putting his hand over his heart before he rushed over to the bed to hug Misha. “It’s all me and you now, buddy.”
“You’re an ass,” I told him, laughing.
But he wasn’t listening to me. He was giving Misha tummy scratches instead.
The Chinese food was just okay. I needed to take both Gale and Ada to Chicago, to Chinatown, and there we would get some really excellent Szechuan beef. What suddenly made me sad was that I might never be able to. Until there was no threat to my life, which I couldn’t imagine ever ending, as there would always be someone who knew my name, I would need to remain in WITSEC.
“You know,” I said gently to Ada, “when we get the sanctuary up and running, I’m going to need you to be the face of the company and never mention me.”
Her brows furrowed. “This has to do with how you simply arrived here, out of the blue, doesn’t it?”
I nodded.
“Are you in danger?”
“No,” I assured her. “But I would be if my picture got shown around.”
“Okay, then. You can be in the background, as long as you know how much you mean to me already, in such a short time.”
“I know,” I said softly, reaching for her hand.
“What’s with him?” Gale asked, tipping his head at Misha, who was up on one of the burlap club chairs facing the front window, looking out on the yard.
“Misha, get down,” I ordered.
Of course he didn’t listen. I had not really drilled in my authority, and I saw some kind of behavior classes in our future, but when he growled, that low rumbling thing he did, I was surprised.
“Oh God, what if there’s a wolf outside?”
“There aren’t any wolves here, dear,” Ada assured me. “A mountain lion would be far more likely.”
I turned to Gale for confirmation.