Total pages in book: 235
Estimated words: 224334 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1122(@200wpm)___ 897(@250wpm)___ 748(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 224334 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1122(@200wpm)___ 897(@250wpm)___ 748(@300wpm)
“I’m not opening that door until you start being more reasonable. If you want to marry me, you need to loosen up.”
“It’s not unreasonable to worry about you.”
“You don’t worry, Jesse,” she says, laughing, although it’s exasperated. “You torture yourself.”
I can’t dispute that. I do. And now she’s torturing me because I torture myself? Yes, that’s perfectly reasonable. “Open the door.”
“I’m going out with Kate later.”
Should I agree? I don’t have much fucking choice, do I? “Fine,” I hiss. This weekend is slowly going to shit. “But you’re not drinking,” I add, making sure that’s clear. “Open the fucking door.”
Her sigh is so loud and exaggerated, I highly expect the force of it to shatter the glass door. She wanders over like she has all the time in the world, like I’m not standing here about ready to burst with stress, and maybe a little anger now too. She’s taken advantage. I’m annoyed.
The second the door’s unlocked, I push my way in before she has a chance to recant and slap some more conditions on me, and claim her, getting her on the floor and smothering her entirely. “Please don’t do that to me again. Promise me.”
“It’s the only way I can get you to listen to me.”
“I’ll listen.” Is this what they call compromise? I don’t like it. “Just don’t put anything between us again.”
“You can’t be with me all of the time.”
“I know.” And doesn’t that suck gravely? “But it will be on my terms when I can’t be.” I need to have warning. Be prepared. Plan how I might kill the time. It’s not very reasonable to land it on me at the eleventh hour and expect me to be cool with it.
She laughs. “What about me?”
“I’ll listen,” I say, flipping her a quick half-hearted scowl before resuming my place in her neck. “You’re being very challenging, wife-to-be.”
She doesn’t retort, and it’s a novelty. She doesn’t even want to go out. She just wants to demonstrate independence. Call the shots. Show me how it’s apparently going to be. I’m not overreacting. Each and every time Ava has gone out without me, she’s got too drunk to look after herself. We’ve argued. This time won’t be any different. Plus, she’s vulnerable when she’s drunk. Exposed. An easy target. She should trust me, I know. Why can’t she see this from my perspective instead of using it as a tool against me, and for what?
I sit up and pull her onto my lap. “Why don’t you go to The Manor for a drink?” Problem solved.
Her face twists. It should be unattractive. Not on my Ava. “Absolutely not.”
“Why?”
“So you can keep an eye on me?”
Why does she have to word things so they make me sound like a neurotic twat? No, it’s so I can take care of her. Simple. But clearly, she’s in no mood to listen. “It’s logical,” I say instead. “You can have a drink, I can make sure you’re safe, and then I can bring you home.” Be at her beck and call.
“No,” she says, shaking her head at the same time. “End of.”
I try jutting out my lip, being all adorable and irresistible. Doesn’t work. Ava is developing a bad habit of resisting me. “Impossible woman.” This isn’t the end of it. I’ll convince her, just watch me. I stand up, putting her on her feet and brushing her hair off her cheek. “I’m going to get a shower.” I hitch a brow. “You’ll come.”
Leaning back, she maintains her unwavering firmness. “I’ve had a shower.”
“Well, you’ll have another with me.”
“I’ll be up in a minute.” Breaking free of me, she heads out of the gym. “I need to call Kate. Where’s my phone?”
I’d love to hear what Kate’s got to say about last night. “Charging on the side.” I trudge on heavy feet upstairs to the shower. “Don’t be long.”
39
I get in the shower and make fast work of it. I’m an optimistic man, but I know she won’t be joining me this morning. But this afternoon? I get out and brush my teeth, my mind cluttered with so much, then throw on some clothes before heading back downstairs to find her.
I pause at the top when I see her lost amid piles of clothes. “Oh,” I say to myself. Zoe sure did work fast. Will this be another trigger for us to have words this morning? Something else I have to relent on? I take the stairs as Ava crumples to her back on a huff, overwhelmed. “Hey, baby,” I say, looking down at her. “I’ve been waiting for you. What’s up?”
She motions to the clothes surrounding her, like I could have missed it all.
Admittedly, there’s a hell of a lot more than even I expected. “It arrived then?”
Ava huffs and puffs, and I roll my eyes, joining her on the floor, not crowding her, but just lying with her.