Total pages in book: 134
Estimated words: 134746 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 674(@200wpm)___ 539(@250wpm)___ 449(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 134746 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 674(@200wpm)___ 539(@250wpm)___ 449(@300wpm)
I’m sincerely sorry for that.
So sorry I made it difficult to be with me.
And I’m sorry I made you walk on eggshells around me. That’s a sin when you should be free to be as wild as you are with me.
I want you, Elle.
Don’t care about the name on what that means.
Girlfriend, fiancée, whatever.
Just give me what’s real.
Because now I know that I love you, I can’t stop, Elle Lark.
I know you love Inky. Can you ever love another awkward penguin?
August
Go ahead and laugh.
I don’t give a damn.
If I’d tried to say any of that shit out loud, I’d have tripped all over it until I gave up and stormed away chewing my tongue. But waiting for Elle to finish reading it, dead silent except for her sniffles, is agony.
I’ve never felt my heart split before, cracking and lining and vulnerable.
Vulnerable.
That’s not something I ever am.
But with her, I’m willing to face the pain.
I trust her not to ever take advantage of my openness.
“You love me,” she whispers.
My head snaps up sharply to find her watching me with those brightly lit eyes.
“August, you . . . you really love me?”
“More than humanly possible,” I whisper. “More than I can stand.”
There it is—her smile creeping back.
I can’t take my eyes off her gorgeous lips to save my life.
“Say it,” she breathes. “Let me hear you say it out loud.”
“I love you,” I say immediately. It’s like an anvil lifting off my shoulders. “I love you, Elle.”
“August,” she cries—and suddenly she’s flying across the barrier.
Into my arms.
Into my kiss.
Into the rest of my life.
“I love you,” she answers—kissing me again and again, pressing the words into my lips, elating me with her light until I could shatter the stars. “I love you, you stupid man. Oh, you’re such a dick, and I still love you—”
I laugh like mad, wrapping my arms around her waist and nipping her lips. “Insult me again. Just so I know you really mean it.”
She loves me, and I can’t hold back anymore.
Right there in front of my aunt, her beloved, my sister, Marissa, the lawyers, the judge—fuck, everyone—I do it.
I sweep Elle closer and kiss her until I touch her soul.
I kiss her the way I should have that day I broke us, healing the wound before it grew any deeper. Kiss her like I can never kiss anyone else again, and dammit, I don’t want to.
Not when her mouth fits mine this perfectly.
Not when our lips lock, and we meet like our mouths and minds and souls were made for each other.
I finally feel whole.
For the first time, that searching feeling inside me gets filled by a woman who’s become my everything.
Everything I need.
Everything that could ever make me happy.
I want so badly to make her as happy as she makes me.
God willing, I’ll try.
With every day of my life, I’ll try to be a better man. A man who deserves her, who’s worthy of standing in the light of her sun.
Maybe even worthy enough to be her Gruffykins.
No matter how bright she shines, I’ll always love the burn.
But suddenly, somehow, everyone in the courtroom is kissing.
Clara and Yvette.
“Oh, fuck it,” Deb says, grabbing one of our lawyers by the tie. She pulls him in and kisses him hard in a sexual harassment lawsuit waiting to happen.
Even Marissa throws her hands up.
“Not fair,” she says. “Not fair!”
So she rises up on her toes.
Grabs the judge’s robe.
And drags him down, planting a big wet one on his lips.
I break back from Elle, looking around the room with a laugh as I hold her tight. “See that? We’ve started a trend.”
“That’s a trend I could follow forever,” she says, laying her head on my chest, right over the pounding tumble of my heart. “If we can spread this much love with a kiss, I think you’d better kiss me again, Gruffykins.”
Goddamn.
Until now, I never thought I’d understand that phrase about lightning striking twice.
Sometimes it does, and sometimes you need the shock and awe.
“Darling brat,” I say, bending to take her mouth again with laughter rolling through me, “you only need to ask once.”
XXVII
DOUBLE RAINBOW DAY
(ELLE)
You’d think going from fiancée to girlfriend would be a downgrade.
But fake fiancée to real girlfriend?
That’s not so bad at all.
It’s been an exhausting day.
An enormous family lunch where we dragged Lena and Grandma along to the restaurant after stopping by Grandma’s house on our way from the courthouse. Marissa bristled and sulked like a little girl but slowly warmed up to her mother again. Clara and Yvette stuck to each other like glue.
Ditto for August and me.
We can’t get enough of each other after kissing and making up.
Touching, looking, stealing little kisses every chance we get.
It was chaotic while we all talked, found our vibe as a group, hit it off, started a few small fights, put them out, and stopped Deb from punching Marissa in the face for dragging us through all this.