Total pages in book: 99
Estimated words: 94720 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 474(@200wpm)___ 379(@250wpm)___ 316(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 94720 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 474(@200wpm)___ 379(@250wpm)___ 316(@300wpm)
“Yes.”
She raised an eyebrow. “I’m listening.”
“I thought the best thing I could do for you was leave you alone. . .” I started.
“Best for me or best for you?” she asked.
I let out a laugh. “Did you not see the state I was in yesterday?”
“Yes,” she said quietly. “I thought you chose happiness every day.”
That made me smile a little. I had told her that, hadn’t I? I hadn’t been lying about it either. I did wake up and choose happiness, but that was before I knew what happiness could be. She was looking at me like she wanted an answer, and I wasn’t sure what I could give her that would be acceptable.
“I tried, but I realized that before you, I didn’t really know what happiness felt like.”
She inhaled, her eyes watering. She cleared her throat before asking, “Why did you think being without you would be best for me?”
“Because you’re free now. Free to go to Japan and San Francisco and Egypt and all the other places on your list,” I said, swallowing before I said the next part. “Free to be with whomever you want. I didn’t want you to. . .” I paused. “I didn’t want you to wake up next to me in fifteen years and regret not exploring your options.”
“I don’t want to go to any of those places without you, Rocco.” She looked at me like she couldn’t believe I’d ever said that. “And the options thing. . .” She shook her head. “You don’t think I could have explored my options before? Yes, I was being controlled, but I was in boarding school my entire life. I went to college. If I’d really wanted to, I could have rebelled then.” Her brows pulled slightly. “I wanted you. I’ve always wanted you.”
My heart stopped beating. “Do you still? Want me?”
“Why don’t you continue your reasoning for not coming for me sooner, and then I’ll speak,” she said quietly. My lips tugged at her demand but turned serious quickly.
“What happened with your father. . .”
“He’s gone. He deserved what he got,” she said. “Don’t bring him into this. He doesn’t deserve a mention.”
“I thought you’d hate me for it. I thought you’d wake up one day and decide you couldn’t forgive me.”
“Why didn’t you want to ask?” she whispered.
“Because I’m not worthy of you, Lenora.” I swallowed past the hard lump in my throat. “I’m not worthy of any part of you. Do I want you? Fuck yes. Will I want you this time next year and this time thirty years from now? I know I will, but that doesn’t mean I should have you.”
She blinked rapidly and wiped the tears trickling down her face. “You are worthy of me. And I’m still failing to understand how any of that is a problem.”
I moved forward. I couldn’t take it anymore. I had to touch her. I moved until the only distance between us was her hands, and then I brought a hand up to cup her face. She leaned into my palm and shut her eyes briefly, as if savoring it, which just added to the list of reasons I wanted to beat myself up. I’d spent an entire month telling myself all of these things and I could have been with her.
“If we do this, it’s forever,” I said. “If you decide tomorrow that you want to walk away, I’d let you, but I’d go after you anyway until I got you back.” Her tears fell on my palm. I wiped them with my thumb and got even closer until our breaths were mingling. “I won’t spend a night away from you. This space will no longer be just yours.”
“I’m okay with that,” she whispered, wiping her other cheek.
“I have wanted you every day since the first night I saw you at that event. I couldn’t stop thinking about you, and when you put the thought in my head that I could be with you, even just for a night, I knew I’d take it. I didn’t give a shit that you were my best friend's sister or that you were going to marry someone else. I would take you any way I could.” I took a breath. “I’ve never felt this way about anyone and I never will again. You’re it for me, Nora. You’re what I thought I’d never have.”
“I love you,” she said.
It was the last thing she could say before my lips were on hers. I kissed her for every day I hadn’t been able to this past month — to thank her, to ask for her forgiveness, and to let her know that she’d always be number one in my heart, in my life. I pulled away with a harsh breath.
“I want you to tell me all about your coffee shop and everything else that I’ve missed.” I leaned in and bit her bottom lip. “But first, I need you to get on your back so I can taste your pussy before your company gets here.”