Total pages in book: 111
Estimated words: 109640 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 548(@200wpm)___ 439(@250wpm)___ 365(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 109640 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 548(@200wpm)___ 439(@250wpm)___ 365(@300wpm)
“Never,” he murmured.
“No.”
“But that could change.”
“But that could change,” she agreed. She wasn’t going to lie about it. That would do neither of them any good. “I come from a big family. I’m not sure if you know this, but I have four younger siblings. Growing up with seven people in your household can be chaotic and overwhelming. Some people love it and want to repeat that with their own family. Some,” she shrugged, “do not. I prefer my chaos limited to my career, not my home life.”
“When I met you back then, I sympathized with your father, thinking he would have his hands full with you alone and then he mentioned you weren’t an only child. But I do remember him saying you were the oldest of four, not five.”
“I’m sure he would accept your sympathies. I think there were some nights he regretted not having a vasectomy, too.” She laughed softly. “Especially after the fifth, Gabriel, who was an oops baby.”
“The exact reason I got a vasectomy. But my oops was marrying Sasha.”
“Crew, you need to take some of the blame. You either ignored the red flags or didn’t look closely enough.”
He nodded. “You’re right. I rushed into a decision when I shouldn’t have. I don’t want to make that mistake again.”
“I understand that’s the reason for this discussion. You want to make sure all your T’s are crossed and your I’s dotted.”
“Basically. I don’t want to travel a path that may lead to a dead end. I slammed into that wall before. It’s painful.”
“And if I want children, that’s your wall.” She continued before giving him a chance to respond, “Look, I’m at the start of my career. Maybe when I’m well established, I could decide I also want a family, but as of now, I don’t.”
His chest rose and fell as disappointment filled his face. “I can’t risk you changing your mind.”
“Because you’re being upfront with me, I’ll be completely upfront with you. If I choose you, Crew, it’s because I choose you as you are. Despite not wanting more children of your own, you have two who might give you grandchildren.”
“But would grandchildren be enough for you? Again, I don’t want this to continue if eventually I won’t be enough. I don’t want to go through that again. I can’t go through that again. It was a rough road I don’t want to travel again.”
“Well, the good thing about grandchildren is you can spend time with them and get your baby fix, but you always give them back. You can spoil them and—” Her head jerked and her brain glitched. “What the fuck? How did we get here? Why are you making me think about being a grandmother? I’m only twenty-eight years old!”
His lips twitched. “You’re not ready to be called Grandma?”
“No!” she shouted.
“Grammy?”
“Crew…”
“How about Nanna?”
“Fuck you.”
He chuckled. “You’d be one hot GILF.”
She shoved his arm. “Gross.”
He grabbed her hand and pulled her into him. “C’mon, Granny, give me some.”
“Ew!” She broke free and jumped out of bed. “Shut up!”
He popped out of bed and stalked toward her. “Yank out your dentures and give me some head.”
“Crew!”
As he went to tackle her, she spun and hit a wall of hair, tripping over Murphy as the poor dog tried to scoot out of her way. She crash landed on the floor. Hard.
“Did you break a hip? Should I grab your walker, Grandma?” he asked, dropping to his knees at her side, then moving to straddle her waist. He clamped his hands around her wrists, pulled them over her head and pinned them to the floor. He went nose to nose with her, his gray eyes full of mischief. “Now I have you where I want you.”
“On the floor?”
“I’ll take you wherever I can get you.” His gravelly tone shot a shiver down her spine.
“You sound desperate.”
“Desperately in love with you.”
Her lungs seized and his gray eyes went wide.
She bit her bottom lip and he straightened, releasing her wrists.
Was he panicking? He looked as if he was panicking.
“Crew,” she whispered. “Are you… Is it true?”
“That’s not something I would joke about, Cami. It’s why I brought the whole vasectomy thing up.”
“I thought it was because you wanted us to be exclusive, not because you loved me.”
“Why would I want to be exclusive if I didn’t love you?”
She rolled her eyes. “But how is loving me tied directly to your vas deferens?”
“Very funny. And I explained that already.”
“Fine. You’re worried that I’ll change my mind down the road. That I’ll feel I’m missing out. And then I’ll leave you, leaving you broken-hearted and devastated. You will walk the Earth flagellating yourself as you mourn my loss for the rest of your life.”
“Jesus Christ. Let’s not go overboard,” he muttered. “The truth is, I don’t want to hold you back. Not ever.”