Total pages in book: 114
Estimated words: 103918 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 520(@200wpm)___ 416(@250wpm)___ 346(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 103918 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 520(@200wpm)___ 416(@250wpm)___ 346(@300wpm)
Lex lowered his hand until he had both of them pressing against my chest. "I want to see the world with you, Gideon. I want to see it through your eyes, and I want to see it through my own. And I want that for our kids. For Emma and for any others we decide to bring into our lives, whether they're our blood or not. My dream hasn't changed. I still want to wake up next to my husband every morning for the rest of my life, but I don't care where I do it. Argentina or Fisher Cove or the Serengeti or the Arctic—"
I covered his mouth with mine to silence him because he’d said more than enough. When he was breathless, I pulled back and said, "I think there are a couple things we need to take care of first."
"My brothers will be okay with it," Lex said.
"Yes, they will, but that's not what I'm talking about." I leaned down and pressed a soft kiss to one corner of his mouth. "First off, we’re going to need a lot bigger bed for all those kids you want climbing into it with us every morning."
Lex smiled beneath my mouth. "Okay, what else?"
"If you have your heart set on waking up next to your husband every morning, then I guess you're just going to have to marry me."
Another smile. "Is that you proposing?" Lex asked softly. He moved his hands up to twine them around my neck. "Because that was either the corniest or the sweetest thing I've ever heard."
"What are you talking about? That was gold," I said.
Lex laughed and then he was stealing a real kiss. "Let's go home, Gideon," he murmured. "Maybe you can use the car ride back to the hotel to convince me that you're the husband I want to wake up next to every morning."
"Lex—" I growled.
"You're doing the eyebrow thing now, aren't you?" Lex asked with a laugh and then he was folding himself into the car. I followed him in and hit the button to put up the partition that would separate us from the driver. The hotel was only a ten-minute ride away and I intended to make use of every one of those minutes.
But it turned out I didn't need them because the second I pulled Lex onto my lap and dragged him down for a scorching kiss, he gave me his answer.
"Yes, Gideon. Absolutely yes."
LEX
I hated Con’s silence.
Hated it with a passion.
Of all of us, Con had always been the most boisterous and fun-loving and, while I knew that his love of life was genuine, he felt just as deeply as my other brothers. While he and King seemed like night and day from the outside, they really weren’t so different. Con might have been better at playing the charming, personable, easygoing brother, but deep down, he was just as scarred as King.
And he was just as good about hiding what exactly had caused those scars.
In the past, I’d at least been able to read my brother’s expressions and know where a conversation might be headed, but that was no longer an option.
The most I could tell was that he was still sitting kitty-corner from me in the living area of the hotel suite Gideon and I were sharing with Emma and Natalia. My fiancé (and yeah, I still couldn’t believe I got to call him that now) had taken the girls out to an early lunch so Con and I could talk.
But Con wasn’t doing much talking.
Or any, for that matter.
“Con,” I said softly.
My brother let out a heavy breath of air and then I heard him get up. The mere fact that he couldn’t sit still was further proof of how upset he was.
“A year, Lex,” he murmured. “A whole fucking year without seeing you and then months of silence.”
I tracked his voice and knew he was somewhere near the window. I climbed to my feet and did my best to move closer to him.
“You’re the last image I have, Con,” I admitted.
There was a long silence before Con asked, “What do you mean?”
“You came to see me right before my birthday last year. Do you remember?”
Another beat of silence, then a soft curse which I assumed went with the head nod he’d probably done but that I could no longer see. I almost smiled because it was something Gideon had done when we’d first met, though I doubted he’d realized it. Con was in that same place now where he had to remind himself not to respond with just visual cues.
“Yeah, I remember,” he said.
I stepped closer to him because I needed his strength. I was no longer ashamed about needing to lean on others when things just felt too difficult to bear on my own.