Total pages in book: 189
Estimated words: 181808 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 909(@200wpm)___ 727(@250wpm)___ 606(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 181808 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 909(@200wpm)___ 727(@250wpm)___ 606(@300wpm)
“To be fair”—Larissa lifted her arms to circle his neck—“neither of those close calls were my fault.”
Raising his head, he stared at the woman he loved more than life. “Did you hear me tell you I love you?”
She gave him a winsome smile. “Oh yes, I heard you, and so did all of The Last Riders and most of Treepoint.”
“I was afraid I was going to lose you, and I wanted you to know in case we didn’t make it.”
She rubbed her cheek against his chest, and her arms tightened around his neck. “That’s so sweet you wanted me to know you loved me before I died.”
Moon shook his head. “No, that isn’t why I wanted you to know.”
A frown marred her brow. “It wasn’t?”
“I wanted you to know, if you died, I wasn’t going to let you die alone.”
She looked at him in shock. “That’s why you didn’t want me to ride the motorcycle with you—in case you wrecked with me on it.”
“I know my strengths and weaknesses. You’re strong enough to survive without me, but I’m not strong enough to make it without you. I can’t go back to a life without you. I love Jace, but we wouldn’t be a family without you.”
“If you wanted us to be a family, then why did you do everything you could to tear us apart?”
“Because I’m an idiot. I was so angry with you when you took off without telling me that you were pregnant. I wasn’t going to have my kid living without me. What if you became involved with someone who hurt them, and I wasn’t there to protect them? You wouldn’t be the first woman who turned a blind eye to their child being mistreated by a new boyfriend or lover.”
Sadness glistened in her eyes. “Like you were.”
Moon nodded, acknowledging how the trauma of his childhood had spilled over to how he had reacted when Larissa had left Treepoint. “As much as I was beginning to care for you, I had to put Jace first. I wanted to have you under my control. Even if we shared custody, I would have no control over anyone you brought into his life the other half of the time. After Jace was born and I grew to trust you more, I realized how messed up what I was doing.”
“That’s why you wouldn’t have sex with me?”
“Yes. I switched both houses into your name. You remember a couple of months ago when I had you sign the life insurance papers where I told you it was because I was increasing my life insurance coverage?”
“Yes.”
“In the fine print, I deeded both houses to you, free and clear. I also had you sign where I can make deposits to your checking account. I repaid all the money that has been taken out of your account for the house payments. Lana should ask for a refund; the company she hired should have caught what was going on before the balloon payments had reached the point when they caught it. I have a much better company that I hooked The Last Riders up with.”
From the way Larissa was looking at him, she wouldn’t be letting him make any suggestions to any of her family members anytime soon.
“I love you,” he reminded her, wanting to bring back the lovey-dovey way she had been looking at him before he’d started confessing.
Running his thumb over her bruised cheek, he used the voice she had a hard time resisting. “I had planned on telling you tonight. That’s why I wanted to take you out to dinner. I was also going to ask you to marry me,” he revealed.
Skeptically, she wasn’t exactly swept away. “Before or after you told me what you had done?”
“Probably after we were married. I was going to try to convince you to have a quick wedding at the courthouse.”
“I want a normal wedding, with a long engagement.”
“A normal wedding, with a short engagement,” he countered.
“How short?”
“Next week.”
Lovey-dovey, she wasn’t.
“Next month?” he conceded.
“I can go for that.” Turning her cheek into the palm of his hand, she gave him the look he was waiting for.
A loud wail coming toward them made them look up.
Giving Shade a thankful glance, he watched as Larissa took Jace from Shade, settling him on her lap.
He held them both close to him, when he realized he no longer had that crazy feeling that something was going to rip Jace away from him. Unconsciously, the possibility of her finding out about his deception must have been the root cause of his fear for Jace.
Jace wasn’t settling down, despite Larissa’s attempt of soothing him.
“He’s hungry.”
Moon nodded as he helped her to her feet. “We’ll ride to the hospital in Greer’s squad car. You can feed him on the way. I want Lana to check you both out before we go home. You must have hit your head when I grabbed the rock.”