Total pages in book: 110
Estimated words: 104037 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 520(@200wpm)___ 416(@250wpm)___ 347(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 104037 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 520(@200wpm)___ 416(@250wpm)___ 347(@300wpm)
“You have a sister?” she asks, doing a quick double step to keep up.
The beanie’s back on her head, and it still feels like a perverse joke that she’s asking me about the band. Blow after fucking blow.
“Am I that big of a loser? And how many bands do you hang out with that I was so unmemorable?” As I eye the hat once more, to think I thought I was special makes me laugh out loud. “Yeah, I have a sister.” I shoulder the door open and move her shit inside. With the massive windows facing the lake, we at least get some reflection.
“I’m sorry, did I offend you?” She closes the door and locks the bolts. “I know I’m not supposed to ask personal questions.”
Stopping, I turn around. My head hurts from the mental gymnastics of what the fuck she’s talking about. “Why?”
“Why what?” There’s such a goddamn innocence written in her expression—her eyes peering at me as if they have all the answers—that now I’m more confused than ever.
“Am I living in an alternate universe?” I heave a sigh before moving to the bedroom where she’ll stay. I set her bags down and then quickly peruse the room. No air is slipping in around the window. No creatures—insect or otherwise—have moved in. I even check under the bed, which was left with clean sheets. Even the photos still hang straight on the wall.
I turn to leave and practically barrel over her. Catching her by the back of her arms, I keep from knocking her out of the path. “I didn’t know you were here.”
Her hands tighten around my forearms, and she whispers, “All along.” Although I can see her eyes searching mine, the dark makes it harder to read what’s really on her mind.
A gulp breaks the silence—mine and then hers, but our bodies remain pressed together. The rise of her chest captures my attention, and I watch it fall in the exhalation.
I want so desperately to cup her face, to kiss her lips, to remind her of what she walked away from that day. But it was her choice, and I wasn’t a part of it.
Her eyes drift down between us as if she feels the past interfering. But then she clears her throat and asks, “This is your sister’s room?”
The moment passes before we can save it. So I move along as well. “Nikki. Her name is Nikki.”
Her glances away are quick, but her eyes always return to mine. “That’s pretty.” It takes me a few seconds to realize I’m keeping her from leaving. Again.
Releasing her arms, she slips around me, only air caught in my grasp. I shove my hands in my pockets and walk to the door. “If you need anything—”
“I won’t bother. It seems I’ve done enough already.”
I think that’s the most honest thing she’s said to me. On that note, I close the door and leave, something I should have done more than two years ago.
11
Laird
“I smell coffee.” Poppy pads down the hallway in woolly socks, entering the living room in a T-shirt and shorts. I had hoped to be over her by morning, but I failed. She’s fucking spectacular.
Guess I have more work to do, as Nikki would preach.
She smiles when our eyes catch in the morning light, and she stops with a gentle tilt of her head. For a moment, I see the same woman who made me fall madly in love with her. The way the corners of her eyes are softer when she looks at me as if her dreams are still caught in them, the slight upturn of her lips that gives her permission to admire me, and the ease of her shoulders signifying there’s nothing to do on the agenda today other than loving me.
We were so close to having it all, but we let it slip away. “Good morning.” Her voice is even convincing me that what I believed is only misinformation.
All I have to do is bow at her feet to win her heart back.
But these are the lies I slept with all night. Not reality.
Feeling duped by my thoughts, I reply, “It’s morning.” I didn’t intend for a measured sigh to follow, but there’s no use pretending we’re anything other than what we are.
She asks, “Didn’t sleep well?”
“I slept fine.” I slept like shit, thinking about her all night. “Why?”
Shrugging, she moves into the kitchen, putting her back to me as she studies the mug as if I might have poisoned her. I’ve discovered she has a spikey side, but it’s one I would wholeheartedly accept into my life if given the chance.
I say, “It’s safe.”
Her shoulders shake with the softest of laughs. “Guess I’m busted.”
“I checked mine as well.”
That has her leveling me with a glare and then laughing. “Wise. You never know if I was sneaking around in the night.”