Total pages in book: 71
Estimated words: 66767 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 334(@200wpm)___ 267(@250wpm)___ 223(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 66767 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 334(@200wpm)___ 267(@250wpm)___ 223(@300wpm)
“I wish I’d noticed,” he says, his brow furrowing above his still closed eyes. “Will you help me notice things? And I’ll help you speak up? Or just…fight your battles for you? If you’ll let me? I’d love to do that. I’d love to do anything I can to make your life easier and meet at least some of your needs.”
“You meet so many of my needs,” I say, hating that I have to add, “but you also tore me apart last night, Barrett. I can’t go through something like that again. If we’re going to give this another try, we have to promise to stay and fight for each other. I can’t go to Thailand, and you can’t go to Drew’s house. And no more one-sided decisions.”
“No more one-sided decisions,” he says. “And no more running. From now on, we’re a team, and if we can’t sort things out together, I’ll go to my therapist for help. Or to Tatum and Drew. They helped me a lot this morning.”
My chest finally beginning to loosen, I send up a silent thank you to the universe for bringing Tatum into my life. “I’m so glad. They’re really good at loving each other.”
“We can be that good,” he says, the conviction in his voice making me ache in a good way this time. “I believe we can. Just because I have farther to go to get to where Drew is, doesn’t mean I can’t get there. I can be like Drew is with Tatum. I know I can.”
“I don’t want you to be like Drew,” I say, reaching out to touch his cheek with my damp fingers. His lids open and his gaze locks on mine. “I want you to be you.” My lips crook up on one side as I add, “Just the version of you who never leaves me alone and sad again.”
His eyes shining, he whispers, “I promise. Never again. I love you so much, Wren, and I’m going to keep working until I’m the best version of myself. Because that’s the version you deserve.”
“Me, too,” I say, smiling past the sting at the backs of my eyes. “Now, get out of here, and let me finish showering. Then we can get dressed and go get some breakfast, maybe?”
“I’d rather join you in the shower and make you breakfast after,” he says, his gaze heating on mine. “I’ve heard shower orgasms are a great way to say you’re sorry.”
I bite my lip. “Really? Shower orgasms are nice. But you’ll have to promise not to look too closely at my face. I’m ugly this morning.”
“You’re beautiful. Always,” he says, working open the buttons on his white dress shirt from last night, making my weary nerve endings start to sizzle.
“I’m not. I have a huge growth in the middle of my forehead.”
“It makes you look like a unicorn,” he says, smiling as he quickly sheds the rest of his clothes. “I love it.”
Laughing I say, “Well, thanks. I always thought I’d be a dragon if I were a mystical creature, since I love shiny things, but a unicorn isn’t half bad.”
“Nothing about you is half bad.” He steps into the shower naked, pulling me against him as he moves into the spray. He wraps me up in his arms, hugging me tight as he exhales near my ear, “I’m so glad to be here. I thought I’d never hold you like this again. It was soul-crushing.”
I shudder and tighten my grip on his shoulders. “It was. But it’s over now.”
“No, it’s just getting started,” he says, cupping my breast in one hand, running his thumb over my nipple as he bends his head to mine. We kiss and instantly the world is a better place than it was before.
And then he takes me against the shower wall, pinning me between the cool tile and his warm body, and makes me come so hard it washes some of the pain away. The Oreo pancakes he makes for us afterward—inspired by Sarah Beth, evidently—are soothing, too, and so wickedly delicious I have three and am too hopped up on sugar to nap the way we planned.
So, we go on a long walk instead, arriving home just as Starling is dropping off Keanu.
We hear him gargling forks in his carrier from halfway down the block and hurry to meet Starling in the driveway. “Sorry,” she says, handing the carrier over to Barrett. “He hates being in there so much, but he was a good boy last night. He and Kyle slept the whole night through, snuggled together in the dog bed, and he only peed in one pair of my shoes. And they were flip-flops, so they were super easy to clean.” She smiles, glancing between the two of us. “So, how was the wedding?”