Total pages in book: 178
Estimated words: 170884 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 854(@200wpm)___ 684(@250wpm)___ 570(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 170884 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 854(@200wpm)___ 684(@250wpm)___ 570(@300wpm)
***
Lexi
He’d been standing there a long time. I was beginning to get self-conscious.
“Honey?” My brows knitted lightly.
What was wrong with him?
Suddenly, he frowned and swallowed hard then blinked and he was back. But when he pulled out his phone and pointed it at me, I lifted my hand with a gasp, almost knocking the cell out of his hands.
“Do not take photos of me.” Totally outraged, I hissed, “Not like this.”
He had the gall to look annoyed. “Why not?”
“I’m...”
Oh, no.
My eyes shut tightly, and the insecurities I’d fought since I had A.J. returned wholeheartedly. I covered my stomach pooch with a splayed hand, completely embarrassed, and then I whispered, “I’m not the same.” I said this in a way that he couldn’t misunderstand my meaning.
And he got me.
Taking a step forward, his hard length pressed into my hip. Looking down at me with meaning, he uttered a rough sounding, “That feel like disappointment to you?”
No.
It felt like my ruin.
Unexpectedly, my mouth opened and all the words flew out. “I’m not as thin as I was.”
“I like you like this.”
“I have a gut.”
He scoffed. “It’s hardly a gut.”
“My butt is bigger.”
At that, he grinned, sliding a hand over my hip to squeeze a rounded cheek. “I know.”
Asshole.
Feeling direct, I went on, “Pregnancy made my tits huge. Look.” I pressed my arms into them to make my point, and when the globes protruded obscenely, I blinked up at him. “See?” His eyes were on my boobs, and when I ran a hand through my hair, sighing in irritation, I said, “It’s so not fair that I look like this when you look like—” I threw an arm out to his entire being. “—that.” I went on, “I work out. I run. I yoga. It doesn’t matter what I do; these curves do not want to leave me.” When his eyes crinkled in the corners, I revealed sadly, “They’ve made themselves at home and, apparently, are not going anywhere.”
“Good,” was the cool response he gave.
My eyes narrowed. “Have you even been listening to me?”
He sighed. “I’m listenin’, angel. I just don’t give a fuck is all.” Just as a heated gasp left me, he smiled that beautifully crooked smile, and uttered, “I hear your concerns, but I’m a man. I love curves. Curves on you though?” A rumbling growl sounded low in his throat and his eyes hooded. “Boom.”
Well, shit.
Boom.
I liked that.
“I’m just a little insecure is all, and—”
He leaned in and cut me off, capturing my lips in a firm, potent kiss that made me positively heady, and when he pulled back, his eyes were warm, as he quietly uttered, “Shut up, baby.”
“Okay,” was my breathy reply.
With a gentle push, I landed back on the bed, and he was climbing over me. My eyes widened as I glanced down the bed at my bright yellow slippers. “You want me to leave the Pikachus on?” His lips landed at the side of my neck and I smiled softly, releasing a small shrug. Okay. “Whatever you’re into.”
“I’m into you,” was definitely the correct response, and I felt those words deep in my soul as he sucked at the delicate area where neck met shoulder, marking me.
My eyes closed in bliss and I lifted my hands to the back of his head, needing this gorgeous man to leave me another love letter branded on my skin, lest I forget how he felt about me.
With every kiss, with every gentle touch of his tongue to mine, he sent stealthy messages. Secret messages meant only for me.
You are the reason I breathe.
I would do anything to make you happy.
I love you.
And I returned my own to him.
I live for you.
I would kill for you.
I love you more.
Having lived many places in my lifetime, nowhere felt more like home than Antonio Falco’s arms.
How very frightening.
When he suddenly took my left hand, peering down at the ring I continued to wear, he kept his eyes on the sparkling diamond but uttered, “Always find my way back to you.”
Yes. He did.
But my heart stuttered because it sounded sad coming from a man who didn’t do sadness, and that worried me.
“We’re getting married,” I told him as my throat thickened with emotion. And I don’t know exactly where I was going with that. Maybe I just needed to throw the reminder out there.
And when he shook his head, my heart clenched, but what he said had my insides unraveling. “Don’t care what anyone says. Don’t care what the law says. If I call you my wife, then you’re my wife. But if you wanna make it official, we can do that, baby.” He kissed my knuckles. “Far as I’m concerned, you’re Mrs. Antonio Falco.”
I blinked up into those eyes that warmed in my hold. I pulled my hand free and framed his face with them. I ran my thumbs across his rough cheeks, caressing them lovingly because he was precious to me.