Total pages in book: 62
Estimated words: 60931 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 305(@200wpm)___ 244(@250wpm)___ 203(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 60931 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 305(@200wpm)___ 244(@250wpm)___ 203(@300wpm)
“Thanks for the offer, Anna. But I nap at one, and I have a feeling Eric wants you to himself for a while.”
I lift a shoulder. He’s not wrong.
Anna bites her lip to hide her grin.
“Mind getting me a cab?” Dad asks.
I hold out the key fob to the rental car. “Think you can find your way back to the hotel?”
He snatches the key. “Who do you think taught you everything you know about navigation?”
“Mom,” I say.
“No respect.” He shakes his head while squeezing Anna’s arm. “It’s been a pleasure, young lady.”
“When are you going home? We should have dinner tonight.”
Dad releases her arm. “When you get back on both feet, come visit, and I’ll take you to my favorite place in Kansas City. A friend of mine owns a bistro. They’re booked out for months, but he’ll squeeze us in. How does that sound?”
“I’m not sure when I’ll be mobile enough to travel, but I’ll put that trip on my wish list.”
“Fair enough.”
“Bye, Dad.” I’m stunned. Never did I imagine the events that happened this morning. “Do you have your key to the room?”
“Of course,” he says on the way to the front door as if he’d never forget it, even though he forgot his phone. “Call me when you need me to get you.”
“I will. Did you forget your bag upstairs? Do you have your underwear on Anna’s vanity?”
Dad says nothing, but he pivots and heads up the stairs.
Anna laughs while I take her plate and mug to the kitchen with mine.
A few minutes later, Dad gives us a silent wave before the door clicks shut behind him.
“I don’t know what to say.” I stand next to her chair and slide my hands into my pockets. “I never thought he’d show up unannounced.”
“I never thought you’d leave me without a note or something to confirm that last night happened.”
“Oh,” I take the weight of her injured leg in one hand while my other hand lowers the recliner, “last night happened. But if you don’t remember, I could remind you.” Kneeling in front of her, I lean forward, resting my hands on her thighs, stopping just before our lips meet. “Thank you for being so kind and gracious with my dad,” I whisper.
Anna presses her palms to my face for a breath before running her fingers through my hair. I nearly shiver. “Your dad asked me if I thought he should go after your mom to get her back.”
“Oh?”
Anna’s gaze slides along my face, and I feel it as much as her physical touch. “I told him to let her go. If they’re meant to be together, it will happen. He has to trust the universe.”
“Do you trust the universe?”
Her smile fades. I feel that too. “Eric, I’m …”
“You’re what?”
“I love my job here. And there’s a chance I could get transferred to their firm in Barcelona.”
“Spain?” I put a few more inches of space between us.
Her hands leave my hair, flopping onto the chair's arms. “Yes. There’s a chance. A small one, but I’m hopeful, or at least I was hopeful until the accident … until—”
“No.” I sit back on my heels. “Not until anything. You should go for it. If you get this chance and don’t take it, you’ll always regret it.”
Indecision takes up residency on her face.
I stand on my knees again and take her beautiful face in my hands. “It’s okay that last night happened, and it’s okay for you to go to Spain.” My lips press to hers for a long kiss before my mouth makes its way along her jaw to her ear. “It’s also okay to do it again right now. We don’t have to be more than this moment.”
“Eric …”
“I love all our little moments.” I kiss her neck and lift the hem of her T-shirt.
“I … I need to shower.” She teases the nape of my neck with her fingers.
I pull her shirt over her head and grin, removing my shirt in the next breath. Those lines of indecision still mar her face, but they don’t stop her hands from working the button and zipper of my jeans.
Grabbing her ass, I pull her to the edge of the recliner so that her nipples brush my chest. I feel her lips pull into a grin along my shoulder. “Know what I love?” she whispers.
“What’s that, baby?” My hands slide into the back of her panties.
“I love the feeling of you inside of me.”
I smile, quite possibly more prominent than I’ve ever smiled before. “Yeah?”
She nods, sucking the skin along my neck while releasing me from my briefs. My breath catches in my throat. I have no direction in my life because this woman is the sunrise for which I wait in the dark to chase after every long night. The past three years have been the longest fucking night of my life. And I don’t want to live without her, but I won’t ever stand in the way of her dreams again.