Total pages in book: 73
Estimated words: 67675 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 338(@200wpm)___ 271(@250wpm)___ 226(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 67675 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 338(@200wpm)___ 271(@250wpm)___ 226(@300wpm)
Thinking of them still hurt, even now.
Especially now.
I finished my makeup and checked my reflection again, pivoting from side to side to make sure the dress concealed any changes in my figure.
“You look beautiful,” Landon said, appearing in the mirror behind me so suddenly that it startled me. I tried to hide how my heart had leapt into my throat in that split second between hearing his voice and identifying it as his, but he saw it on my face. He wrapped his arms around me from behind. “You never have to be scared again, Cami. I promise.”
I relaxed back into him, reaching up to wrap my hands around his strong forearms. “I know. It’s silly. Why am I still so on edge when there was never any actual danger?”
“Not all danger is physical,” Landon said quietly. “The people you loved most in the world terrorized you in order to control you. It’s not easy to get past that.”
I closed my eyes, breathing him in, refusing to let thoughts of my mother and Robert bring me down. Not today. I would cry about them for years, I was certain. Maybe I’d even forgive them one day. But that was something to figure out later. Today was about Landon and Emma and me.
And my surprise.
“Are you ready?” I asked, opening my eyes again. He looked ready, but then, even living with him, I rarely saw Landon out of his suit pants and button-down shirts. He claimed he didn’t need comfortable clothes because they were comfortable. Casey, who lived in athleisure wear, her brand of course, thought he must be a robot.
“I’m ready,” he confirmed. “And Casey just got here. She brought you a cactus.”
“My San Pedro?”
Landon shrugged, indifferent. “It’s got spikes, that’s all I know.”
When we went downstairs, we found Casey introducing Emma to the cactus. “It likes between six and eight hours of direct sun,” she was explaining.
“But what’s its name?” Emma was asking. She’d started trying to name all of the plants. It drove Landon insane trying to remember if the Japanese Maple was Bridget or Coraline.
My lips twitched at the look on his face as they started going through possible names.
“I can’t remember any more damn names,” he said when we got in the car.
“None?” I teased.
“None,” Landon said emphatically. He cast me a sideways glance, no doubt wondering why I was so amused. I tried to make my lips form a straight line, not wanting to give it away too soon. I’d done this about as wrong as a person could do the first time around. I was determined to make it perfect this time.
When we got to the restaurant, the maître d took us to the same booth we’d sat at the first night we had dinner together when I got back to town. As we sat down, it struck me how much our lives had changed. Five months ago, we’d sat across this table, hardly even able to look at each other. Anger and resentment and stifled love thickening the air between us. Attraction simmering beneath. Secrets tearing us apart.
“This is where we sat before,” Landon noted, glancing around. “Is that a coincidence?”
It wasn’t. I’d called the restaurant ahead of time and requested this specific booth. I wanted to at least overwrite this piece of our complicated past with a beautiful memory by telling him my surprise here.
“Must be,” I said, unable to keep the smile off my face.
Landon tilted his head, suspicious. “You’re up to something.”
“Maybe.”
I saw him ticking through his mental rolodex, trying to figure out what it could be. Was it his birthday? No, not for another month. Had he forgotten an anniversary? Hard to say when it even was, considering.
“I hate surprises,” he warned me.
“You’ll like this one,” I assured him.
Landon turned around and swept the restaurant with a suspicious look.
I couldn’t help laughing out loud. “It’s a surprise, not an ambush. You don’t have to watch your back.”
“They’re the same thing in my book,” he muttered, but a smile cracked the hard expression on his face. “Go on, I can tell you’re dying to tell me.”
I was. I’d been so good the last few days, keeping it to myself, keeping him from suspecting I had something to keep to myself. Now we were here, though, and I couldn’t keep my joy from lighting me up any longer.
“Well, I know you’re tired of picking out names,” I started, “...but–”
Before I could finish, Landon was on his feet. A startled waiter had to do a stutter step to avoid running into him, a bottle of sparkling water we’d ordered in his hand.
“Landon!” I protested as he pulled me out of the booth. “What are you doing?”
“Kissing the mother of my children.” He gathered me up then kissed me long and hard. I heard a few people clap behind him, likely thinking we’d just gotten engaged. He pulled back long enough to tell them, “She’s having my baby.”