Total pages in book: 25
Estimated words: 24016 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 120(@200wpm)___ 96(@250wpm)___ 80(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 24016 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 120(@200wpm)___ 96(@250wpm)___ 80(@300wpm)
“I’ll never be able to sleep without you now. You’ve ruined me,” he says and then kisses my neck.
“Careful what you wish for,” I tease him because it’s all too tempting for me to stay right here with him. We’d be safe here.
Unless I brought trouble to his door.
“I know what I want.” There’s honesty in his words, and somehow I believe him. But does he really know what he’s getting into?
“I have a lot of baggage,” I remind him. It’s easy to get lost with him out here in the woods and forget the past.
“You don’t have any baggage.” He turns me to face him, and I stare into his eyes. “Even after all the shit you’ve been given, you’re still so damn sweet. You haven’t let the world and its bullshit rip you apart.”
“Is that what you think it’s done to you?” I place my hand on his bare chest over his heart, and I swear I can almost feel the sadness he carries there.
“I’m not so sure anymore,” he says before leaning in to kiss me.
I never expected this to be so easy. There’s no awkward morning after; instead, Fraser is being himself. He’s not pushing me away when part of me thinks maybe he should be. He locked himself away here so he couldn’t get hurt. Now he’s let Mina and me in along with the devil chasing us.
“Nyah?” I hear Mina’s happy voice chirp my name.
She usually sleeps like a rock, but when she wakes, she’s ready to bounce right out of bed. Unless she wants some cuddles.
“Bear?” Mina says, and Fraser smiles when he hears her call for him next.
I prop myself up on my elbows and realize that I don’t remember moving off the couch last night. I’m guessing Fraser carried me into the spare room so we could sleep together.
“Are you dressed?” I quickly ask him, knowing it’s only a matter of time before she finds us. I don’t wait for an answer as I lift the blanket and see that he does in fact have sweatpants on.
“I put them on after I helped you into my shirt and carried you to bed.”
“Smart.”
“Told you. I got you guys.”
The door slowly opens so Mina can poke her head in, and when she sees us, her face brightens. “Hi!” She bursts through when she spots us and crawls her way up the bed like a monkey. “We cuddlin’?” She wiggles down in between Fraser and me.
“I was going to make you ladies breakfast,” Fraser offers, and Mina nods.
“I help you?”
“If you want.”
Mina gives me a snuggly hug before she’s hopping off the bed. “Come on, bear.” She holds her hand out to Fraser.
“I’m coming.” He drops a quick kiss to my lips before he takes her hand, and then I sit there watching them go. A wave of so many emotions washes over me, and I’m overwhelmed.
This place is a dream. It’s exciting and, if I'm honest, so scary. Fraser has taken this all in stride, but what if it’s because he too is lost in this little world we’ve made? Reality is waiting around the corner, and maybe this won’t seem so perfect when it hits.
I roll out of bed and go to the bathroom to get myself together. When I catch a glimpse of myself in the mirror, I run my fingers across my lips. They’re puffy and well-loved.
Before I go to see what’s for breakfast, I grab some panties out of my bag and pull them on under Fraser’s shirt. The one he’s given is an old college shirt with the university name across the chest. The letters have faded from the many washes it’s endured, but it’s so soft. I don’t bother with pants because it’s so big, and I hope it drives Fraser a little crazy.
“I luv it here,” I hear Mina say when I step into the living room. They’re in the kitchen and can’t see me yet.
“I love having you here.”
I stand there watching them together as my hand goes to my stomach. I’m already thinking about what we did last night. Twice.
A beeping sound tugs my thoughts away from unprotected sex.
“What dat?”
“Hold on a second, munchkin.” Fraser picks her up off the kitchen island and sets her on her feet before he takes off jogging through the house. It automatically makes my anxiety spike.
“What’s going on?” I call after him.
“It’s my phone,” he says before ducking into his office, only to reappear a second later with his phone in his hand.
“That’s your phone?” The sound went off in one loud beep through the house.
“I turned my driveway's alarm on when I got home last night.”
“Someone’s here?”
“Beautiful, it’s okay,” he says intently as he looks into my eyes and then taps on his phone screen.
When I look at it with him, I see he has a few cameras that show the outside of his house. In one of them, I see a white SUV that has come to a stop out front.