Total pages in book: 93
Estimated words: 87601 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 438(@200wpm)___ 350(@250wpm)___ 292(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 87601 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 438(@200wpm)___ 350(@250wpm)___ 292(@300wpm)
I nod, my hope shriveling on the vine. “And we…wouldn’t make perfect sense?”
He glances up, his gaze troubled again. “You’re just so—”
“Young,” I cut in, some part of me wanting to keep the word out of his mouth. His gorgeous, sexy mouth I would so much rather be kissing than discussing all the reasons trying to date would be a bad idea. “I know. I am young. At least on paper, but…” I sigh and stab another bite of pancake with a little too much force. “Lately, I feel like I’m a hundred years old. All I do is work and no matter how much I work, it never seems to be enough. I never get to relax, and nothing is easy. I don’t fit in, no matter where I am. At the office, I’m the youngest person in management and everyone treats me like a dumb kid who’s been given too much responsibility. And in my normal life, my friends think I’m a stuffy workaholic who’s gotten old and boring before her time. I just want… I…”
I stuff the bite into my mouth and chew as I think. When I swallow, I add, “I just want to be judged on who I am and what I bring to a relationship, any relationship, without my age complicating things all the time.”
He nods. “That’s a fair ask.”
I arch a challenging brow. “Does that mean you’re done being hung up on my age? That’s behind us now?”
He makes a rumbling sound low in his chest that makes me wish we were naked. But everything about Gideon makes me wish we were naked, from the way he chews to the way he sips his coffee to the way his eyes penetrate me ten different ways as he mutters, “It’s not that simple.”
“Why?”
“Age isn’t the only barrier here, Sydney,” he says.
“I know distance is an issue, but—”
“It’s not the distance, either,” he cuts in, setting his fork down and giving me one hundred percent of his considerable focus. “If it were just the distance and you were okay with seeing each other every other weekend, I’d fly down twice a month. No problem.”
My pulse flutters in my throat. “You would?”
“I would,” he says. “I didn’t make that offer in Maine because I thought… Well, I thought it would be easier to move on. But time apart hasn’t made it any easier to stop thinking of you. If anything, it’s made it harder.”
I press my lips together, fighting a giddy smile. No matter how happy his words make me, now isn’t the time for smiling. He’s made that obvious with the hint of doom in his voice.
I pull in a breath, keeping my glee to myself as I say, “It’s been the same for me. I think about you all the time. And every other weekend would be a great place to start. I’m so busy with work, I don’t have a lot of free time, anyway.” I take in his increasingly troubled expression and add, “But that obviously doesn’t work for you for some reason that you’re…refusing to share?”
“I’m not refusing to share,” he says. “I’m just dreading it.”
I give a sharp shake of my head. “Why? Seriously, Gideon, it can’t be that bad. Adrian can be a handful sometimes, but he’s a nice guy who wants to leave a positive mark on the world. Whatever he did to upset you, I’m sure we can figure out a way to make it right. Or we can just avoid him. It wouldn’t be that hard.”
“It would be hard for me,” he says, his doom voice in full effect. My eyes widen, but before I can demand that he spill whatever he’s holding back, he adds, “He’s my son.”
fifteen
GIDEON
Sydney’s eyes go wide and the blood drains from her face, leaving her looking like a pale, beautiful, slightly repulsed ghost.
I give her a moment to digest the news, taking a sip of my coffee and setting the mug down near the edge of the table as our server walks by carrying a fresh pot.
“Refill for you too, sweetheart?” the woman asks as she tops me off, glancing Sydney’s way.
Sydney gives a numb shake of her head before croaking, “No, thank you.”
The server casts a curious glance my way—probably wondering what I did to put my dinner date into a semi-catatonic state—before nodding. “All right, let me know if you two need anything else.”
As soon as she’s out of earshot, I murmur, “If you want to leave, I understand. Like I said, I’ll take care of this.”
“I don’t want to leave, I just…” She blinks faster. “I…” Her eyes finally focus fully on mine. “Adrian is your son?”
I nod.
“Not your stepson. Your actual son.”
“Yes, my actual, biological son, the one my ex and I had when we were teenagers.”