Total pages in book: 80
Estimated words: 78108 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 391(@200wpm)___ 312(@250wpm)___ 260(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 78108 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 391(@200wpm)___ 312(@250wpm)___ 260(@300wpm)
Doctor Blackstone smiles. “Yes. Because life is short,” he calls out.
Monroe nods sagely. “Because life is short. You never know how much time you have left. And I’ve made some mistakes with my time. I put being best above…relationships.” His gaze hunts for mine, then locks, like he won’t let go of me. It’s intense and passionate like he was for me all week. “And this week, I put ‘staying safe’ above taking a chance on love. But someone very wise recently told me that the best decision you can ever make is to be open. That decision inspired me. She inspires me.”
I gasp. The tears slide down my cheeks, and I swipe and swipe.
“In fact, she’s been inspiring me for a long time. Since I first saw her again years ago in Darling Springs. I let her get away from me then. But I won’t let her get away from me now.”
I swallow past the knot of emotions in my throat, but the knot grows bigger, stronger. This feels so unreal. My stoic, cool, controlled man declaring himself for me, in front of his hometown, our friends, his father, and, most of all, himself. “Juliet, I can’t stop thinking about you. I can’t stop falling for you. I don’t think I’ll ever be at my best without you. And I want next week, and the week after, and all the weeks, all the time with you. I want to be the man for you always if you’ll have me.”
I’m a mess, tears streaming, heart soaring, skin tingling. A hand pushes on my back, urging me forward.
Right, yes. Walking. I can do that. As I put one foot in front of the other, the crowd parts, the partygoers cheer, and I run the rest of the way to the dais in heels. The man I fell in love with eight years ago, picks me up into his arms, and kisses me in front of the party.
A declaration.
A choice.
He kisses me more passionately than I’d expect in front of a crowd, but no one seems to mind. Least of all me. Especially when he dips me, bestowing one more soul-deep kiss, before he tugs me up, then whispers, “So you’ll take a chance on me?”
I smile and I laugh, and I manage to say, “Was that not clear just now? I’ll take all my chances with you.”
“Good. Then this can be our fourth date tonight, and tomorrow we’ll have the fifth, and then when we return the sixth…”
“So it’s like an ExtraDate?”
“All the ExtraDates.”
He kisses me once again, giving me sparks and butterflies.
34
LIKE FATHER, LIKE SON
Juliet
Monroe holds my hand as we circulate through the clubhouse. It’s the best thing ever. Pretty sure I’m glowing. Though it might not be just from our interlocked fingers as we chat with his father’s friends and colleagues.
This flush I feel inside and out is probably from the kisses Monroe keeps giving me. The soft brushes of his lips on my cheek. The curl of his hand around mine as we walk. The way he sweeps loose tendrils of hair off my neck and steals kisses.
After we peel away from a pack of doctors who high-five Monroe for “doing something tougher than heart surgery,” he guides me outside, onto the veranda where he tugs me against him. The Gershwin tune grows fainter as we move into the corner, away from the windows.
“You’re really mine.” It’s a statement, but it’s full of wonder like he can’t believe his luck.
I’m all tingles and starlight as I roam a hand up his chest, reassuring him. “Did you not read the assignment last night, professor?”
“Did you not remember what we did on the desk, Miss Dumont?”
I laugh, shaking my head as a summer breeze rustles a nearby tree. “You’re not winning this one. I bet I told you already.”
His brow knits. “I bet you didn’t.”
I swat him, but he grabs my hand, brings it to his mouth, kisses me again. “Mmm.”
“I wrote out the assignment. Including the words—Take me, I’m yours.”
He stops kissing me. “Right. But I thought that was the student writing to the professor?”
“Your cluelessness is as adorable to me as my ladybug love is to you,” I say, and his lips go all Cheshire cat for a second. “I picked Adam because he’s just like you.”
“Right. I did figure that out.” But he ends the sentence with a curious stare. He’s trying to put two and two together.
I could give him a hint, but nah. I think I’ll wait this out. “You can do it,” I urge play.
His eyes flicker as he assembles the clues. “Oh! Oh shit. You showed me a date…with you.”
I separate from him to slow-clap. “And he can learn. The teacher becomes the student.”
Monroe rolls his eyes at himself. “Get ready for a whole lot of learning. Or un-learning.”