Total pages in book: 37
Estimated words: 33586 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 168(@200wpm)___ 134(@250wpm)___ 112(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 33586 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 168(@200wpm)___ 134(@250wpm)___ 112(@300wpm)
Now here I sit, with my parents upstairs getting ready for bed, and my little overnight bag at my feet. And all my hopes and dreams for my future on the table. I heard his car pull up outside and instead of waiting for him to come get me I was out the door before the engine died. I was running towards my future with no regrets.
He was just climbing out of the driver’s seat when he saw me coming and got out anyway to hold my door open for me. I felt so cherished when he reached in and buckled me in before stealing a quick kiss from my lips. It was the first real kiss we’d ever shared, and small as it was, I felt it down to the soles of my feet, not to mention the little tingle it gave me in my heart.
He threw my bag in the trunk since his little two-seater didn’t have a backseat, and we were off. For all the bravado I’ve had since my return, I was feeling mighty nervous all of a sudden. It was a task to keep my legs from shaking uncontrollably and his scent wasn’t helping matters any. It was obvious that he’d gone home and cleaned up before coming back for me.
Not that there was anything wrong with him before, far from it, he was always well put together, like he was ready for a magazine cover shoot. But this new cologne had obviously been made to make women weak and stupid, I’m convinced. I actually had visions of licking his skin and burying my nose in his neck.
He reached between us and took my hand in his and I almost melted right then and there. Immediately I started having flashbacks, not only to the time I’d seen him au naturel, but also to that one time I’d overheard him in the act. My skin broke out in goose bumps at the memory.
It was summer and we’d all been home as a family for once for a whole couple of weeks. I was still quite young then, no older than fifteen, I think, and he’d brought home a girl when our parents had gone out to dinner. Instead of bringing her up to the house as was the habit with his friends, I’d caught them sneaking into the guesthouse, so I knew something was up. I’d snuck out and across the backyard with my fast self and got more than I bargained for.
This was the first time I’d ever let myself think of that night come to think of it. The noises that had come out of that poor girl had scared the hell out of me, until I had peeped through the knot in the door and realized he hadn’t been killing her, and the fact that she was actually encouraging him had registered. I’d ran back to the house and covered my head with the covers all the same, pretty sure I wasn’t supposed to have seen that.
My mouth ran dry as the memory flashed hot in my minds’ eye. Tonight that girl was going to be me. Will he be as tender as I remember him being with that nameless girl? Was he the same kind of lover he’d been back then, or was he better? The thought that he might be even better made me hyperventilate.
“Easy-easy.” He squeezed my fingers before lifting them to his lips for a kiss. “It’s going to be okay, I’m gonna take really good care of you tonight.”
“Only tonight?” I don’t know where I got the gumption to ask him that. “You know better.” What exactly did that mean? I wasn’t brave enough to ask, but please don’t let me die before I got the chance to find out. I think I’m in danger of having heart failure here.
The rest of the ride was made in silence and the only reason I wasn’t gnawing off my nails was because he had a death grip on one hand, and I was too weak to raise the other. I have no knowledge of the passing scenery and couldn’t tell you who, what, where or why. My whole being was nettled down to this one moment. I never knew what it would be like to be here, on the cusp of realizing my every dream. I wanted to pinch myself, but instead snuck peeks at him out the corner of my eye. He didn’t look to be in much better shape, and somehow that helped to build my confidence. I can do this.
“We’re here.” He pulled into the underground garage at his place, which was a high-rise luxury apartment downtown. He’d never lived at home after college, choosing instead to move into his own place with some of the inheritance from his mom’s estate. It was only the first year or so after our parents got married that we’d lived under the same roof on those rare occasions that he came home.