Total pages in book: 89
Estimated words: 87181 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 436(@200wpm)___ 349(@250wpm)___ 291(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 87181 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 436(@200wpm)___ 349(@250wpm)___ 291(@300wpm)
After Phil told me the details, he flicked his thumb against his nose and sniffled. “So, you see, my daughter’s been through a storm. If you’re going to be the man in her life, I need you to bring her more sunny days. If anyone deserves that, it’s her.”
“I promise I’ll take care of her heart if she gives it to me.”
Phil smiled. “Don’t be silly, Kai. She already has.”
HOLLY
I dropped the butter off to my mom without words and headed straight to my bedroom, telling her I needed to shower.
After a while, Kai came barging into the bedroom, heated. “Okay, so I said I was too grown to put laxative into that dude’s drink, but the way MJ talks down to Alec has me pissed and”—he looked at me—“What is it?” he asked, alert. He rushed over to me and tilted his head. “What’s going on?”
“They’re having a baby,” I said, stunned as I sat on the bed, frozen in place.
He blinked a few times. “I’m sorry, I think I missed a few chapters.”
“I ran into my ex-fiancé and Cassie at the grocery store. Cassie was my—”
“Best friend and coauthor. Your dad told me.”
“Did he tell you she ran off with my ex-fiancé on our wedding day?”
He sat down beside me. “Yeah, he mentioned that. I’m so sorry, Holly.”
“It’s fine.”
“It’s not.”
No. It’s not.
I stared down at my hands in my lap, fiddling with my fingers. “I know it sounds stupid, but I never wanted to see them again. In my head, I made up a story that they were both miserable. I wanted that to be true. I didn’t want to see them happy, and they are. They are so happy.”
Kai frowned. “You’re overwhelmed and processing.”
“Yeah. I’m trying to shake it off. It’s just messing with my head.”
“Let’s take a shower. Let’s wash this energy off.” He stood and took my hand into his. I floated up from the mattress as he pulled me up and walked me to the bathroom. He shut the door behind us and turned on the shower. He began to undress me down to my underwear. I didn’t say a word. My mind had gone into shutdown, and I couldn’t do anything. After he finished taking off my clothes, he took off his own, left his boxers on, and stepped into the shower.
He held his hand out to me. I took it and stepped into the shower with him. The water was steaming hot, but I liked it. I liked how it burned against my skin.
“Can I wash your hair?” he asked, placing his fingers beneath my chin and raising it so I looked into his eyes.
I nodded.
“What products do you use first?” he asked me.
I pointed to my conditioner. He grabbed it, put some into the palm of his hand, and set the bottle back down. He began scrubbing his fingers through my tight hair coils as I stood still. He massaged my scalp, distributing the conditioner from the roots of my hair down to the ends.
“One step back,” he said, and I did as he said, placing myself under the shower head. I shut my eyes as Kai conditioned my hair. Tears fell as I thought of the interaction with Cassie and Daniel. It felt like too much. Tomorrow was Christmas Eve, the day they ran off with one another, and today I learned they would have a child together.
I could hardly understand how life could be so cruel. What had I done in a past life to deserve that kind of heartache? They didn’t even apologize to be for what they’d done. They just went off as if they were living a fairytale love story, leaving me in the dust to rebuild myself.
My tears intermixed with the water crystals, dancing down my body as Kai began to shampoo my hair next. “You’re going to be all right, Holly, you’re gonna be all right,” he soothed as his fingers untangled my wet hair hanging down my back. Kai combed his hands through it with gentle strokes, careful not to pull it too harshly. “You’re gonna be okay,” he kept repeating.
As the words left his mouth, my heart took them in.
I’m gonna be okay.
I’m gonna be okay.
“Can I wash you?” he asked after cleaning my hair.
I nodded.
“Can I take off your underwear?”
I nodded again.
It felt intimate, him removing my bra and panties, yet it also felt safe. I liked that about Kai—how he made me feel safe when my thoughts did the opposite.
He grabbed the soap and a towel and began cleaning me from head to toe. As he washed my body, I pressed myself to his, feeling like he was the safety net that kept me from falling. He cleaned himself, too, as he showered me. Once we finished washing up together, Kai stepped out of the shower and wrapped a towel around his body. He grabbed another towel and held it out for me to step into, which I did. Kai wrapped it around me and tucked it in. Then, he took my hands and walked me back into the bedroom.