Total pages in book: 28
Estimated words: 26774 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 134(@200wpm)___ 107(@250wpm)___ 89(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 26774 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 134(@200wpm)___ 107(@250wpm)___ 89(@300wpm)
She loved him so much, truly. She couldn't thank God enough for being so good to her, and for choosing Ronan to be her husband. Life was beyond anything she imagined, but...
Ronan could sense something troubling his wife as he felt her body gradually becoming tense, and it was not difficult at all to guess what was bothering her.
"Acacia..."
He rolled his wife to her back so he could gaze into her eyes. "Ask me what you want," he said simply.
Acacia's chest tightened. She was so tempted to pretend, but since she also knew it was foolish to hide from the truth forever...
"Tell me about her," his wife finally whispered.
And so he did.
Acacia bit her lip hard as she listened to Ronan explain how his relationship with Lena was nothing but a product of teenage hormones, and how later on, the pain of their breakup had largely stemmed from his injured pride.
"For years, I built her up in my mind into something she never was. The perfect first love. The one who got away."
Acacia found herself digging her fingers into her palms.
"But now," her husband continued, his fingers tilting her chin up until she had no choice but to meet his gaze, "when I look at you, it almost feels like I've lost my mind. Because I see nothing of Lena in you at all."
Her head jerked up at this, eyes widening in disbelief. She was about to tell him not to lie, because even she herself could see the similarities. But the raw honesty in his amber eyes stopped the words in her throat. There was no deception there, no careful calculation—only pure, unbridled truth.
"It's not that she came first, and you're her replacement. If anything, Lena was nothing but a foreshadowing of what was real. What would last. What's from God. And that's you."
His hands framed her face, thumbs brushing away tears she hadn't realized she'd shed. "When I watch you with Azalea, when I see your kindness to Joan, when I feel your forgiveness for your parents—that's when I know you're nothing like her. You love deeply. You forgive completely. You're real in ways she never could be."
Acacia's heart felt as if it was about to explode. There were so many things she wished she could say, but since she would never be as charming or eloquent as her husband when it came to matters of the heart...
Ronan raised a brow when his wife wriggled out from under him. He rolled to his back, thinking she would climb back up on him, but instead, she positioned herself between his legs, and...
"Acacia."
He could only bite her name out as she suddenly took him with her mouth.
His fingers gripped her hair as he fought to make it last and retain his sanity. But the harder she sucked, the harder it was to hold on, and the harsh sound of his breathing soon filled the room.
The taste and feel of him inside of her mouth were intoxicating, and when she remembered what he said, remembered how he had pursued her tirelessly from the very start—-
Acacia's eyes lifted up to his, and in that moment of perfect connection, she let her soul speak what her lips couldn't.
I love you, Ronan.
Her husband's powerful body jerked, his amber eyes finding hers just before pleasure took over.
I love you, Acacia.
The End