Total pages in book: 166
Estimated words: 157273 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 786(@200wpm)___ 629(@250wpm)___ 524(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 157273 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 786(@200wpm)___ 629(@250wpm)___ 524(@300wpm)
“Do you ever think about leaving?” She ran her fingers over the soft throw blanket draped over the armchair and cracked a yawn.
“Every day.” But I wanted her with me, spending weekends curled beside me on the sofa, her laughter filling these rooms. I wanted to bicker about everything and nothing, and then make up and decide what we’d make for dinner. I wanted the mundane interactions of a relationship. An ache of longing sliced between my ribs and cut straight into my heart. Even if I convinced her that we could make this work long term, eventually our past would have to be dealt with. She’d never forgive me for what I’d done. It was only a matter of time before it tore us apart.
“Maybe you should go.” She turned her attention to the photographs on the gallery wall, and yawned again.
I raked my hands through my hair. “Allie, I love that you’re finally here, but I’m exhausted from fighting thirty-foot seas and a really panicked family who thought I was a ladder they needed to climb, and my ribs are killing me—”
“What happened to your ribs?” Her face whipped toward mine and her eyes flared.
“Nothing a couple nights of good sleep isn’t going to take care of.”
“Let me see.” She strode over and tugged my top up, then yanked my T-shirt free, and I lifted my arm because I didn’t have the energy to argue with her . . . and I loved her hands.
She inhaled sharply. “Hudson.”
“It’s fine. Just a bad bruise.” I’d had way worse. “People do irrational things when they’re scared.”
Her hand hovered over the foot-size contusion, but she didn’t touch it. “I’m sorry.”
“You didn’t do it.”
“That’s not what I meant.” She dropped my clothes back into place. “I owe you an apology. There are very few people in my life I trust with . . . me, but I’ve never guarded myself against my sisters. And when Eva crawled over my corpse to get ahead, I took my anger out on you, and I shouldn’t have. I’m sorry.” She dragged her gaze back to mine.
“Apology accepted.”
Her eyebrows rose. “That easy?”
“That easy.” I nodded. “And I’m sorry I kept you out of the studio.”
“That wasn’t your fault. I wanted to stay with you.” She huffed a frustrated sigh. “I always want to stay with you. That’s the problem.”
“Then let’s go to bed.” I held my hand out.
She drew back slightly. “I didn’t come over for sex, Hudson.”
“I figured.” A smile tugged at my lips. “I’m tired. You’re tired. And unless you feel like going out in that storm again, you may as well come to bed so we can both get some sleep.” I lifted my brows when she furrowed hers. “You want to stay with me? Then stay.”
“Just for the night?” she clarified.
“For as long as you want. I told you I’d take you any way I could get you, even one night at a time.” I crooked my fingers, well aware that I was treading on exceptionally thin ice with an exceptionally skittish woman.
“That sounds good.” She nodded slowly.
Thank fuck. I turned the lights out, checked the doors and windows, then took her up the creaking stairs, past the guest room where Juniper slept occasionally, and into my bedroom.
She took in the space, with its dark furniture and hunter green accents. “Sometimes I forget how neat you are. Nothing’s out of place.”
“More efficient that way. Come on.” I took her into the bathroom, then pulled out a new toothbrush from the cabinet.
“You keep toothbrushes for your overnight guests?” She glared at the bristles.
“I keep toothbrushes stocked the same way I keep everything else.” I opened the cabinet and showed her the organized rows of supplies before shutting it. “There’s no one else. You know that. Stop looking for a reason to bolt.”
She sighed, and we did the domestic things that couples take for granted, like sharing a sink and scooting past each other in the doorway.
Then I completely forgot how tired I was when she walked out of the bathroom in my T-shirt. My body temp rose by at least a full degree. Yeah, I definitely had a thing for seeing her in my clothes.
She slid under the covers, then lay on her back, staring up at the ceiling. “I don’t suppose you have a phone charger?”
I carefully shifted to appease my pissed-off ribs, opened my nightstand drawer, and pulled out my spare, then handed it over.
“Thank you.” She plugged it in and set her phone on the nightstand, then went back to staring at the ceiling. “You really missed your calling as a Boy Scout.”
“Always prepared.”
She drummed her fingers on top of the comforter.
“For fuck’s sake, Allie, come here.” I rolled toward her on my unbruised side, wrapped my arm over her ribs, then tugged her across the bed.