Total pages in book: 129
Estimated words: 121764 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 609(@200wpm)___ 487(@250wpm)___ 406(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 121764 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 609(@200wpm)___ 487(@250wpm)___ 406(@300wpm)
My chest expanded, eyes prickling with tears. I groaned and swatted them away before they could fall. “I am so fucking tired of crying! Stop being cute.”
He chuckled, his hand sliding farther up my thigh. “I can be dirty, if you prefer.”
Heat rushed to my core at those words. “I will absolutely be taking you up on that later. But for now…” I played with the hair at the nape of his neck. “I want to talk about us.”
“What about us?”
“What happens now? What… are we?”
I hated the insecurity that slipped through with that, but I needed to know. I needed to hear him say it. After years of looking too far into situationships, and giving more feelings than I was getting in return, I didn’t trust my judgment — even when my heart begged me to. I needed words to affirm me, to soothe the anxiety rioting in my rib cage.
“Are you asking me to be your boyfriend?”
I scrunched my nose at him. “Maybe not, if you’re going to be such a brat about it.”
“Oh, now I’m the brat?” Jaxson smirked, tapping my ass for me to lift it so he could reach into his pocket. Then, he had me hold out my hand, and he dropped a small, cool chain into it.
I frowned, holding it up to try to inspect it under the moon and soft light coming from Vince’s house. Jaxson pulled out his phone and shined the flashlight on it, and I sucked in a breath at the charm at the end of a chain.
A tiny silver star.
“I remember thinking you were insane when you read my palm in Austin,” he said, smirking to himself. “And I was fairly certain you were bullshitting.”
“Completely bullshitting,” I confirmed.
“But you nailed me down. Even then. You could see the weight I was holding, could see how stuck I felt before I even realized I felt it. Against all logic, I wanted to kiss you that night. I wanted to claim you even then. And when you swung back into my life two weeks later, it was as if I didn’t have a choice.” He swallowed, his eyes finding mine. “I don’t think I did. I don’t think I’ve ever had a choice when it comes to you.”
My heart swelled so big it felt like my rib cage was a prison.
“I told you in Atlanta that you burn brighter than anyone else in the room, little Nova,” he said, taking the chain from my hands. He began fastening it around my neck. “And if you’re a star, then you’re my star — my sun. From this moment on, I only want to exist in your orbit.”
I thumbed the charm where it sat on my chest, twisting to face him.
“As long as you’ll have me,” he added.
“I have a question first.”
“By all means. Ask anything.”
I twisted until I could straddle his lap, winding my arms around his neck. “Would you rather… spend next off-season on another road trip, or should we try something new. Say… a cruise? Maybe the Bahamas? Oh! Or the Med!”
He licked his bottom lip on a smile, framing my face with his hands and pulling me closer. “Oh, definitely the Med. But let’s charter something private. There are too many dirty things I can think of for us to do on a boat for us to have an audience.”
He covered my laugh with a kiss, holding me tight to him as I did the same. Every sweep of his tongue lit my heart on fire, and I clung to him like I’d never be close enough.
Before I could take that kiss where I really wanted to — which was to unlock my fantasy of being railed on a beach — Jaxson pulled back, holding his phone out again. He turned on the flash and pointed the camera right at me, making me laugh and shield my eyes against the light.
“What are your notes about today, Grace Tanev?”
I smiled on a breath, letting my hands slap against my thighs. “Today, I got a boyfriend.”
“Future husband,” he corrected, which made heat crawl down my neck as I smiled. I knew there was a lot I wanted to do before I had a wedding, a lot I needed to figure out before I could even decide if I wanted babies. But at the same time… I could picture it all with Jax. I could see us eloping to a national park, could see us jumping into a lake and trashing our tux and gown while a photographer caught it all on tape. I could see us raising a family, a little boy or girl who looked just like him.
Stealing the phone from his hand, I leaned against his chest, snuggling in as he draped his arms around me, and I held the camera out to capture us both.