Total pages in book: 27
Estimated words: 24983 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 125(@200wpm)___ 100(@250wpm)___ 83(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 24983 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 125(@200wpm)___ 100(@250wpm)___ 83(@300wpm)
Thinking about how they’d gone to bed the night I met Silas even though I’d never returned from my walk, I rolled my eyes. “But did you really?”
Her brows drew together. “Did we really what?”
“Wonder where I was. When you thought I was spending the night with James, you didn’t even ask any questions.”
My voice cracked at the end, and Silas slid his arm around my back to pull me against his side. “Juniper is right. It didn’t seem like you were worried about her when we got here. She showed up with a guy you’ve never seen before, and you didn’t even ask her if she was okay.”
“Of course, we did,” my mom denied.
I sighed and shook my head. “No, you didn’t. You were too busy yelling because I wasn’t with the guy you were pushing me at. You made it clear that’s what bothered you about me being gone. That I blew things with James after you went to the trouble to set up this trip to clinch things with his dad and going so far as to use me to do it.”
“Now, Juniper. Don’t be melodramatic,” my dad chided, his lips pursing together.
“Just because you don’t like what I’m saying doesn’t mean I’m being melodramatic,” I argued. “All I did was tell the truth, as sucky as it is.”
“Prove your daughter wrong,” Silas challenged. “Show her that you care about her feelings more than a business deal.”
My dad looked him up and down, his nostrils flaring. “Who are you to demand anything of me? You’re a nobody. I don’t have to prove anything to you.”
“Don’t talk to him like that!” I yelled.
“It’s okay, my beauty.” Silas stroked his hand up and down my spine. “I don’t give a shit what your dad thinks about me. The only thing that matters to me is how he treats you.”
“I treat my daughter just fine.” My dad puffed out his chest. “I’ve always made sure that Juniper had everything a girl could ask for.”
I looked around the gorgeous villa they’d rented for our trip. The rooms were filled with expensive furnishings, but I was so much more comfortable in Silas’s cabin. Sweeping my arm in the air, I sniffled. “I would rather have had parents who listened to me and showed how much they loved me than all the stuff you like to buy when you’re feeling guilty about being a bad husband or dad.”
“How dare you say that to your father?” my mom hissed. “After everything he’s done for you.”
“Maybe if you’d ever have cared enough to call him on the stuff he pulls, I wouldn’t have to be the one to say it,” I retorted.
“That’s enough!” my dad bellowed, his cheeks growing ruddy. “I will not have you embarrass me any longer. Go to your room. Now.”
“You don’t need to listen to them. Move in with me. I’ll take better care of you than they ever could,” Silas vowed.
My gaze darted toward my dad, who was impatiently tapping his toe against the floor. He didn’t seem overly concerned that I was taking Silas’s offer seriously. Probably because I’d always bowed to their wishes without much thought…until now. Giving in to what my parents wanted meant walking away from the man I’d quickly fallen head over heels in love with. Forever.
I didn’t want to do that, but I wasn’t sure exactly what Silas was suggesting. My heart raced at the possibility of spending the rest of my life with this amazing man, but if I left with him now, my parents would probably never forgive me. Which meant there would be no going back from this decision. “We just met a few days ago. Are you sure you’re ready for me to move into your cabin in the woods?”
“You clearly don’t know my daughter that well if you think she’s going to leave the comfortable life I provide her to run off to the wilderness with you,” my father scoffed.
“No, Dad. You’re the one who doesn’t know me.” This time, I was the one glaring at one of my parents. “And you’re proving yet again that you don’t listen to me because I literally just said that I don’t care about the stuff you can buy me. Material things aren’t what really matter.”
“That’s easy to say when you’ve never had to want for anything,” he retorted.
“I might not be able to provide Juniper with everything you can, but I can give her what’s truly important.” He gripped my chin again and turned my head so we were looking at each other. “I meant it when I said we were made for each other, my beauty.”
Although I agreed, I hadn’t taken his words seriously when they’d been spoken in the heat of passion. But the sincerity shining in his bright blue eyes and dripping from his tone made my heart beat faster. They gave me the courage to bring up that four-letter word I’d been holding back since I first realized how deep my feelings for Silas were. “I think so, too. But there’s only one reason that’s good enough to convince me to move in with you.”