Total pages in book: 106
Estimated words: 101398 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 507(@200wpm)___ 406(@250wpm)___ 338(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 101398 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 507(@200wpm)___ 406(@250wpm)___ 338(@300wpm)
Firmly but slowly, he pushes himself until he’s seated inside. And my whole body quakes with the perfectness of our fit—with the perfectness of it all.
Determined to leave no words behind, I say the thing that scares a million men into hibernation on a daily basis. I say the thing, I realize now, I should’ve said all along. Once, we were enemies, but at the root of that was this.
“I love you, Bennett.” Him and Summer. I love them both.
He doesn’t balk at my words. Doesn’t stop touching me, caressing me, moving his cock inside me. “I love you too, Norah. I love you in spite of trying my best not to.”
I understand on an intrinsic level, in a way that I never understood before. I couldn’t see Thomas’s face on my wedding day, not because of his personality or the letter or any of the other obvious reasons there are.
I couldn’t see his face because searching for it in my mind was the first mistake.
When it’s right, you don’t have to search.
You don’t find love. Love finds you.
Wednesday, September 1st
Bennett
Norah sleeps soundly in my T-shirt as I kiss her on the shoulder, leave the bedroom, and close the door behind me.
The morning sun bounces rays of light off the hardwood floor of the hallway as I walk to Summer’s room first. I crack open her door, and my presence pulls Charlie to her feet. She leaves my daughter’s side and comes to me, her face a mask of news I know I’m not prepared to hear. My throat feels clogged as I ask, “She’s still sleeping?”
Charlie nods. “Straight through since yesterday afternoon when she woke up to see your sister.”
After we came back from the wedding—and after Norah and I made love—Breezy came home, and we cooked some chicken on the grill. Summer woke up just as we were getting done, though she had no appetite for food and only stayed awake long enough to talk with Breezy for ten minutes. I thought she would have woken up at some point during the night, but evidently, her small body is much more tired than I realized.
I nod, the motion rough. “I’m just going to make some coffee, and then I’m going to come sit with her. You can run home if you need to or get some rest in the guest room—whatever you’d like.”
“I’ll stay.”
“Thank you, Charlie.” Ever since we got back from Summer’s hospital admission in Burlington, Charlie has taken over almost all of the nursing shifts. Even the evening and night shifts we used to have agency nurses fill so Charlie had time off.
She’s made a point to stay by Summer’s side as much as she can, even sleeping in the guest bedroom most nights. And selfishly, I’m grateful for it.
Charlie squeezes my arm before heading back to Summer’s bedside, and I move into the kitchen with my mind set on coffee.
I’m both frazzled and at ease, and I know the latter is because of the woman in my bed.
I startle a little when the kitchen talks back to me upon my entrance. “Well, hello there.”
A newspaper ruffles and folds on the table to reveal my smirking sister sitting there with a cup of coffee already in hand. In typical Breezy fashion, she’s dressed for the day in what I can only assume is expensive-as-shit designer jeans and a white button-down shirt. Even her jet-black bob is perfectly set.
“Morning. I didn’t think you were up.”
“Had a hard time sleeping.” She eyes me knowingly, a teeny smile hinting at the corners of her mouth. “There’s a pot already made if you’re looking for caffeine. I figured I wouldn’t be the only one who didn’t sleep much.”
I roll my eyes. “Easy, Breeze.”
She chuckles. “Oh, come on, Ben. I’m not blind, and even if I were, I have ears. My accommodations you’ve so kindly given me are right next to your bedroom.”
“I suppose you’re gonna give me shit now, then, huh?”
She shakes her head, surprising me, and then purses her lips. “No, actually. I like her. She’s smart. Funny. Nicer than you or I will ever be. And she treats your daughter like the sun rises and sets with her.”
I have to look down at the floor to stop the rush of emotion from making it to my eyes.
“She’s a pretty good assistant too, as it turns out, and has all your shit in order.”
“I didn’t expect it,” I admit quietly. “But I love her.”
“I know,” Breezy says with a bob of her head. “I can tell. We few girls lucky enough to know what it means to have Bennett Bishop love you know the look.”
I pause briefly. My sister really is the best kind of person. “Breeze, I’m sorry for all the—”
A knock on the front door stops me midsentence, and my eyebrows draw together. “Who the fuck?”