Total pages in book: 88
Estimated words: 87573 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 438(@200wpm)___ 350(@250wpm)___ 292(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 87573 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 438(@200wpm)___ 350(@250wpm)___ 292(@300wpm)
“It’s perfect.”
“He’s never going to let me take the furniture,” she whispered.
“He’s not going to have a choice.”
She looked so young and vulnerable in that moment. A waif of a girl who had let herself float into corruption and was finally seeing the light. It wasn’t going to always be easy, but this was the first time she’d admitted to her own folly.
And a plan had formed.
“If you say so.”
I put a trash bag around the bottom of the last of her clothes and tied it off at the top. “We should get this into my 4Runner. Have as much packed before Whitt gets here.”
“Any word?”
“He said he’d just made the turnoff.”
“I can’t believe he’s coming.”
My stomach twisted. Neither could I. Not after how I’d acted. I had so much to say to him when he got here and no time to say it all. Maybe I could just kiss him and hope that was enough.
I winced. It wouldn’t be enough. Not for him.
“It’ll be fine,” Bailey said to me again.
I’d told her what had happened with Whitt, and she’d insisted that the boy was still smitten with me. That my reaction had been reasonable. Even though it didn’t feel like it had.
“He’s driving all the way here,” she reminded me.
I shrugged. “Maybe he’s doing it as, like, a last-ditch favor.”
“Now who is the pessimist?”
I grinned at her. After having it out on Bailey’s bedroom floor, we’d both come to the conclusion that this wasn’t tenable. And when we’d concocted a new plan, I’d called her a pessimist for suggesting it wasn’t going to work.
It had to work.
Hopefully, I’d get to keep Whitt at the end of it all.
Ten minutes later, a pickup truck idled in the front of the trailer. Watching Whitt hop out of it did something to my insides that I couldn’t explain. The same feeling I’d gotten when I saw him in a hat and boots and on a horse. Honestly the same feeling I got every time I saw his face and he broke into a smile at the sight of me.
He didn’t this time.
There was a wariness to him that I hadn’t seen in months. I hated that I’d put it there.
“Hey,” I said as he approached.
“Hey.”
I bit my lip. There was so much that I wanted to say. To thank him for helping us out. For driving out here in a borrowed truck to put Bailey’s stuff and drive it back to Lubbock. To not think my plan was ridiculous and go along with it.
But none of that came out of my mouth. I just stared at him in fear that I’d ruined the best thing that had ever happened to me.
“I’m sorry,” I finally got out. “I’m really so sorry. I shouldn’t have left like that. I was so scared about Bailey and what was coming. I’m not the kind of person that can take help. I had to do it on my own. Everything on my own. And I know that makes me stubborn, but it’s how I operate. It wasn’t until I met you that I even knew that I could rely on someone else. I understand if you think I screwed us all up.” I swallowed, watching his big blue eyes for a reaction. “I understand if this was too much for you, if I’m too much for you.” My lips trembled. “But I don’t want any space between us. I want this…with you.”
“Eve.”
“Yeah?”
“Shut up,” he said.
Then, his hand was in my hair, and he kissed me.
I fell off the high dive and splashed into depthless water. My head disappearing beneath the waves, my lungs filling with liquid, my ears ringing, my eyes burning, my insides turning to dust. I was drowning. And he was pulling me under.
All of my fear evaporated as I descended with him and let the tide take us.
My arms came up around his neck, and he tugged me even tighter against his chest. Our bodies remembering the ease with which we moved together. Our lips pressed tight together. Our tongues a delicate dance.
It wasn’t until he kissed me so thoroughly that I was certain I’d never come back up for air that he broke away.
“Oh,” I whispered.
“You don’t have to apologize to me.”
“But…”
“You don’t have to,” he repeated.
“I know, but…”
“I was being a control freak. You needed to deal with this. I’m glad that you called and brought me in when you had the space for it.”
“Yeah, but…”
“Eve, don’t,” he said again, claiming my lips. “I’m here for you. I’m here for Bailey. I don’t need an apology when you have nothing to apologize for.”
“Okay. I don’t apologize, but I wish that I’d handled it better. That I hadn’t cut you out.”
“It’s okay.” He laced our fingers together. “I’m here now.”
A throat cleared behind us. “If y’all are done making out, can we get back to work?”