Total pages in book: 30
Estimated words: 27480 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 137(@200wpm)___ 110(@250wpm)___ 92(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 27480 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 137(@200wpm)___ 110(@250wpm)___ 92(@300wpm)
And now I’d ruined it.
Like I always do.
The only difference was that this time, I regretted it instantly.
I sat on that bed for a long time, the smell of our sex surrounding me while I figured out my next move. Let her go.
Or fight.
Chapter 15
Sela
I stepped into the shower and cranked the water as hot as I could stand it, hoping the steam and the heavy spray would wash away my feelings. Every last one of them. I was angry, and I was hurt, and that made me pissed off at myself for feeling either of those things. I had no right to feel either of them because I knew better.
It's what men did: they hurt, and they disappoint. But even that was giving them too much credit. It was giving Brock too much credit. He’d promised me nothing and made his stance on relationships crystal clear. I was the one who fooled myself into thinking I could spend time with him, sleep with him, and not start to feel things.
I was an idiot for falling for a handsome, charming man in a week.
Which keeps the streak of terrible birthdays alive and well.
I stayed in the shower until the water began to cool, and when I stepped out, my mood hadn’t improved much, but at least I wasn’t wearing his scent anymore. My reflection was pathetic: sad and heartbroken, which was ridiculous. It was a week. “One damn week,” I snarled into the mirror, angry and sad.
Yes, still sad.
It didn’t matter. Sad and alone was how I spent most of my adult birthdays, and I wasn’t upset about it. I wouldn’t let myself be upset. I was going to get dressed in comfy pajamas and thick socks, drink my weight in wine, and sob over old romance movies. Yeah, that was a solid plan.
I opened the bathroom door and froze. “Why are you still here?”
Brock still sat on the edge of the bed as if he hadn’t moved at all since I left. “I wanted to talk to you.”
I folded my arms. “You’ve said plenty, Brock.”
His broad shoulders slumped forward. “Yeah, but I didn’t say any of the things I should have. That call was my ex-wife.”
“Yeah,” I folded my arms. “I got that much.”
He nodded. “Yeah, well, I guess I believed her words more than I realized. She called me cold and heartless.”
“That’s bullshit. You’ve been nothing but kind and warm since I met you, and not just with me. You let Edith rope you into helping out with the festival.” I took a step forward, hoping this wouldn’t be one more regret. Even if we parted ways after this, he needed to know he wasn’t cold or heartless. “You remembered my birthday, Brock. You remembered it when you didn’t have to because I’m nothing to you.”
He stood up and closed the short distance between us, resting one hand on my hip. “You are a lot of things, Sela: beautiful, sensual, funny, smart, caring. But you are not nothing. You are so much more than nothing to me, which is why I was so quick to believe my ex’s words.” He pressed his forehead to mine. “You deserved so much more than me.”
Oh no. My hands slid up his chest to cup his face. “I think it’s completely up to me to decide what I deserve.”
He flashed a crooked smile. “You’re right. That choice is totally yours.”
My heart fluttered in my chest, and I felt myself falling under his spell, not that I’d figured out how to get out from under it.
“Sela, you are beautiful and kindhearted. You love your community, and you are so goddamn open that it’s contagious. You’ve made me open myself more, sharing things with you I never share.” His big hands stroked my face and my hair. “It’s crazy to think that I’ve fallen for you in just a week, but that’s exactly what’s happened.”
I sucked in a sharp breath at his words. “I didn’t want to believe it was possible, but I feel the same way. I’ve fallen for you too, Brock.” My heart slammed in my chest. What did this mean?
“I’m moving to Holiday Grove, Sela, and I really want to see where this can go because I have a feeling that this connection between us is something special.”
Something special. “Yeah? Does that mean you want to be my boyfriend?” I couldn’t stop the smile that spread across my face.
He shook his head, a smile still lighting his face. “No, Sela. I want to be your everything.” The look in his eyes held me captive for an extended moment, and I wasn’t sure if my head or my heart would explode first.
His gaze darkened, and I gasped as a small smile touched my lips, but it grew bigger by the second. “I want that too,” I whispered a moment before his lips touched mine in a kiss that wasn’t just a spark to the fire that burned between us but the start of something really special.