Total pages in book: 110
Estimated words: 102620 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 513(@200wpm)___ 410(@250wpm)___ 342(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 102620 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 513(@200wpm)___ 410(@250wpm)___ 342(@300wpm)
“I was going to romance you”—she turns on her foot—“and you went and stormed out of the house, so you lost it. Then I took you to the bar, and instead of me romancing you, you mentioned your face in the middle of my thighs and it was all too much to fight.”
“That was two weeks ago”—I smirk—“and you haven’t tried since.”
“Um, Saturday night”—she taps her foot—“did I not romance you?”
“You were semi-drunk from the bar, and telling me ‘I’m going to suck your dick so hard when we get home’ isn’t considered romance.” I hold up my hand. “Even if you did it when you got home. Something I think you would have done anyway.”
She gasps. “But I did.” She shrugs. “Now I’m walking away from this conversation before we start fighting and then have to have make-up sex on my desk—” She stops. “Again.”
I look down at my feet, trying not to laugh at her as she goes. Going straight to the fridge and pouring her a glass of wine, I take it to her upstairs. I find her in the tub as the water is filling it up. She looks over at me as she leans back. “Today sucked,” she declares as I hand her the glass of wine, “and you only brought me one glass and not the bottle.” She shakes her head. “Rookie mistake.”
“I realized my mistake the minute you said today sucked.” I kiss her lips. “I shall get you the whole bottle.”
“And then don’t forget to tell me I’m pretty.”
“You aren’t pretty, though,” I call over my shoulder. “You’re gorgeous, and anyone who doesn’t see it needs to have their eyes checked.”
“Smooth.” She takes a sip of the wine. “Very fucking smooth.”
“Also I’ll break anyone’s face who looks at you. So.” I wink at her as I jog back down to the kitchen, grabbing the bottle and bringing it back to her, before pulling up a recipe. She comes down just as I put the pasta in the water.
She sits on the stool with half of the bottle of wine gone. When we slide into bed, she snuggles into me and falls asleep.
When I get up the following morning, I slide out of bed, trying not to wake her before going down to start the coffee. I’m in the middle of making her a bagel when she comes down the steps. “Morning.” She comes over and wraps her arms around my waist. “You snuck out like a bandit.”
I kiss the top of her head. “It’s like a thief in the night.”
“Either or,” she grumbles before moving away from me and making her own coffee.
“Are you taking today off?” I ask as she prepares her coffee and then takes a bite of the bagel I just finished buttering.
“Yes.” She nods. “I’m going to go down to the local high school.”
“For what?” I ask as she takes a sip of her coffee.
“I’m going to go check out some yearbooks and see if maybe she was from around here. I’m going to go out on a limb and guess she was pregnant when she was sixteen or seventeen, maybe just turned eighteen.”
I shake my head furiously before she finishes, knowing exactly where she is going with this. “Baby.”
“I know her name now,” she says softly. “I want to put a face to the name. It’s like this unfinished puzzle piece.”
I close my eyes and put my head back. “Sierra.”
“I still have a father and, unlike my mother, maybe he wants to know me,” she explains. “Half the battle is done.” She doesn’t give me a chance to say more. “He also has a choice, and maybe his choice is going to be exactly like hers, but I need to hear it for myself.”
“Sierra,” I say her name again, this time trying to sound calmer than before, but probably not. “Do you know how hard it was to see you in that much pain yesterday?” I ask. “Do you know what it did to me to hold you in my arms and watch you cry and mourn the mother who you thought you were going to meet? Do you have any idea how much this is killing me right now?”
“I’m sorry, Caleb.” She puts her cup down and comes over to me as I look down at the bagel in front of me.
Her hands go to my hips. “No,” I say. “How would you feel if the roles were reversed?” I ask her, putting my hands on her shoulders. “If you saw someone hurting me and me suffering from it, what would you do?” I look into her beautiful eyes, falling more and more in love with her. Wanting and needing to protect her with everything I have. “Tell me, Sierra, what would you do?”
“I don’t know,” she answers softly. “I would feel helpless, and I would do whatever I could to make sure you knew you were loved.” She moves her arms from my hips to around me. “I would make sure you knew every single second that it didn’t matter what anyone said, that you have someone who is happy to have you at home. Who will go above and beyond to make sure not a second goes by that you don’t know how special you are. That is what I would do.”