Total pages in book: 121
Estimated words: 119548 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 598(@200wpm)___ 478(@250wpm)___ 398(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 119548 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 598(@200wpm)___ 478(@250wpm)___ 398(@300wpm)
“I wonder where she gets her stubbornness from,” I said dryly, carrying her inside. I gently laid her on the bed after Mum pulled the covers back and we walked back to the door. “Is Nana all right?”
She grimaced. “She’s only just managed to stay out of the ICU. The cancer has weakened her dramatically, Fred. More than any of us knew. It’s a fifty-fifty if she’s going to come home or not.”
I squeezed my eyes shut and pinched the bridge of my nose. “Fuck.”
“Yeah.” Mum gently rubbed my arm. “Just… be there for her, all right?”
“Always.” I lowered my hand, sighed, and looked over at Deli lying on my bed. “Does she know all this?”
She nodded and took a step back, stretching her arms over her head. “I don’t think she’s accepted what it might mean, though.”
Of course, she hadn’t.
She still hadn’t accepted that Nana would die one day, no matter what’d happened over the last two months.
Well, denial was a stage of grief.
I knew that all too well.
“Fred?” Deli murmured sleepily from the bed.
“Go,” Mum whispered, patting my arm again. “She needs you.”
I nodded and closed the door behind me, finally taking off my shoes. “I’m here.”
“Mm.” Deli rubbed her eyes and peered over at me, blinking several times harshly. “Are we home?”
“Yeah. I put you in my bed for now. Do you want me to go and sleep in the other room?”
She lay back down and threw her arm out lazily in my direction. “No.”
“You want me to stay?”
“Mm. With me.”
Be strong, Fred, be strong. She needs you right now.
“All right. Here, put this on.” I pulled a clean t-shirt out of my drawer and handed it to her. “Let me change quickly.”
She grunted again, and her eyes stayed closed as she weakly kicked off her shoes.
She was not going to be changed when I walked back into this room.
I got changed myself in the bathroom and after quickly brushing my teeth, I walked back into the bedroom to find my prediction absolutely correct. She was lying on the bed, asleep, in nothing but her bra and jeans. My jumper was hanging over the side of the bed and pooling on the floor, while my t-shirt was on her thighs where I’d tossed it just minutes before.
“Deli?”
Nothing.
All right.
Good.
I just needed to put that goddamn t-shirt on her before I lost my mind.
I took a deep breath and walked over to her. I pinched her finger between my pointer finger and thumb and raised her hand, then let it go again. It fell flatly to the bed, and her breathing remained deep and steady.
Yep.
Brilliant.
Just bloody brilliant.
I wasn’t even going to think about the fact I had to pull her jeans off her.
I scrunched the t-shirt up to the neck hole and gently eased it over her head. She sniffled, but she stayed asleep as I tenderly eased her arms through the sleeves. I pulled the fabric down her body, covering the way the black, lace cups of her bra hugged her breasts, and turned away as I took hold of the waistband of her jeans.
She needed my comfort.
Not my fucking perversions.
I slid them down her legs, keeping my gaze firmly focused anywhere but on her. After I’d removed them from her legs and tossed them to the side, I pulled the covers over her and got in the other side of the bed.
I didn’t know what the time was. My phone was still in the car along with everything else I’d haphazardly thrown in before I’d left Max’s estate in Windermere. None of it had mattered then, and none of it did now.
Rolling onto my side to face Delilah, I propped my head up on my hand, resting my elbow on the pillow. She was still flat on her back, completely oblivious to the mild torture I’d been through having to help her dress for bed.
I knew she slept without a bra, but there was no way in hell I was taking that off her. I’d lose what little restraint I had left if I did that.
It’d only been a few days since I’d left, but I’d missed her. The thought struck me like lightning—an uncomfortable, full-body jolt that made me inhale sharply.
I’d really, really missed her.
Despite my inner torment about my changing feelings towards her, those few days away from her had been hell in a way I’d never experienced before. It was hardly unusual for me to have to travel for work or be gone for a few days at a time, but I’d never experienced this aching sense of loss before.
I knew that was what it was because that part of me that held felt so restless was now calm. That itchy little niggle that’d settled under my skin after we’d parted a few days ago was now gone, replaced with a smooth, warm sense of fulfilment that’d appeared the moment Deli had rushed into my arms.