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 groaned silently and let my head fall onto my pillow, sinking my fingers into my hair. I was no idiot. I knew what this feeling was, and I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t expected it to happen once I realised how attracted I was to her.
But why now?
Why was it when her world was falling apart?
I sighed and brushed some hair from her face. It didn’t matter. She needed me now, so my own complicated thoughts and feelings would have to wait. There would be time to deal with those in the future.
“Fred,” she muttered, turning her face into my fingertips.
“You had hair in your eyes,” I whispered.
“Oh.” She rolled to face me and shuffled in close to me, reaching for me the way she used to when we were kids, and she’d had a nightmare.
Except her nightmare wasn’t in her head. It was real.
“Come here.” I slid my arm under her neck and closed the distance between us. She nestled against my body in my embrace without another thought, and as I rolled onto my back, she moved with me, laying her arm over my waist and her head on my chest.
I stroked her hair, holding her to me. She sighed sleepily and snuggled in a little more, looping one of her legs over mine and slipping her foot between my feet.
As if she’d done this a thousand times before.
She kind of had—we were just usually both sleeping at the time, but I’d never held her like this.
“Thank you,” she murmured, curling her face into my chest slightly. “I was so scared.”
My arms tensed at the tremor in her quiet voice. “I know, baby.”
Shit.
She said nothing, simply hugging me tighter. Her breathing evened out after a couple of minutes, and her hold on me relaxed the tiniest amount.
She was asleep again.
And I could finally breathe.
26
* * *
DELILAH
Fred’s deep, soothing exhales fluttered my hair at the back of my head.
I was tucked soundly against his body—for once, I was the little spoon—and his arms were wrapped around me, completely trapping me in place. One of his legs was hooked over both of mine, pinning me down as if he was afraid that I’d run away from him.
I wasn’t.
I had no intention of moving.
It’d been days since we’d seen each other before he’d shown at the hospital and I’d almost mowed him down. Aside from the awful events of yesterday, I’d hated every second. We’d been apart so many times before but never had I felt as alone as I had this time.
That was why I was so angry he didn’t answer the phone. He always picked up. If he missed the call, he always returned it right away, so why hadn’t he answered that time? What had been more important than me in that moment?
Self-centred, I know, but so many things were changing in our relationship that I couldn’t stand it if I somehow became less important to him.
It wasn’t true. I knew that. If I had, he wouldn’t have rushed back here from Max’s estate. He wouldn’t have carried me to bed or climbed in next to me at my sleepy request.
And he wouldn’t have held me in his arms and called me ‘baby.’
That was certainly a new one.
Of all the things we’d ever called each other, ‘baby’ had never been one of them. He’d said it so softly, so intimately, so… like I was his. Like it meant something.
Like I meant something.
But how could I even dwell on that for longer than these fleeting moments? As soon as I got out of this bed and faced real life, all of this would cease to exist. I would have to accept my new reality where Nana was probably dying in hospital right now.
I didn’t want to do that.
I didn’t want to face the real world just yet.
I wanted to stay here, under these covers, curled up in Fred’s arms, like the rest of the world wasn’t spinning outside of this room.
It was still early based on the light filtering in through the gap in the curtains—barely seven considering where the shadows were. I hadn’t slept for nearly as long as I thought I would.
How could it have only been three hours?
My phone was nowhere in sight, and I was locked in Fred’s arms. I couldn’t get it even if I wanted to. If I woke him up, he would simply force me to go back to sleep anyway.
I pushed myself back against his body, as close as I could possibly get, and closed my eyes again. I was exhausted to my bones, completely and utterly drained, and his touch was too comforting to even want to try to escape from.
Yes, even with his erection pressing against my ass.
It sent a little fissure of heat through me, and I clenched my legs together. It was wrong to feel this way given the situation, but I couldn’t help it. I had no control over the way my body reacted to him anymore. It was as if everything had flipped upside down, and in the chaos and heartbreak of my life, only he could bring me comfort.