Total pages in book: 70
Estimated words: 70516 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 353(@200wpm)___ 282(@250wpm)___ 235(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 70516 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 353(@200wpm)___ 282(@250wpm)___ 235(@300wpm)
Hell, I didn’t miss it because I was doing the exact same thing to her.
I…loved her.
I wasn’t sure when it happened.
But one day a couple of days ago I’d woken up with Eddy’s face buried against my side and I realized…I wanted that for the rest of my life.
I wanted to wake up with her close.
I wanted to go to bed with her warm body snuggled up against mine.
I wanted to walk in the house and see her laughing with my daughter.
I wanted to see her at the end of the aisle when I walked Boston toward the man that would be her forever.
I wanted Eddy in my life for the rest of what I had left to live.
Whether that be this weekend, or fifty years from now, I wanted her there with me.
“Eddy?” I asked softly.
Eddy focused her eyes on my face, her shoulders drooping. “Yeah?”
“You’re one of the best people I know,” I said softly. “Your attitude on life. Your always uplifting personality. You literally bring so much joy to my life, and the worst thing is, you’ve been suffering your ass off while you do it.”
She smiled. “I figure it’s better to be happy than always angry all the time. There’s always something to be happy about.”
“And that’s why I love you.”
She inhaled swiftly, her eyes huge.
“When I walked in the door that night and saw that blood on the floor…” I shook my head. “I have never, in my life, been so disappointed in myself.”
“Why?” she asked.
“Because I knew I loved you before then, and I hadn’t told you,” I whispered. “In that moment before you called out to me, I saw that blood and thought you were dead. Thought you and Boston were gone. And I thought…I didn’t tell them I loved them before I left.”
She walked carefully to me, still broken, just not as bad, and came directly toward me.
I opened my arms to pull her into my chest before saying, “And just so you know, I was pretty hot when I left this morning, too.”
“It was the standing in your t-shirt brushing my teeth thing, wasn’t it?”
I grinned and pressed a kiss to her head. “Yeah. There’s just something about just barely seeing what I’ve been thinking about non-stop with you lying in bed next to me that really does it for me.”
“I…” She fisted her hands in my t-shirt. “I’ve fallen in love with you, too.”
“That’s…”
“I need shampoo!” Boston yelled.
I blew out a breath. “She used to yell at me to come wipe her butt like that, too.”
“I’ll get it.” She snickered as she let my shirt go and walked backward toward m—our—bedroom, because there was no way that I was ever letting her go. “What do you think about burgers and fries for dinner?”
“And bring an extra towel when you come in here! Jekyll decided to take a shower!”
Except, when the door opened as Eddy slipped inside, it definitely didn’t sound like Jekyll was taking a shower willingly.
It especially didn’t look willing when the cat streaked out of the bathroom like Boston had set him on fire, sopping wet and trailing water everywhere.
He ran into our room, and I just knew I’d find the fucker on my pillow later.
But when Eddy came out of the bathroom with a towel in her hands, tears filling her eyes from laughter, I knew I wouldn’t care.
Not if I had her to snuggle up to and share a dry pillow with.
Twenty-Five
Your soulmate is the person who can tolerate you when you’re hungry.
—Eddy to Weaver
Eddy
I studied my naked body in the bathroom mirror, taking in every angle as I twisted this way and that.
It had, officially, been a month since I’d been attacked by that bear.
A month of healing hadn’t done very much, at least in my opinion, to my outward appearance.
The scarring on my body from the bear’s claws and bites looked just as hideous now as when they’d first happened.
My ribs were better.
My arm, apparently, was doing better.
However, the uneven skin and the way that I looked like I’d literally been mauled by a bear on my left side made me want to puke.
“Hey, Eddy! We have to leave in thirty minutes. Are you even awake?”
Bos…Berkley.
Berkley.
You have to call her Berkley.
“Yeah, Bossy! I’m up. Getting dressed now.”
“Hurry up and come eat! Dad made pancakes!”
I smiled as I stepped into my underwear.
I was just pulling them up over my hips when the door quietly opened behind me and a muscular form slipped inside.
“Hey,” he said as he came to a standstill with his back against the door. “You okay? You were up an hour ago. I thought you’d be dressed by now.”
I didn’t bother to cover up.
The man had seen everything I had.
Both the good and the bad.
I didn’t need to hide from him.
“I’ve tried tons of things on, and none of my sleeves hide the scars on my arms at all,” I grumbled. “I only have a few on my legs, but even with my longest leggings, you can still see the scars.”