Total pages in book: 109
Estimated words: 107352 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 537(@200wpm)___ 429(@250wpm)___ 358(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 107352 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 537(@200wpm)___ 429(@250wpm)___ 358(@300wpm)
“Which you will never do again.”
“Which I one hundred percent will do again,” I vowed to him. “I will always eliminate any threat to my family. I could never—”
“Your family,” he husked. “Yours.”
What had I said? I was too raw and tired, not to mention completely turned on, to have any kind of coherent conversation with him. I needed to climb the stairs up to the attic and go to sleep.
“I’ll go, but you are not sleeping anywhere but here with me,” he said, licking his lips, staring at me like he was starving. “Promise me.”
“Your family isn’t ready for—”
“Our family,” he corrected me. “Ours.”
I exhaled sharply. “Our family is not ready for that.”
“Well, they’re gonna have to be, because I need to get laid.”
My brain was going to explode. “Could you be more crude?”
“I could,” he goaded me with a waggle of his eyebrows.
God, he was perfect for me. He knew when to tease and when to be serious, read me so easily, and responded with absolute submission to my dominance. A big, strong, powerfully made, lean-muscled man who trembled when I had my tongue down his throat and my hands on his skin. It was taking everything in me not to pounce.
“Now. Go.”
“All your things are down here. There’s nothing left in the attic, so…where are you going to sleep tonight, Nash Miller?”
He thought he had me. He thought I couldn’t walk out to the couch or go up to the attic. He thought he was so enticing that I couldn’t say no. He thought he had power over me and my decisions because I wanted him so desperately.
“Well?”
And he did. He so did. I wanted him, the kids, even his parents. I wanted the cat, the house, the parent-teacher conferences, the meal prep, the holidays, the bumps along the way, the change and upheaval, and God, how I wanted to sleep with him for the rest of my life. I could not fight a moment more, not against myself over the life I longed for.
“I will sleep right here next to you.”
His smile was something to behold. I could see his heart, right there, in his eyes.
“Yeah? You will?”
I nodded.
“Let’s kiss and seal the deal.”
I pointed at the door.
“You’re killing the romance here.”
“This is not romance. You’re horny.”
He gestured at my dick, that really wanted to be close to him.
“Get. Out.”
His throaty, filthy laughter followed after him through the door and into the hall.
It made no sense to pledge my life to a man who might not actually enjoy being in bed with me. Though from his response when I kissed him, perhaps I was worrying for nothing. Only time would tell.
TWELVE
As soon as I stepped foot out of the bedroom door, Darwin ran over from the living room, tried to stop near me, but slid a couple of feet on the polished hardwood floor because he was wearing socks.
“Tatum said you’ll stay. Is that true, or is it still just until after Thanksgiving? Are you sticking with the original plan, or is there a new one?”
He was always so precise about things. “There’s a new one.”
“Really?” There was no missing the hopefulness in his voice.
I gestured at Luke, who smiled as he walked over to me. “I want Nash to stay with us because you all love him and so do I.”
Darwin squinted at his father. “You love him?”
“I do.”
“Like a friend?” he delved.
“More than a friend,” he assured his son.
Darwin’s attention turned to me. “And you?”
“You know I love you guys, and your father’s growing on me.”
Luke laughed over that.
“What? I need to be truthful.”
“Fair,” he agreed, nodding.
Strangely, the smile on Darwin’s face was making his darker eyes—they were the deepest midnight blue of everyone in his family—practically glow. He looked—and this was unusual for him—radiant.
“What’s with you?” Luke asked him.
“All that romance and lovey-dovey stuff is stupid,” he said flatly. “I don’t like it, and I don’t believe in it. You and Mom stopped loving each other. All my friends with divorced parents, they stopped loving each other too. The only thing I know for sure about love with grown-ups is that it doesn’t last.”
“That’s terrible,” I told Luke.
“Then why do you seem happy?” Luke asked him.
“Because you love Nash, but it’s different than it was with Mom. You’re friends first. That’s right, isn’t it?”
He nodded. “It is.”
“And Nash likes you, but he’s not in love with you, not yet. Maybe never. But still, you’ll be friends, and I think that’s better. I think that lasts longer,” he said to his father. “That means you’ll be happy from now on, and you need that. I like you how you are now. I don’t want you to change back. And if Nash is with you, then you won’t.”
Luke rushed forward, and Darwin met him. They collided hard, hugging tight before Luke went down on one knee so Darwin could lean into him.