Total pages in book: 58
Estimated words: 55271 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 276(@200wpm)___ 221(@250wpm)___ 184(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 55271 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 276(@200wpm)___ 221(@250wpm)___ 184(@300wpm)
“Damn fucking straight,” I reply with a straight face.
“I never thought I’d see the day that Ledger Sinclair would be staking his claim on me.” Fuck, if my hands weren’t full, I’d be doing a lot more than taking her lips with mine.
28
TULSA ROSE
“Are we ever going to talk about the fact that you were in Alabama once a month, every month, for ten years? That comes out to one hundred twenty days, give or take.” We’re slowly swaying on the front porch swing of Ledger’s house. His home is practically a mirror image of my own, minus the pool and with a slightly different floor plan, plus he has a garage on the side of his house, and we have a covered carport instead.
“There’s nothing to say. I did what I had to do,” he states calmly. I lift my head from the crook of his shoulder. Ledger stays his stoic self, as if he wasn’t practically creeping on me without my knowledge. Okay, he wasn’t practically stalking. He totally was.
“And why do you feel like you had to check on me? If the roles were reversed, you absolutely would have been furious at me, chased me off back to Alabama with the sheriff escorting the way.” He doesn’t acknowledge me, too busy smirking at me, one hand on the ledge of the swing, the other playing with and softly massaging the base of my neck. My legs are tucked beneath me, while his feet push us every so often to keep up the momentum.
“You’d be right about that, butterfly. Especially the first few years. There was a time when I wished you’d know I was there, but it never happened. I was lucky. I got to watch you be free, spreading those beautiful wings of yours.” He looks down at me, lip twitching up in that almost smile of his.
“Huh, I suppose that’s kind of sweet. You know, it would have been nice if you at least said hello or waved.”
“Fuck no. I couldn’t have. If I had, there’s no way I would have let you go. All this would have been for nothing. You’d have either cried on my shoulder or kicked me in the nuts,” he replies.
“Probably both. Did you ever read the letter I wrote you?” When I handed it to him, he tossed it out of the way, never said a word. I only noticed it was gone the next morning.
“Yep, sure did, then I put it in my safe. Keeping that forever. The first time you admitted you loved me, fucking has me right here, butterfly.” He places my hand on his heart. The letter I wrote him said more than I’m sorry; it admitted my feelings from the very beginning, how I forgave him, then went on to say that it wasn’t okay for me to blame him when he was only doing what Mont wanted, his last wishes.
“That’s sweet, Ledger, really freaking sweet. And by the way, don’t think your secret is safe. I know exactly what you did. Why I didn’t so much as have a male study partner. It’s a damn wonder I lost my virginity, and even then, it’s questionable if you could even call it that.” It wasn’t until I found out that he was in Alabama once a month that the pieces started fitting together. I’d talk to a guy in class, things would go great, and we’d set up a study time or even a date if they could hold my attention long enough. The next thing you know, they were dipping out, suddenly texting they couldn’t come or not showing up at all. After the fourth time, I quit trying. Why bother if that’s how the little wanna-be men would act? Until I met Brody. He didn’t scare away, but he sure enough didn’t care about warming a woman up. A sloppy session with his fingers that had me turned off, the slide of a condom onto his cock before he surged in. Two thrusts later, and he was done. That’s when I quit men all together, Nelle and I went to an adult store, had a lot of laughs, and a few toys later, I was ready to go. No man is worth your time if he’s going to treat you like I was treated. I mean, Brody didn’t even make sure I got off. After he came into the condom, he rolled away and fell asleep. I left as fast as he came, called Nelle, told her what happened, and went to the student health clinic for a test to be on the safe side. Nelle cussed up a storm, more annoyed about my first experience than anything. It was nothing a few drinks and my best friend couldn’t cure.
“Little cocksucker. Saw you running out of his apartment, tucked into yourself, and knew something happened. A few minutes later, I knocked on his door, worrying he did something a fuck of a lot worse. Only took one look at him before he told me what happened, in a little too much detail. My fist met his face, then I left. Ate me up inside, and I had to leave before I did something stupid, like bang on your door and show you what it was like to be taken by a real man,” Ledger admits.