Total pages in book: 42
Estimated words: 38887 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 194(@200wpm)___ 156(@250wpm)___ 130(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 38887 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 194(@200wpm)___ 156(@250wpm)___ 130(@300wpm)
“I’m no risk, Raye. I promise. I don’t want to be another reason for you to hurt, and I’ll do fucking anything to make sure I don’t.” She has to believe me.
She smiles. “I know that.”
Relief chokes me. It builds so fast and so furiously within me, there’s no outlet for it.
Other than my eyes. I breathe out and haul her into me, my face falling straight into her neck, needing to smell her, feel her. Needing to make such she’s flesh and bone and in my arms. “I’ve left you a really long voicemail,” I whisper. I want to remember what I said, want to relay each and every word, slowly and concisely, but they’re gone, vanished from my mind, something else replacing them.
Raya.
In my arms.
And, really, only three of those words matter, the three that scream the loudest. The three that I need to say over and again.
“I love you.”
Epilogue
I hope you’re happy here,” I say, handing the keys over to Annie Ryan.
“Thank you, Drew.” She tosses the keys in her hand, looking around the hallway. “I think I’m going to be very happy here.”
I take the handle of the front door and pull it open as she kicks a few of the letters at her feet, piles of correspondence that will never be read. Stepping out onto the street, I have a quick check of my phone. No missed calls. Where are they? “Any plans to knock the place about a bit?” I scan the street, left to right. Nothing. “Since you’re an architect and all.”
“A weekend scrubbing and a lick of paint is all it needs for now. The second bedroom will be my studio.” Her green eyes glimmer with excitement that I just can’t help but smile at. “Are you waiting for someone?” She looks past me, scanning the empty tree-lined street.
“Yeah,” I dial Raya, starting to worry. “Remember that really uncomfortable time when I asked your opinion on something entirely inappropriate?” I take my phone to my ear, and Annie smiles, wide and bright.
“Oh, your friend’s problem?”
I roll my eyes. “Yeah.”
“And the girl moving out of the country.”
“Oh, you mean my girlfriend?” It sounds so strange saying that.
“Ah, Drew!” Annie lightly punches my bicep. “So you asked her not to go.”
My phone rings off and I frown, having another quick scan of the street. “I did. She’s supposed to be meeting me here with my daughter.”
“You have a daughter?”
She sounds shocked. What’s most shocking is that I have a girlfriend. “I do, but I get the feeling that I’m not her favorite person anymore.”
Annie laughs, starting to collect up some of the envelopes littering the floor of her new hallway. “I’m happy for you.”
“Yeah, me too.”
Her arm extends toward the road. “Oh, is this them?”
I crack my neck, quickly looking in her pointed direction, grinning wide when I find Raya and Georgia skipping down the road hand in hand. “This is them.” Peace and contentment wraps me in its warm embrace and squeezes tightly. “Isn’t that the most beautiful thing you’ve ever seen?”
They come to a stop at the bottom of the steps, arms full of cuddly toys and cotton candy. “Hey, Dad!” Georgia flicks her head to rid her face of hair. “We’ve been to the fairground!”
I turn to Annie. “I’d better go.”
She nods past me. “They suit you.”
“I know.” I smile, sliding my phone back into my pocket. “Maybe your love’s next victim, Annie.”
She scoffs, truly amused. “Like I told you, Drew. Not even sizzles, so definitely no sparks.”
“Don’t sound so sure. These things bite you on the arse unexpectedly.”
She smiles, though it’s a space-filler, something to do other than tell me that there’s no arse-biting in her life likely to happen soon. “Enjoy them.”
“I will. Take care, Annie,” I say, because if there’s one thing I’ve figured out about Annie Ryan in the short time I’ve known her, it’s that she’s quite happy taking care of herself. She doesn’t need a man, but does she want one?
I head down the steps and scoop up my girl, taking a bite of her candyfloss. “How much of this stuff have you had?”
“There’s no hope of her sleeping on the plane.” Raya slides an arm under my suit jacket and attaches herself to my side, and like a magnet, my arm wraps around her shoulder and pulls her in, because she isn’t close enough.
I drop a kiss on the forehead of each of my girls and start walking us to the car. “We all packed?”
“Yes!” Georgia is about to burst with excitement. “I have two new bikinis and a sparkly dress, too,” she declares.