Total pages in book: 155
Estimated words: 145634 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 728(@200wpm)___ 583(@250wpm)___ 485(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 145634 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 728(@200wpm)___ 583(@250wpm)___ 485(@300wpm)
I squint at the photo, completely oblivious to Nathan’s reaction.
“Are you serious?” he says and the disbelief makes me lower the computer screen. His dark eyes sparkle with a look I’ve never seen before, but it’s one that makes my heart stutter, as if it's forgotten its natural rhythm simply because of the way he’s looking at me.
My lips part and that smile comes back. “No,” I tell him and turn my gaze back to the computer as the heat of a blush climbs up my chest. “I’m not pregnant.”
Nathan takes a drink from a water bottle, the thin plastic crinkling and the sound filling the tense air between us. It’s too soon. I keep telling him that and everyone else, the pain in my ass Lydia, especially. But watching his reaction stirs up something inside of me.
I watch the rough stubble on his jaw and throat move as he downs the water and then walks over to the recycling bin to toss the bottle.
“They didn’t congratulate me when they asked for a quote,” he says as the lid drops on the bin and he moves to the fridge for another water. “Those bastards,” he adds jokingly and makes me laugh hard enough that my shoulders shake.
First comes love, then comes marriage, I think as I look down at my ring finger. A three-carat, cushion cut platinum engagement ring shines back at me. I’m still trying to get used to it, let alone the idea of a little one. It’s just too fast. I pull my eyes away and look back to the article. But we’ve never been a couple who’ve done a single thing slowly.
My eyes flick from him to the words on the screen, not that I’m able to read another word. “Did you really tell them that?” I ask him.
I’ve never felt so loved in my life. I always knew I was meant for Nathan. I’ve never doubted it, even when he left.
He nods once and states, “I won’t lose you again, Hally.”
“You’re so dramatic,” I tell him half-jokingly, but we both know he’s serious. And so am I. I know what it’s like without him and I never want to feel it again.
I refuse to. He’s my everything. And I won’t settle on being anything less than his everything.
As I close the laptop, scooting it away from me on the slick glass tabletop and push my chair back across the kitchen floor, Nathan closes the space between us and leans against the kitchen table. He cups my cheek in his hand and leans forward to whisper against my lips, “I love you.”
He presses his lips against mine for a sweet, chaste kiss that makes every inch of my body relax and melt into him. The moment he breaks it, far before I’m ready for the tender touch to end, I tell him words he already knows, “I love you, too.”
The End
TELL ME TO STAY
TELL ME TO STAY
Tell Me to Stay
by Willow Winters
From USA Today bestselling author, Willow Winters, comes a seductive and emotionally captivating second-chance romance.
It’s impossible to get over what we had.
He was everything — irresistibly handsome, ruthlessly elite, and seemingly untouchable — while I was nothing.
Yet he protected me when I was at my lowest; more than that, he wanted me.
He devoured me… and I did the same to him.
Until it all fell apart and I ran as far away from Madox as I could. After all, the two of us were never meant to be together.
I never thought I’d see him again, years later. Let alone be under him in the way I’ve craved since we said goodbye.
The attraction between us still burns like fire, but time can’t change the past. And I don’t know if it’s possible for us to mend all of our broken pieces.
"Winters creates another masterpiece of beautiful storytelling and leaves her readers breathless." - Nicki - The Overflowing Bookcase
This romance was originally published in the Cards of Love collection. It has been revised with additional scenes. Happy reading xx.
PREFACE
Seven years ago
“Why do you keep looking at me like that?” I ask him from across the room. A room far too large for what it is. I’m not used to houses like this.
“Like what?”
“Like you can’t look anywhere else.” I can feel my cheeks burning from knowing he’s watching me as I read. My response is meant to sound exasperated and maybe frustrated. Instead, my words are breathless and vulnerability lingers in every syllable.
“Your answer is in your question, Soph.”
PROLOGUE
Madox
I didn’t know she’d left me until her plane had already taken off. That’s the shittiest part of it.
We fucked. We fought. We shared every part of our flawed pieces with each other. That’s the way it always was with us. Apparently, that wasn’t enough to keep her that night.
I didn’t get another word from her after the “fuck you” she spat at me right before her front door slammed in my face. No matter how hard I banged on her apartment door, demanding an answer for why she’d done what she did. I can still feel the way the anger rolled off me as I stood there in the hall for far too long, wondering what the fuck I was even doing there. I didn’t belong in her world — just like she didn’t belong in mine. Shit, my Armani suit didn’t need to spend a single second on that side of the bridge.