Total pages in book: 137
Estimated words: 138683 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 693(@200wpm)___ 555(@250wpm)___ 462(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 138683 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 693(@200wpm)___ 555(@250wpm)___ 462(@300wpm)
“That’s understandable. Today was…” I trailed off, unsure how to put it into words.
“Rough.” There was an apology in his voice, and he picked up the bottle of beer he had sitting open and took a swig of it.
My head shook, my voice quieted. “No. It was wonderful, not that there weren’t parts of it that weren’t hard. It was just…worth it.”
Devotion carved itself deep into his expression. “They’re worth everything to me.”
Emotion thickened my throat. “They’re truly amazing. The sweetest things.”
“You did good, Tessa. Really, really good.”
I forced lightness into my shaky laugh. “Well, I’ve been told I’m a great actress. I might have missed my calling.”
He surprised me by stepping forward.
That big body filled the space to overflowing, the man stealing the breath from my lungs.
I stumbled backward with the force of it.
Energy flashed as he eased even closer, and I shivered when he angled down so close to my face that I could taste all his yummy deliciousness.
“That wasn’t acting, Tessa. That was your kindness. Your gentleness. Your care. The way you made my kids feel like they were the center of your world. There is no faking that.”
“No, that part wasn’t acting.” The confession breezed out in a thin wisp from my lips.
I swore he inhaled the words.
“Remy liked you.” He muttered it low, a pain seeded so deep in his being when he spoke of her.
“She misses you.” I prayed he could feel my belief as I gazed at his unforgettable face. At the stark, defined angles of his jaw and brow. At the softness of his mouth.
He gave a tight nod. “She remembers livin’ with me. What our life used to be like. Felt the trauma of it being ripped apart.”
I shouldn’t have, but I reached up and gently scratched my nails through his beard.
Everything about Milo Hendricks made me want to crawl right inside.
Hold him.
Maybe let him hold me, too.
Because there was no missing the way our emptiness ached, and maybe those vacancies wouldn’t hurt so bad if we let each other fill them.
“I can see that she is also fiercely strong, like her dad. Quiet and insightful. Kind and gentle.”
He breathed out a harsh breath. “That’s what you think of me?”
“I do.”
A rough laugh curled from his throat. “That’s me trying to control who I really am.”
My head shook. “Don’t you see that in your daughter? All of those amazing qualities?”
His brow pinched. “Everything about her is amazing.”
My nails kept scraping through the prickly hairs of his beard. “And she is so very much like you.”
“Tessa…”
“It’s true.”
He blinked like he wanted to believe it but didn’t know how.
“And Scout…” I murmured with a smile pulling at the edge of my mouth. “He’s a perfect little handful, just like you said.”
“They’re my world. The meaning of this life.”
I nodded. “You’re a great dad, Milo.”
“I’m tryin’ to be.”
“There’s no trying to it. It radiates from you. It’s powerful and all-consuming, and I promise you that your kids feel it. I promise they know your love for them. Even from across the miles. Even when they’re not here with you. They know.”
Torment moved through his expression, and I let my fingertips slide up his face until my palm was on his cheek.
Did he feel the connection? Did he grasp this same feeling that I had for him? The one that kept growing stronger each day?
His hand slipped over mine, and he pressed my palm firm against his face. “And you have given me the chance to erase those miles, Tessa.”
A flood of warmth washed across my skin, and my tongue swept out over my lips.
The energy was so thick between us it’d become the oxygen.
Flames crackled, and his eyes flashed.
“They deserve to be with you, Milo. They love you and you love them, and it is clear that you would do absolutely anything to protect and provide for them. This is right, what we’re doing.”
He could barely nod. “And dealing with Paula?”
“She’s horrible, Milo. Her aura, what radiates around her? It’s not just broken, it’s ugly, and it makes me sick, what she’s putting you and the kids through, but I’ll take her ugliness on, too.”
His gaze flashed with anger. “Don’t want to put you through that.”
“We’re in this together. Remember?”
He warred for a beat before he nodded. “Yeah.”
Then something that was close to a grin flitted over his mouth, and somehow, he drew me even closer as he studied me.
“Her aura?” He quirked a brow, somewhere between a tease and true curiosity.
A self-conscious giggle slipped free. “I just…see things about people in ways I’m not sure anyone else does.”
“That why you treat people like you’ve always known them from the moment you meet them?”
Heat flushed my cheeks. “I usually can tell if someone needs a friend. Support. A person there to encourage them.”
He hesitated before he asked, “And what is it you see when you’re around me?”