Total pages in book: 34
Estimated words: 31942 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 160(@200wpm)___ 128(@250wpm)___ 106(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 31942 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 160(@200wpm)___ 128(@250wpm)___ 106(@300wpm)
Brody starts to chuckle but before he can finish it, he makes a pained noise. I hate that his stomach hurts so much. It has to be time for more pain medication by now.
I march toward the bed and fluff the pillows behind him. “What is so funny?”
“You’re such a fierce little warrior. It was hot.” He takes my hand in his and presses a gentle kiss to my palm.
The gesture makes me want to melt right here. I realize I didn’t tell him how I feel. “I love you so much. I fell in love with you when I was eight years old and I’ve spent a lifetime waiting for you to love me back.”
“No more regrets. This is our new beginning,” he murmurs before he takes my mouth in a tender kiss. It’s a gentle kiss, a careful one. We’re both bruised and sore and aching but it doesn’t stop the passion that flows between us.
When I finally break away to suck in oxygen, I press my forehead against his.
“Love you lamb,” he says again as he runs a hand down my back. This moment is perfect. I love the most wonderful man in all of the world, and he loves me back.
EPILOGUE
CHARLIE
Three hours and seven minutes. That’s how long our car ride was. Four hours and fourteen minutes. That’s how long I’ve been wearing the underwear that Brody left for me to discover this morning.
I thought for certain he would have turned them on and played with the settings by now. I know he has the controls on his phone. I looked up the brand as soon as I saw them. I envisioned a road trip filled with delicious orgasms. But he hasn’t started the vibrating panties once.
So now I’m wearing soaked panties and I’m stomping into the hotel lobby right behind my husband. We were married in the hospital chapel. Brody proposed with my mother’s ring. He received it from Elliott who gave his blessing. Not that we needed it. We would have gotten married either way, but it was nice to have it.
After he proposed, I told Brody that we’d spent three years waiting and I didn’t want to wait anymore.
Our friends helped us get married. We both had to be wheeled into the chapel, but it was still the most perfect day that’s ever happened in the entire existence of the world.
Now it’s been six months and we’ve both made a full recovery. At least, physically. He has nightmares about that day. In them, he worries about not making it to me in time. When the nightmares wake him, I curl up in his arms and hold him through the night.
I have panic attacks a few times each week. I dropped out of school and I’m not sure if I’ll go back. I see a therapist, but the truth is, I’m not the same person I was before. I doubt I’ll ever be that woman again.
She says that’s normal and trauma causes you to reinvent yourself. I don’t know if that’s true. All I know is that when the panic attacks are bad, Brody is right there to hold me through them.
After he was transferred to a jail in Texas, Kyle committed suicide. I feel like he got away with everything, as if there’s no real justice since both he and his dad are gone. But the one positive is that the story never made it to the mainstream media. It would have turned our lives into a circus.
Now Brody and I spend our time traveling. I love getting to see new places and it’s fun to explore with him by my side.
I’m even working on my video channel again. I tried to get Brody to be in the videos, but he refused. At first, I was angry with him. Then he explained that because of his work in the Army and the cyber crimes he solves, he doesn’t want his face out there. “It could be a security threat for you. Someone would realize that you’re my wife.”
Even the picture he put up on social media of us to lure out Kyle has been scrubbed from the internet. I don’t know how he managed to do it, but he did.
The only copy of that picture that exists is framed in our living room. I may hate the men that led me to seek out Brody’s protection, but we wouldn’t be together today if they hadn’t stalked me.
Of course, Brody still helps me with the videos I make. He’s amazing at setup, lighting, and editing. He monitors the comments and messages, always scanning them before I see anything. It’s nice knowing that he’s my first line of defense.
Brody finally finishes the check in process. He reaches for my suitcase, the hot pink one on wheels but I pull it from his grasp and glare at him. He chuckles. It’s a low throaty sound that only turns me on more, damn him.