Total pages in book: 76
Estimated words: 70429 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 352(@200wpm)___ 282(@250wpm)___ 235(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 70429 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 352(@200wpm)___ 282(@250wpm)___ 235(@300wpm)
“But what about—”
He placed his palm over her mouth.
“Shhh. This isn’t something that needs a long-drawn-out discussion, baby.” He slipped his hand away from her lips. “Since we’re on the same page, I want to see where this goes,” he interjected. “I’m not a half-stepper. I do nothin’ half-ass. Either I’m all in or I’m not. I want a life partner. That’s what I’m lookin’ for, and I’m willin’ to stop communicating with everyone else, all the other women, to focus exclusively on you.”
He sat down beside her, then wrapped his hand around the back of her neck and pulled her in for a kiss. She closed her eyes as the minty flavor in her mouth blended with the coffee from his. She shuddered from his touch. He was like electricity. Whenever he kissed her, sparks flew. When he pulled away, they stared at one another, both expressions soon turning into a smile.
He lay back on the bed, hands behind his head and staring at the ceiling as if it were the sky full of stars. There was no doubt that this man had a lot on his mind.
“When I was a lil’ boy, I was attached to my mama at the hip. She was a superhero in my eyes. As the years passed, some of the memories I have of her have become fuzzy. I don’t like that. It’s troublin’. In some ways, that’s all I have left of her. The memories. If they fade, I’m left empty-handed.” She nodded in understanding. “I told you ’bout my teacher, Mrs. Florence, and how I believe she placed you in my path at just the right time.”
“Yeah…”
“I’ve been fightin’ what she wants me to do—the promise I made,” he said, waving his hand in a lazy gesture. “I know this sounds stupid. Crazy. I may not be makin’ any sense to you. The words I’m sayin’ probably sound clear as mud, but Azure, it’s the truth.”
“Well, if you’ve been fightin’ her so much, not wanting to satisfy your promise to her, and you think I’m part of her evil scheme,” she chuckled, but he didn’t laugh, “why would you even approach me in the first place? I’m a pawn in the game. A means to an end, right?”
“It’s for the same reason I’m still speakin’ to my brothers, Legend and Axel. The same reason I came to the funeral in the first damn place. All of that is part of her plan, but I have control regarding how and when I do it.” He pointed at his chest to emphasize his point. “My brothers have been houndin’ me about this promise, and I wouldn’t put anything past them getting me to fulfill my responsibility. I’m the last one standin’. I have nightmares each and every fuckin’ night now. She doesn’t let up. I see my dead mama… me as a distressed child, my dead Aunt Angel. It’s a torment… it’s painful. She shows me things that hurt my heart. Make me feel. It’s hard to do that. I taught myself to not feel emotional pain for so long, but Mrs. Florence found a way around that. As far as you are concerned, I didn’t have to talk to you, but I chose to. My attraction to you is real. She wouldn’t be presenting herself as some Cupid with the ability to make me think I’m diggin’ someone that I’m not. All of this is genuine between us, so even though I know what she’s done, I’m handling this in my timing, and how I want to—and I want you. That’s final.”
“Well,” she ran her hand up and down her arm, suppressing a smile, “I can’t argue with that.”
“When I brought up me being a child, it was for a reason. Not just to tell you that I’m forgetting memories about my mama or how great she was the measly five years I had her. I brought it up because after her death, I stopped talkin’. Like you, I was in a cornfield. Lost. I lived inside my own mind. Aunt Angel took me to the preacher. That didn’t help. She took me to a therapist and there wasn’t much they could do, either. Everyone tried to get me to talk again. No one could. Then, one day, I decided to say somethin’ after months and months of quiet.”
“What did you say, and to who?”
“I told Aunt Angel that I hated scrambled eggs and wanted her to stop makin’ them.”
Azure burst out laughing and flopped down on the bed beside him. She turned to him to find him grinning.
“You should smile more often. You have such a nice smile, Caspian.”
“This smile you see right now is real. Most of my life, my smiles have been fake.”
“Why would you do that? Why would you smile when you didn’t want to?”