Total pages in book: 105
Estimated words: 100277 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 501(@200wpm)___ 401(@250wpm)___ 334(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 100277 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 501(@200wpm)___ 401(@250wpm)___ 334(@300wpm)
“I’m just saying call it what it is.” He kissed me tenderly as he slipped his hand between my legs. Finding me ready, he guided himself inside me and I arched into his slow glide, wrapping my legs around his waist.
Holding his gaze, I clasped his face in my hands, my breath hitching every time he retreated and returned to me. While beautiful tension coiled tight, tighter and tighter, low in my belly, an overwhelming feeling of awe flooded over me.
I’d never felt so connected to anyone in my entire life.
I’d never pictured anyone, not even my friends, in every conceivable version of my future, right until my last day. Until Rafe. I couldn’t imagine that journey without him now.
“I love you,” I murmured against his lips as he moved inside me.
His features hardened as his thrusts deepened, and his voice was gruff as he replied, “I love you too.”
No one interrupted, thankfully. We took our time. And my orgasm was even more spectacular for it. If the time it took for Rafe to stop shuddering was evidence, his was good too.
He pressed his face to my throat, trying to catch his breath, and I rubbed my hand on his back, beneath his sweater in soothing circles. “See. Totally romantic.”
I felt his smile against my skin and grinned up at the ceiling.
Epilogue
Got engaged, Star Shine. Popped the question to Maggie last night. She said yes.
I looked down at the reply from Arlo. We hadn’t spoken since I’d called him to ask if what Dawn had told me was true. It was, of course, and I’d told him I was happy for him if he was happy. He was. But even then I hadn’t expected this response to my text checking in.
Arlo and Dawn had never gotten married, so it surprised me Arlo was into that.
Maybe it shouldn’t have.
I was starting to think Arlo had changed who he was to keep Dawn, and after my own experience I understood, I sympathized. The difference was I didn’t know how he lasted as long as he did, considering I couldn’t last a few weeks pretending to be something I wasn’t.
The biggest difference, though, was that Rafe hadn’t wanted me to change to be with him.
Dawn had wanted Arlo to compromise himself for her.
I was happy for my father if he’d found someone he could be himself with. I texted him back, telling him so. As for Dawn, unsurprisingly, I hadn’t heard from her since I told her I was done with her. That would always hurt, but not like it used to. It was a dull ache, almost like a phantom pain after an injury had healed.
“Hey, excuse me?” I felt a tap on my shoulder and glanced over it.
A guy in hipster clothes, beanie hat and all, smiled at me. “Yeah?”
“Could you tell me what we’re waiting in line for?”
I grinned. “Sure. It’s this new bakery the media has been raving about.”
“Oh cool. I guess I’ll stick it out, then.”
“Great. You want a snack? I have a bunch.” I opened my purse and held out some candy bars and chips.
“Ooh, Snickers. Thanks!” He eyed me with a flirtatious smile. “Nice and pretty. Hard combination to find.”
“Oh, you’re sweet. My boyfriend thinks so too.”
His smile didn’t wane as he caught my subtle point. “ ’Course he does. Thanks for the bar.”
“You’re welcome.” I turned around, straining my neck to see how much longer I had to wait. My client wanted a box of cupcakes dropped off at his office, and I wasn’t sure I was going to make it before most of the stuff was sold out.
One would think after Christmas and New Year’s, the people of New York might be a little sick of spending money, but no. My line-sitting job was still booming. Still, I made barely enough to pay half the rent on our apartment, so my time as a line sitter would come to its inevitable end. Dating Rafe had changed my entire perspective on commitment. Committing to a career didn’t fill me with that sense of fear or entrapment as it once did. In fact, I was eager to find a career that made me want to settle down and stop hopping around from one job to the next. Something stable that fulfilled me. I wasn’t one hundred percent on what I wanted for the future, but I’d winnowed down my list to two.
Counseling or public relations.
I was a people person and I wanted to do something that allowed me to be a people person.
The two options were totally different, obviously, and both would mean going back to school, but the thought didn’t scare me anymore. It excited me. I just had to figure out which of them called to me more. I was scared that if I pursued one and hated it, I’d feel like a failure.