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 can swim!” I yelled back.
Rafe’s lips pinched together and then he suddenly seemed to realize where we were and that the guests were all watching us, including his family. “Let’s talk about this later. We need to get cleaned up.”
“Yes, I think we’ve had enough drama and embarrassment for one day.” Pippa nodded, apparently affronted by the whole thing.
I just . . . I lost my shit.
“Oh, I embarrassed you by trying to save a dog?”
Pippa flinched in surprise. “Well, no, of course not—”
“I mean, first it’s the way I dress, my friends, my name, my job . . . now it’s the way I save animals!” I whirled on Rafe. “And you!” Tears flooded my eyes. “You just stand there . . .” I shook my head. Ironically, it was like the cold water had broken through my numbness. “I have tried to be what everyone wanted for you . . . but I thought love would feel different than this. Better. So if this is love, Whitman, you can drown it in this goddamn marina. I am sick of trying to fit in when I was perfectly happy before I met you. I do love you, more than I knew I could love anyone. But I cannot choose you over me. You and I . . . I think we’re done.” Tears streamed down my face as I pulled out of Jen’s hands, whispering a hoarse “sorry” under my breath as I grabbed the stupid yellow dress off the deck and stormed through our audience.
I’d barely made it onto the dock when I heard his booming deep voice call out, “Star, don’t even think about taking another step!”
The heart-wrenching sobs I’d been holding back were desperate to burst forth, but I shoved them down to face him. Rafe marched onto the gangplank, face hard with determination, water still glistening on his naked torso. I wondered if he realized everyone had followed behind him to watch the show from the yacht. Including his entire family, again.
Dammit.
“We have an audience,” I told him.
“I could give a flying fuck if people watch us. You do not”—he slowed to a halt in front of me, seeming uncaring that we were both soaking wet and it was October—“get to break up with me and run off without me having a say.”
“You don’t have to say anything.” I couldn’t meet his eyes. “It just didn’t work out.”
“You tell me you love me, but you’re okay to just give up like this?”
My eyes flew to his in anger. “I have tried harder than anyone to make this work!”
“By not being yourself? Did I ask you to do any of that?”
“You didn’t stop me.”
“Because I didn’t know what the hell was going on in your head. You said you didn’t know what you wanted with your life, so I tried giving you space to try things out even if I didn’t like how it was changing you. Believe me, I’d come to the end of my patience with this bullshit and had planned to confront you after the wedding.”
What? I gawked at him in confusion. “Why stay with me then, if you didn’t like the changes?”
“Because I love you!” He grabbed my arms in exasperation. “I think I’ve loved you since the moment you sent me that gift basket after my crappy morning at work. I love you and I don’t want to lose you, Star.”
Shock rendered me speechless for a second. Then I blurted out, “The basket was months ago. That was before we were . . . us.”
He nodded slowly, searching my face with his familiar intensity.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” My chest ached so badly. “I’ve been so afraid to walk away from all of this crap your sister-in-law has been putting me through—no, strike that—that I’ve been putting myself through because I didn’t want to lose my chance with you. I kept hoping and waiting that you’d fall in love with me back.”
Rafe sighed heavily and drew me closer. “I didn’t want to scare you away. I didn’t know you loved me back and it wasn’t easy convincing you to commit to me in the first place, remember? I thought it was better to wait for you to tell me first.”
Understanding dawned and I was suddenly exhausted. “So we’re two morons who’ve been in love with each other for months but were too afraid to say it?”
He chuckled humorlessly. “Yeah, baby, looks like it.”
I pressed my hands to his bare chest and leaned into him. “You really didn’t speak up about the changes because you didn’t know how I felt about them?”
Frustration darkened his expression. “Yeah. But I felt like I was losing you. You were so decided in being who you want to be, everyone else be damned, that I thought my input would just piss you off. I suspected you weren’t happy, but you completely shut me out. And that terrified me, Star. So I didn’t push. I didn’t want to push and lose you anyway.”