Total pages in book: 151
Estimated words: 139803 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 699(@200wpm)___ 559(@250wpm)___ 466(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 139803 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 699(@200wpm)___ 559(@250wpm)___ 466(@300wpm)
He turned and jogged back into the house. I waited until he was back outside with a blanket before I opened the door. The two of us used our bodies to block anyone who might see her while I draped the blanket over her and lifted her sleeping body into my arms.
I hadn’t expected to have sex with her. I was honestly just expecting a quiet lunch as I let her enjoy the rain. It was her favorite kind of weather.
But fuck if I wasn’t happy she had let that happen between us. It meant she was accepting me. Even if she was having trouble excepting Julian and I together, it was still a huge step for her to willingly be together with both of us, even if just separately.
I could feel her shutting down when Julian’s voice came through my phone, but she needed to know he was okay with her and I together. The more he was involved until she was comfortable, the quicker she would come to realize that it was okay to want both of us, to be with both of us.
Hell, even Julian had been the one to bring up the idea of us both being with her and taking care of her.
Julian pushed open the door to the house, and I stepped in sideways so I could fit through the frame with her in my arms. “Put her in bed,” Julian whispered after he pressed a kiss to her forehead. “I’ve got food in the dining room. You hungry?”
I nodded as I strode down the hall that led to their room. I gently laid her on the bed and covered her up. She snuggled further into the blanket, a soft sigh leaving her lips. I smiled down at her. “Love you, sweet girl,” I whispered.
I knew she wasn’t ready to consciously hear those words from me, and that was okay. I could wait; I could be patient. I could be anything this beautiful woman needed me to be so long as it meant she was content.
I stepped out of the room and walked to the kitchen. Julian slid me a box of food. “I grabbed your usual,” he told me.
“Thanks.” I grabbed a plastic fork and sat at the table.
“How did her session go?” Julian asked as he sat across from me and dug into his food like a starved man.
“She came out smiling.” His eyes brightened with hope for our woman. “Her rose bush is blooming.”
“That rose bush means something huge to her,” Julian commented. “Most of her paintings that depict her as my goddess have that rose bush in it. I wonder what she’ll paint now that it’s blooming.”
I shrugged. “Only she knows, but to her, it means she’s healing. She’s been feeling better; I can see it, and it brightened her soul when she saw her rose bush blooming, too.”
Julian sighed as he set his fork down. “I need to talk to her, but I’m afraid it’s going to make her pedal back a little bit.”
“What’s going on, Julian?” I asked him.
He clenched his jaw as he pulled en envelope out of his sweats and slid it across the table to me. I slowly picked it up and opened it.
* * *
She Said Yes!
You are invited to join Vincent and Desiree
as she becomes a Turner.
Date: February 16
Time: 2:00 PM
RSVP to either Vincent or Desiree.
* * *
“Fuck,” I swore as I looked up at my best friend. “February is her favorite month of the year. Not only that, but to her, this will feel like neither of them truly gave a shit about what she was going through.”
Julian nodded. “I obviously know no one else was putting their lives on hold while they waited on her to get well enough to come home, but Vincent was her best friend.” Julian shook his head. “I expected better from him. And since I told him to give her a little bit of time, he hasn’t bothered coming back around. Almost feels like he thinks she’s not worth the time anymore.”
“She’s already so fucking torn over him.” I grunted as I closed the lid on my food, no longer hungry. I leaned back in my seat as I drummed my fingers on the table. Sometimes, I really wanted to bash Vincent’s face into a fucking brick wall.
How did you go from putting someone as your number one priority to looking at them like a stranger? He had put her in that facility. He had seen her just like I had that day that we came to her dorm.
Why the fuck did he turn his back on her?
“Fuck,” I swore as I jumped out of my seat. “I need to be alone for a while.”
Julian nodded. “I’ve got her, bro,” he promised.
I nodded once and stormed out of the house, pulling my car keys from my pocket.