Total pages in book: 31
Estimated words: 29255 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 146(@200wpm)___ 117(@250wpm)___ 98(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 29255 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 146(@200wpm)___ 117(@250wpm)___ 98(@300wpm)
“I’m so sorry. I should have told you from the beginning, but I didn’t know how to explain that I’m married but not in the way you think. And honestly, I thought it would scare you away.”
“It did,” she says, and it’s my turn to smile.
“I’m going to make this up to you.” I take a step towards her and take it as a good sign that she doesn’t run from me. “It’s late, and I know that tonight I shouldn’t come in. Tomorrow morning, let me walk the dogs with you again and then let’s have that dinner date. You can come to my house and meet Savannah, and then I’ll bring you home.” She doesn’t answer right away and I reach out and take both her hands with mine. “Let me fix this, Caroline. I know what we have is something that comes along once in a lifetime. I’m not going anywhere, so let me make it better.”
She bites her bottom lip and I touch my finger to her chin. After a moment of hesitation she nods and I breathe a sigh of relief.
“Thank you,” I say, pressing my forehead to hers.
“You better not hurt me again,” she says, and I look into her eyes.
“Never,” I vow, before I press my lips to hers.
We kiss for a long time, but it’s not as hot and fast as it was before. This time it’s tender and sweet as I pour my heart into it. I don’t want to do anything to ruin what we might have, and if that means going slow, then that’s what I’ll do. There’s a fire inside of me that was lit the day I saw her, and it’s impossible to put out. It grows more every time I’m with her, and the longer we’re together the less I want to be apart.
“I’ll pick you up in the morning.” I say, and she smiles at me and nods. “I’ll text you on the way home.”
“Goodnight, Aiden,” she says before I lean in to give her one last kiss.
“Goodnight, my heart.”
When I press my lips to hers it’s almost impossible for me to pull myself away. But finally I take a step back and wait for her to go inside before I breathe another sigh of relief. I thought I lost her and I won’t let that happen again. I’ll do whatever it takes to make her mine, and that includes no longer being a married man.
8
Caroline
“Here.” Gia drops her phone down on the kitchen counter next to me and points at the screen.
The article she has pulled up on her phone is about Aiden and Savannah. I already read it last night when I went to bed. I was unable to stop thinking about Aiden, so I googled him like a stalker. It’s an article about his wedding day and there’s a picture showing them both dressed for the occasion. Neither of them looks like they want to be there. How could their families not see this? Maybe they didn’t care.
I got out of an interrogation by Gia after Aiden left last night because Marco showed up. He took pity on me and silenced Gia with a kiss that I’m pretty sure made her forget her own name. I made sure I was gone before she woke up this morning because I’m not sure what to say about the whole thing.
I place my finger on the phone screen and swipe to the next picture, knowing what it will be. It’s the only picture I could find of Savannah and Aiden actually touching and it’s on their wedding day. He has his arm around her and he’s kissing the top of her head. It’s not the way people would hold each other if they were lovers. I’ve seen Gia’s brothers do the same thing to her when she’s worked up and that’s all I could think when I saw it.
“Look at her, Gia.” The room is quiet as we both stare at the beautiful woman in the picture on her wedding day.
“She’s sad,” Gia finally says, sighing.
“Miserable,” I add.
He’s trying to comfort the woman he told me is like his sister, more so since he lost his own and he felt even more protective of her because of that. I saw the pain his sister’s death caused him when he told me about her.
“Misery loves company,” Gia mumbles to herself.
She picks up her phone and starts swiping and I go back to feeding Elvis, who is Team Aiden. He made that clear today when he did everything Aiden encouraged him to do without a fight. Not only that, he wanted to stay for all of the walks just to be with him.
“He lost a sister,” she mumbles as she plops down on the sofa. “She looks just like Savannah.” Gia shows me the picture, but again I’ve already seen it. It’s of the two young girls holding on to each other and smiling as they show off the same missing front teeth. Their resemblance is so stark, though they weren’t related.