Total pages in book: 84
Estimated words: 81718 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 409(@200wpm)___ 327(@250wpm)___ 272(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 81718 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 409(@200wpm)___ 327(@250wpm)___ 272(@300wpm)
I move on down the hall, turning into his room or office. I’m not really sure what I should be calling it, but I’m here, where we initially went over my idea for my tattoo. I spy a bag of food on the desk in the corner as he walks in the room. “Did I interrupt your dinner?”
“Nope. We’re having dinner together. I thought we could eat before we start. I don’t need you passing out on me.” He gives me a grin that my body instantly responds to.
“You bought me dinner?”
“I did. Just BLTs and fries from the place around the corner. There are drinks in the break room. Water. There are some sodas too; I’m not sure what. You’re welcome to take a look.”
I hold up my tumbler. “I have water. I assumed this would be a long session, and I wanted to be prepared.”
“It’s pretty big. We’ll probably have to break it up, but that’s fine. Gives me more time to see you.” He moves toward the desk and pulls out a rolling chair, offering it to me. I take it, and he gets to work passing out our dinner.
“Thank you, Forrest. I was really nervous, but you’ve managed to help calm my fears by just being you.”
“I was hoping having dinner together first might help relax you a little.” He unwraps his sandwich and takes a bite. He holds up his index finger while he chews and quickly swallows. “I printed several stencils so we can apply them in different places unless you’ve made a decision on where you want your ink.”
“I’m still undecided. I was hoping you could help with that. Where do you think it would look best?” I pop a french fry into my mouth, although I should have waited because I almost choke when he runs his heated gaze over my body. I cough and reach for my water.
He clears his throat. “We can try a few places. We won’t start until you're thrilled with the location,” he assures me.
“Thank you.” I pop another fry into my mouth.
“What did you and the girls do today?” he asks.
“I did some cleaning and laundry. We took a walk around the river. The girls have decided they want to try fishing.”
“Yeah?” His eyes light up. “Is that something y’all do often?”
“No. Never with the girls. Brogan and I used to go a lot with Dad. We would come to stay with my grandparents, and then after they passed away, Dad kept their house, which is now the house we live in, and we would still come and spend a couple weeks in the summer and lots of weekends. That’s actually how my girls got their names. Dad always took us to the river and said that the fish would bite the best in the rain. I don’t know… but with my name being Briar, it just kind of fit, and it's after a memory I’ll always cherish with my dad and sister.”
He stares at me for several seconds, a small smile pulling at his lips. He nods and wipes his mouth on his napkin.
“What? What’s that look?” I point at his face.
“It was meant to be,” he replies with a smirk.
“Yeah, I mean, I guess so.” I’m not sure where he’s going with this, but I don’t want to be rude.
“Briar, River, and Rayne.” He lists off our names. “And Forrest.” He points to his chest. “We match. I don’t know why I didn’t think of that before now, but we’re meant to be.”
I can’t help but return his smile. “Just names.” That’s what I say, but my heart thunders as if it knows he’s right.
“I’m just saying, if we have more kids, we could name them Hunter, Sage, Willow, Clay. The possibilities are endless.”
“M-More kids?” I croak.
“Yeah, you want more, right?”
I nod. I start to explain to him that I don’t know that I’ll trust enough again to get to that point, but he already knows that. So, a nod is all he’s going to get as I take a huge bite of my sandwich to keep from having to reply.
“Me too.” He winks.
“That’s kind of soon, right?” I ask him.
“Nah. That’s what dating is for. To get to know someone and see if your life’s goals align. We need to have these conversations.”
“We were just seeing how it goes.”
“We are. Exclusively,” he adds. “I will never give you anything but one-hundred-percent of who I am. I’ll never lie to you, and I’ll never hide from you. That’s me, and the truth, even if it’s not what you want to hear.”
I let his words sink in. “You remind me of him, you know. Of my dad.” I whisper the confession. My palms are sweating. I don’t do this. I don’t open up, but Forrest makes it so damn easy to talk to him. Being around him and with the way he’s always including my daughters, endears me even more to him. I don’t know if this is a long game he’s playing, but something in my gut tells me that’s not the case. I was just lucky enough to find one of the good ones. I was lucky enough to find a man like my father.