Total pages in book: 117
Estimated words: 111416 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 557(@200wpm)___ 446(@250wpm)___ 371(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 111416 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 557(@200wpm)___ 446(@250wpm)___ 371(@300wpm)
She shifted enough so they disengaged. She reached down, carefully pulled the full condom from him and knotted the end.
She rolled toward his nightstand to tuck it into a tissue until he could dispose of it properly, but she didn’t slip to his side like she normally did. Instead, she remained lying on him, this time face down, giving him all her weight since he’d voiced a few times how much he loved the press of her body against his. She was heavy enough for it to be comforting, but light enough for it not to be smothering.
It wasn’t until she went practically nose to nose with him that she asked, “Am I?”
“Do you want that?”
“I’m neither an ol’ lady or a mafioso’s piece in real life, Fletch. I have no desire to be owned or claimed by anyone. Or even dictated to.”
“Dictated, never. Claimed, maybe, but not owned. And by claimed, I mean wanted. You’d belong to me and no other.”
“Listen, I have no doubt you want me. You make that very clear, even without words. And I’m sure you know I want you, too. But do we need to stake our claim? We already have each other.”
“We have each other for now, but what about after this?”
“Are you asking what will happen to us if our job situation changes? Don’t you want to wait until that time comes before we consider our options?”
“It could be soon, Nova.”
“That could simply mean we’d need to give up our DAMC cuts and move out of this apartment. It could mean we move on to other assignments, whether in the task force or with our respective departments.”
“Nova, if you’re pulled from the task force, as a fed you could be sent anywhere for your next assignment.” He didn’t think he could bear being apart from her for a year, maybe even more.
She considered that a moment. “That’s true, but I don’t think that’ll happen. I’m not getting that vibe from my supervisor.”
“But it’s a possibility. We need to consider our options now in case it does.”
Her eyebrows knitted together. “What do you think are our options?”
“For one, you moving in with me.”
“You mean until my place sells and I can find another one?”
“No.”
She blinked. “You mean us living together… permanently?”
“Living together would be the first step.”
“We’re already doing that. You mean us living together somewhere else.”
If he was going to put shit out there, he was going to put it all out there. He wasn’t going to hold back. She needed to know how he felt and what he wanted. Either she wanted the same as him, or she didn’t. And if she didn’t, he needed to know that now, not later when he was too far gone. “That’s what I mean. This place is temporary. I don’t want us to be temporary, too.”
“I know you have this thing about getting hitched. Anyone who’s had two fiancées must. Clearly you don’t have a fear of commitment like some other men. But I’ve never really given a shit about the whole walking down the aisle thing, or the white gown, exchanging rings and vows and all the rest of it. While that might have been some girls’ dream, it was never mine.”
That didn’t surprise him. He imagined she’d been the kind of little girl who said fuck Barbie and society’s stereotypes and played spy wars with G.I. Joe instead.
And that right there made him realize he’d been chasing the wrong type of women and why none of them ever stuck. He needed one who broke the typical mold.
Nova was certainly that woman.
A rarity who would be hard to find again, if not impossible.
Not that he wanted to try. He found the woman he was meant to be with. She was lying on top of him right this very fucking minute.
“It’s not about the ceremony and all that other bullshit,” he explained. “I don’t give a fuck about that. It’s about the commitment.”
“Commitment,” she echoed. “But not love?”
Fuck. Now they were digging deeper into the very conversation they’d been putting off. Or at least one he’d been putting off. “I didn’t say that.”
“But shouldn’t you love someone before committing to them? Unless it’s some sort of business or family arrangement, of course. Situations like that certainly happen.”
What he was about to reveal next could change everything. If his gut instinct had been totally off, it could send their partnership off the rails. It could either get really fucking awkward… or solidify it.
He was about to take a leap without a fucking parachute and hope she cushioned his fall. “Who says I don’t love you?”
She went solid against him. “Umm…”
Fuck. He was in a free fall, spinning and barreling to the ground.
He hooked a leg around her and twisted until she ended up on her back with him over her. She stared up at him with wide brown eyes.