Total pages in book: 109
Estimated words: 109608 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 548(@200wpm)___ 438(@250wpm)___ 365(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 109608 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 548(@200wpm)___ 438(@250wpm)___ 365(@300wpm)
He was scared shitless.
An outsider looking in would think he was born with it all.
He was not.
He’d convinced himself he’d had it all when he’d won Belinda’s heart.
He did not.
He’d earned it when Rosalind entered his life and brought Dru with her, and she’d entrusted both of them to him.
Then he lost half of that.
Now, he had a shot at it again.
On this thought, he felt an odd, soft bump hit the bed, this being explained when he felt a cat walk up his leg.
One of Genny and Duncan’s pets.
The cat stopped at his hip, and he felt it staring down at him through the dark.
He figured it’d jump away, but instead, it started to move toward Nora.
He was about to intervene, but was too late. The cat touched her, and she moved.
She swept the feline into her arms and cuddled it, cooing drowsily, “Your Chloe did fine, Puck. Did you ever doubt?”
Jamie heard a loud cat purr.
He kept hearing it even as Nora’s body melted into his as she fell back to sleep.
She liked animals.
That did it.
Decision made.
The cat was still purring when Jamie settled into Nora and drifted asleep.
Jamie woke again, but this time, the sun was shining through the pines.
And he was now on his back, Nora pressed down his side, her arm resting along his stomach, her head on his shoulder.
Having her there after how long he’d waited to have just that, what he didn’t want was to move, but he had to use the bathroom.
He was also keen to get back to the hospital.
He carefully extricated himself from her hold so he wouldn’t wake her and went to the bathroom.
When he finished and walked out, he froze at the sight of her makeup-less face, her bed-tousled mane of hair, and her pretty sleepy eyes, a sight he’d never seen.
And finally, he got to see behind the mask, and what she’d been hiding was even more beautiful than what she gave the world.
She was sitting up on her ass in the bed, her knees to her chest, her arms wrapped around her shins.
She let them go, and moving both legs at once, gracefully swung them over the side, found her feet and walked his way.
She stopped at him and got up on her toes to press a kiss to the underside of his jaw, and then he heard the bathroom door close.
He sat on the end of the bed to wait for her to come out and glanced around.
He’d been to Genny and Duncan’s large mountain house before. It was rustic, cozy, but still impressive, imposing and refined in a way all the logs, wood, stone, western and Native American motifs could not hide.
Taking it in now, he decided he was buying a house in Prescott, Arizona. And if he couldn’t find one he liked, he’d build one.
On this thought, Nora came out of the bathroom and headed to one of her open suitcases, stating, “I’m assuming you wish to whisk away to the hospital tout de suite.”
He was relatively certain he’d never “whisked” anywhere.
But her words made him smile.
And knowing his decision had been made caused warmth to rush his chest.
“Come here,” he ordered gruffly.
She stopped, turned, and regarded him.
“Jamie, I think we should—”
He cut her off by indicating the bed they’d slept in together with a flick of his hand. “I’m pretty sure you’ve caught my drift, but let’s make certain of that, shall we?”
She stood there, staring at him, and it was cute how he could tell she was barely breathing.
But since she needed to do that, and he needed to end the hell he’d been putting her through, he didn’t hesitate to carry on.
“You were right. That kiss wasn’t a mistake. I’ve been wanting to do that for fucking decades. I fell in love with you in that ladies room, Nora, and it might not be right I did when we were both married, but it happened. I’ve loved you ever since. I’m terrified of having you, and life making it go to shit. But I can’t fight it anymore, and more importantly, I can no longer put you through me trying to do it. I want you in my bed and in my life. In my children’s lives. I want to be in your children’s lives. And when we figure out where we’re going to land, and just saying, your apartment is fantastic, but I’d prefer my brownstone, and I’m okay with you redecorating it. Even though Lindy’s touch is all over it, it’ll be your home. So you’ll need to make it yours. But once that’s done, we’re getting a dog and a cat, or maybe two. Of both.”
“I should have come to you,” she whispered.
Jamie smiled again. “Yes, you should have. But why did you say that?”
“Because…it’s so very strange, darling, but I find I can’t move.”