Total pages in book: 118
Estimated words: 111959 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 560(@200wpm)___ 448(@250wpm)___ 373(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 111959 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 560(@200wpm)___ 448(@250wpm)___ 373(@300wpm)
“I-I mean . . . not abundantly.”
His jawline ticked. “I don’t miss people to the point of torment, Josephine. And I don’t spend the night with women, waking up every couple of hours to convince myself they’re not a dream. I do both of those things with you like it’s my job. And a lot of other annoying things I’m not willing to admit yet, but they involve planning trips to Bath and Body Works and wondering if Wellsophine is a viable ship name.” He slapped a hand down on the door above her head and leaned down until their noses were almost touching. “I was very happy being alone until you showed up. You’ve ruined me.”
Her heart galloped in her chest. “I’m sorry.”
“I’m not. I love being ruined by you. Bring it the fuck on.” He kissed Josephine hard, slanting his mouth across hers and licking deep, his fingers sliding up into her hair and fisting. “We can be a secret for now. I understand your reasons. But don’t ask me if we’re in a relationship when I can barely think straight around you.”
“We’re in a relationship,” she whispered against his mouth. “Of course we are.”
He let out an uneven exhale into her hair. “Good girl. Now if you don’t mind, I’d like to go spend some quality fucking time with my girlfriend’s parents. Sound good?”
Swallowing proved impossible.
Oh God. She’d already admitted to herself that she’d fallen for this man, but her feelings were veering closer and closer toward love.
Let yourself fall. Just let go and take the dive.
That’s what Josephine’s heart compelled her to do. So what was holding her back from plunging down without a harness into the wind? Nothing.
Except the not-so-distant future when she’d have to put Wells’s interests aside and focus on her own.
She trusted this man. More than she trusted anyone besides her parents and Tallulah. But she wasn’t sure she trusted him to let her go so easily.
For now, though, she would let go, just a little more, and see where the wind blew her.
What choice did she have when Wells was looking at her like his next breath hinged on her answer? “Quality time sounds amazing.”
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Mimosas were not Wells’s drink of choice.
The flute felt breakable in his grip. Champagne was for women.
But hell if he didn’t knock back three of those suckers without noticing.
He was too wrapped up in the stories Evelyn and Jim were telling about Josephine to pay attention to anything else. The best part was Josephine blushing and begging them to stop. Goddamn, he wanted to hear it all again, but with her sitting in his lap next time so he could tickle her, kiss those pinkening cheeks and neck.
He really needed to get a grip on his hunger for his girlfriend. At least around her parents.
Girlfriend.
Had he bullied her into it? He’d been worried about that initially—and then he remembered that his Josephine didn’t get bullied into anything. If she’d agreed to be in a relationship with Wells, that’s because she wanted to be in one with him. End of story.
Although . . . maybe later, he’d just double- and triple-check.
God willing, it wouldn’t be on the DL forever. He didn’t know how long he could manage keeping the whole thing to himself. Even before they started dating, he’d been pretty obvious about his growing feelings. Warning Calhoun away from her like a possessive beast. Escorting her all over a family-friendly resort as if she might fall victim to an ambush.
And she didn’t even know about her birthday present yet.
Would he be able to keep things professional in public? At all times?
Professionalism wasn’t exactly his strong suit. Throw in the fact that he was officially dating a woman who made him feel purposeful and alive—not to mention hornier than he’d ever been in his twenty-nine years—and the ball of yarn could unravel fast. Even now, at brunch with her jovial but watchful parents, he was having a hard time stopping himself from yanking Josephine’s chair closer so he could hold her hand.
They weren’t keeping their relationship a secret from Jim and Evelyn, but Josephine wanted to let things settle after they’d walked in on him trying to drag her back to the bedroom for round two of sex.
That’s fine. That’s her right.
He didn’t have to like it, though.
“Why are you frowning at me?” Josephine whispered to him out of the corner of her mouth.
“I’m just concentrating on the story,” he rumbled back.
That wasn’t a complete lie. Resolving to hold the shit out of her hand later, when they were alone, he crossed his arms, leaned back in his chair, and listened to Evelyn and Jim’s story, amused by the way they traded sentences.
“Every single one of Joey’s teeth has been lost in some traumatic way,” Jim said, waving his hands around. “The first one came out the second day of kindergarten.”