Total pages in book: 116
Estimated words: 107673 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 538(@200wpm)___ 431(@250wpm)___ 359(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 107673 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 538(@200wpm)___ 431(@250wpm)___ 359(@300wpm)
I moved a little faster as I went to the bathroom. If I let my thoughts go, I’d wake myself up, but that didn’t seem to matter to this head of mine. I silently shut the door behind me, keeping the light off to avoid waking Dash. Since I rarely cared about other people, it was a foreign thought to worry about his comfort.
Hell, I’d never slept in bed with another person, except for Dash years ago. I honestly believed I wouldn’t like to cuddle, let alone to be wrapped around someone to go to sleep. Apparently, a lot of new ideologies were headed for me.
My thoughts shifted. A wicked smile came to my face as I realized how livid my father would be with me. If he hadn’t died, I’d still be under his thumb. He controlled me like the bitch I became, or better yet, the one he’d created inside me. How my mom got tangled up with him in the first place was mind-blowing. Maybe he’d preyed on her like he had me.
I finished up in the bathroom and took careful steps back to bed. Dash wasn’t where I’d left him, dreaming of the world we’d now build. He was on his back, arm over his eyes. He’d turned back the blankets for my arrival.
Even though he hadn’t said I love you, and I had said it a few times now, he showed me with his actions, which was so much sweeter to experience. My random thoughts came together and calmed me as I watched him for my entire route to bed. I climbed in, dragging the covers with me as Dash rolled over to face me. He opened his tired eyes.
“I tried not to wake you,” I whispered.
“I don’t think you did. I think I sensed you were gone,” he explained. I nudged closer to his unbelievably warm and inviting body. He shifted his head, allowing room for me on the comfortable pillow we shared. “You’re cold. Why’re you so cold?”
“Why is it so cold in this room?” I countered. The question must have been difficult because his brow wrinkled. My feet mixed with his. The icicles woke him completely, and his eyelids popped open for him to stare at me.
“Why’re your feet so cold? Did you go outside?”
“Did you turn the heater down?” I asked.
“Oh yeah,” he said after a long yawn. “I wanted us together when we slept, and thought we’d get too hot. What time is it?”
“I don’t know, I didn’t look.” My palm slid over his hair, pushing the strands off his forehead. I liked them there, made him appear human, not the male model who walked off the pages of GQ magazine.
One of my arms pushed underneath the pillow, the other wrapped around him, drawing us closer together. “I was just thinkin’ about how I’ve never slept with anyone but you before.”
“Mmm,” Dash murmured and rolled me onto my back. He followed, resting his cheek into the crook of my neck, his body halfway covering mine.
“What else did you think about?” he asked, his fingertips trailing softly over my skin.
He knew me well. “I didn’t like my dad.”
“Me either. What else?” he asked. “Your voice relaxes me.”
“How much I love you,” I said, leaving the last part of my thought unsaid.
He turned his face to mine, his eyes back to being only slight slits. He grinned at me, his lips puckering. I obliged the kiss. “I love hearing it.”
“I think I would too,” I murmured. It took several seconds for Dash to understand before he lifted again to see me.
“I tell you that I love you. I try to show it to you all the time. Am I missing the mark?”
“No, I feel it. You just haven’t said it.” I tucked my arm better around him. Then lifted my hand to his head to push it back down.
“I love you, Beau. Completely in love with you. You’re more special to me than I gave you credit for, and I gave you lots of credit.” He pressed his lips against my chest. It did help to him to say it aloud. I didn’t know relief was tied to my feelings about Dash. It seemed the opposite in fact; I was confident in us. But the verbal reinforcement helped. “Do I need to wake up and figure out what’s happening to you right now?”
“No, I’m good. It was nice to hear.”
“Then I’ll make sure to tell you more. The word love felt inadequate for the devotion I feel for you. I’m grateful that you’ve allowed me back…”
“Shh,” I said, letting my hand massage whatever skin I could touch. “Go to sleep. Tomorrow’s coming.”
Maybe for the first time ever, Dash listened, then yawned again. His soft, even snores came fast. My guy was tired. I’d put him through too much. My eyes closed too.