Total pages in book: 135
Estimated words: 131916 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 660(@200wpm)___ 528(@250wpm)___ 440(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 131916 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 660(@200wpm)___ 528(@250wpm)___ 440(@300wpm)
But River was right.
I didn’t want to forget anymore.
Not any of it.
So, I let it invade, as much as it hurt, all while I was soothed as I traced the mark on his skin. It was nearly heart-shaped, though it was a bit distorted and longer on one side.
I blinked through the joy and sadness when I turned back to his beaming face, and I ran my fingers through the locks of his warm brown hair. “Goodnight, Nolan.”
“Night-night, my Miss Charleigh. You better be here in the morning, but if you gotta go, you gotta wake me up and tell me that you’re leavin’.”
“Okay, I promise.” I leaned forward and swept a kiss to his forehead.
“Your turn, Daddy-O,” he shouted toward the ceiling.
River approached, a rippling mountain from behind, covering us in his shadow.
A shroud of fortitude.
I scooted over as he knelt down beside me, and River readjusted Nolan’s covers, tucking them beneath his little body.
“Sleep tight, Little Dude.” River’s voice was hushed. Full of devotion.
“Always, Dad, because you tuck me in the best.”
We started to stand when Nolan grabbed his father’s hand. “Don’t forget my puppy! I sleep even more the best since Miss Charleigh got me my Lucky.”
River chuckled, and he reached for it where it was on the floor halfway across the room. He tucked it in with him. “There.”
“Perfect,” Nolan said, beaming.
I stared down at him where I stood, and I gave myself over to the overwhelming presence of the man beside me.
Yeah.
Perfect.
River led me out, and he pulled the door shut behind us, though he left it open a couple inches.
I wavered, unsure of what to do. I ran my hands up my arms before I murmured quietly, “I should get ready for bed.”
I started for the guest bedroom where I’d deposited my things once again after dinner.
I’d barely made it a step before River swept me up and off my feet, surrounding me in the sanctuary of his arms. “Where do you think you’re going, Little Runner?”
A shiver raced, as sure as the ecstasy that pounded through my veins.
“To bed?” It peeped out of me like a question.
“Yeah, that’s exactly where you’re going, only you’re headin’ the wrong way.”
And I didn’t mind at all when he carried me to his room.
FORTY-SIX
RIVER
I stood at the big glass-paned doors that overlooked the backyard, unable to move as I watched Charleigh and Nolan playing on the lawn.
Laughing.
Teasing.
Chasing.
Running, except Charleigh wasn’t running anywhere. Instead, she was here and present, like she’d been a fixture all along. Was weird watching the two of them playing beneath the bright afternoon sun, their beautiful faces flashing beneath the shade of the leaves that hung low over the yard.
Normally, I freaked the fuck out when strangers were around Nolan. Protectiveness so acute that I didn’t know what to do other than to keep him hedged in, but I didn’t think I’d ever felt so satisfied than right then.
Watching on what my gut told me was meant to be.
Didn’t mean I wasn’t completely rattled when my sister eased up beside me and asked, “What are you going to tell her?”
Apprehension gusted, and every muscle in my body flexed. Didn’t need to ask my sister what she was referring to. Still, I couldn’t tear my gaze from outside as I mumbled, “Don’t know.”
Raven scoffed. “What do you mean, you don’t know? You can’t invite someone into your life like this and expect that you’re going to keep them in the dark.”
“I thought you wanted me and Charleigh together?” It scraped up my suddenly raw throat like I was dueling my sister in some kind of challenge. Knew she was only concerned, but shit.
She smacked me on the side of the arm with the back of her hand. “Of course, I want you two to be together, you big dummy. You two are perfect for each other. I knew it the first time I saw you together. Like, hello chemistry. There was this whole…thing…going on between you two.”
She waved her hands around when she said thing, like she was trying to encompass whatever this was in the flail of her hands.
“I mean, it was so intense, there wasn’t anyone there who didn’t see it for what it was. But that doesn’t change who you are, River. What you’ve done and what you continue to do, and the only reason I have been concerned about you two being together at all is because I know the lengths you go to conceal those parts of yourself.”
“What do you expect me to do, Raven?”
She widened those dark eyes at me like it should be obvious.
When I didn’t answer, she let go of a disbelieving breath and pushed, “Tell her.”
My insides shriveled. Balking at the thought. Stomach dumping out on the floor, already anticipating the coming loss.
If she had even the slightest inclination, she’d go running so far and so fast that I’d never be able to catch up to her. Sure, she’d acted like it was no big deal when I told her I’d done terrible things, but we had a way of minimalizing warnings in our minds if we wanted something bad enough.