Total pages in book: 112
Estimated words: 107667 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 538(@200wpm)___ 431(@250wpm)___ 359(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 107667 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 538(@200wpm)___ 431(@250wpm)___ 359(@300wpm)
“Nope. And when I told him no, he said something I didn’t like, and I cracked his nose.”
Her eyes narrow as color fills her cheeks. “What did he say?”
“The normal toxic dickhead kind of shit where I can get any girl I want and that I should leave the thick ones for ugly fucks like him.”
I refuse to use “fat.” I don’t like that word—except when it’s spelled with a PH.
She raises a brow. “He said ‘thick’?”
Now my gaze is narrowing. “Did he call you anything but beautiful, baby doll? ’Cause I’ll fuck him up.”
She climbs onto the bed, wrapping her arms around me, and I stand up so our bodies are flush. “No,” she promises. “But I never thought he liked the way I looked.”
“Because he has a shrimp dick, and only a real man can handle all this lovin’,” I say, cupping her ass in my hands. I kiss her lips softly, rubbing her butt as she pulls back, gazing up at me.
“Dart,” she purrs, bringing my hand to her lips, kissing my knuckles.
“Yes, baby doll?”
Her lips curve around my knuckles. “Please don’t entertain him anymore. He doesn’t matter.”
I nod. “I know. I think I hate him because he was able to touch you when I couldn’t.” I thread my fingers through hers as she trails kisses down the back of my hand. “Does it bother you that I was with other women?”
Heat flashes in her eyes. “I don’t give a shit who you were with as long as you are here with me now.”
I grin. “Are you saying that so I don’t hit Shrimp Fuck again?”
She meets my gaze. “No, I mean it. For me, it’s not the past. It’s the future.”
I swear she has me under her spell. “I like that future part.”
“So do I,” she says, leaning in and pressing her nose to mine. “The game is about to start.”
“Then we better get in there.” I’m rewarded with a wide grin as I help her off the bed, but before I can follow her out, something catches my eye on the side table. I stop and pick it up as the air rushes out of me in a whoosh. I hold it up as I call her name. She turns, and a blush creeps along those cheeks. “You framed it?”
She nods, crossing her legs and arms like she’s embarrassed. “I told you, I never stopped thinking of you.”
My heart sings as I put the photo down and pull out my phone . I open it and turn it so she can see. “I put that as my wallpaper in the car on my way to the airport.”
Her eyes soften as she closes the distance between us, wrapping her arms around my neck. “See? No one matters but us.”
I kiss her nose and then her lip, knowing she’s right. Sometimes I have guilt about how I handled her ghosting me, but I know I was only surviving. I was trying to find my heart, when it was in Virginia. But now, it’s in front of me.
“Can I ask you something?”
“Do I love you? The answer is still yes, dragons and all.”
I feign like I can’t breathe. “Thank God. I was worried.” She beams up at me, squeezing me tightly, and I ask, “Do you even like this apartment?”
I can tell she wasn’t expecting that. She shrugs as she looks around. “I mean, it’s okay. It’s close to the practice arena but far from you, which sucks. Why do you ask?”
Fuck, my impulses are riding hard right now. “It just feels cold here. Like, not homey.”
“It’s not my home,” she explains. “I didn’t get to stay in my apartment in Virginia for long. And since I don’t know what the company is planning, like, if I’ll be traveling or whatever they are thinking, I didn’t want to decorate, make this a home and stuff.”
Well, I don’t like the sound of that.
She takes a deep breath when I set her with a look that I know tells her how I feel. “I don’t know that for a fact. But when the time comes, I’ll need to figure out my next move.”
I rub my jaw as I hold her gaze. “Which means?”
She swallows. “I don’t know, ’cause I’m sure they’ll want this apartment for someone else. If I quit—” Her words are cut off when “Rocky Top” starts playing. She takes out her phone and sighs. “Pause this, okay? My dad is calling.”
I’d rather not, but I hold that in as she answers. “Hey, Daddy!”
I follow her down the hall, feeling a little shitty. I just assumed she’d never leave, but that was stupid of me. She has a career. She doesn’t like distance. She’s good at her job and loves it. Damn it, why am I thinking I’m just the placeholder? Fuck no. That is not what’s happening. She is figuring it out. We’re good.