Total pages in book: 65
Estimated words: 59954 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 300(@200wpm)___ 240(@250wpm)___ 200(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 59954 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 300(@200wpm)___ 240(@250wpm)___ 200(@300wpm)
She glanced down and picked nervously at her nails until I stilled her hands by wrapping them in mine. “Everything you’re saying sounds like a dream.”
“Good,” I answered with a firm nod. “I want to make your every dream come true, Imogene.”
“But”—she raised her eyes to meet mine, and her expression was earnest—“how do you know I’m really what you want? Forever? Why didn’t you feel this way with any of the other women you’ve been with?”
My eyebrows shot to my hairline as I gaped at her for half a second. Other what? In the next second, I mentally slapped myself upside the head for being such an idiot. I placed a palm on each of her cheeks and tenderly cradled her face. Her small hands wrapped around my wrists, and her eyes closed as she leaned into my touch. “Imogene”—her lids lifted and her whiskey eyes glued to mine—"I’ve loved you since the moment I saw you. I’ve never felt anything like this for someone else”—her eyes widened—“Even before I knew you, I loved the idea of you. So, I waited. For you.”
She tilted her head to the side, her expression confused. “Waited?”
“Sugar, I’ve never been with another woman. I was waiting for the love of my life.”
Her mouth went slack, her jaw dropping a little and her lips forming a little O. “I didn’t build that nursery for just anyone. I built this whole house for you. You.” I brushed my lips over her cheeks and then mouth before saying, “Let me prove it to you.”
Her eyes lit up, and she rocked against me. I laughed even as I groaned. “Not like that, sugar. As much as I want you, you’re already going to be sore today.” I frowned. “I never should have taken you so roughly your first time,”—I sighed—“I seem to lose all sense when I’m around you.”
Imogene smiled shyly, but it turned sly when she rocked against me a little more insistently. I scowled and quickly set her away from me. “You’re going to earn yourself a spanking, sugar.” She pouted, and it made me laugh again before I kissed her nose.
I got out of bed, then helped her climb out and get to her feet. Then I grabbed another shirt and slipped it over her too-tempting body before throwing on a pair of low-hanging sweatpants.
We made our way down the hall to the elevator at the back of the townhouse. She gawked at the contraption, and I chuckled as we stepped inside. I pressed the button for the fourth floor. “It’s only two flights, why are we taking the elevator?” she asked.
“I wanted to show you where it was. I promise, if you took the stairs right now, you’d realize just how sore you are.” She rolled her eyes, and I speared her with a direct, unyielding stare. “I expect you to use this when you’re pregnant, Imogene. I don’t care if it’s only one flight.”
“Thatch—”
“This isn’t a discussion, sugar,” I interrupted with a firm tone. “I won’t chance anything happening to you and our baby.”
A tinge of desperation bled through my words, and her expression softened as she agreed, “Okay.”
Just then, the car came to a stop and opened into the room I’d been waiting on. “I wanted this to be done before I brought you home,” I confessed quietly as she walked into the room.
I’d built her a studio. A big, open room with a lot of windows and natural light. But I’d also had a wall knocked down to create a small room with walls of glass, with French doors connecting it to the rest of the room, that the construction crew was still working on.
The studio was stocked with everything the owner of the art store had told me it needed. I was sure there were things he’d insisted on that were unnecessary, but I’d bought everything, just in case. I wanted Imogene to have anything and everything she desired.
“I can’t believe you did this for me,” she breathed as she did a slow turn in the center of the room.
I went to her and pulled her into my arms. “Haven’t you realized it yet, sugar? I’d do anything for you.”
Imogene beamed at me, then ducked her head as her smile turned shy. “And you want a baby momma in return?” Her tone was teasing, but I heard the undercurrent in her tone, afraid I would confirm what she feared.
“If your definition of baby momma means my wife, lover, and the mother of my children, then sure,” I replied dryly. “But really, those are just perks since there’s really only one thing I want.”
She looked up at me, a smile playing at the corners of her lips. “What’s the one thing?”
“Your love.” Being so honest made me terrifyingly vulnerable, but I didn’t want to play games.