Total pages in book: 82
Estimated words: 79850 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 399(@200wpm)___ 319(@250wpm)___ 266(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 79850 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 399(@200wpm)___ 319(@250wpm)___ 266(@300wpm)
“What is that, a demon monkey?”
“Yes. A demon monkey,” he said, cackling, and threw it over in front of the fireplace for Misha, who jumped off the couch and pounced on it. He started growling, and it was having its face chewed on seconds later.
“That was nice of you.”
“He might still chew up the legs of my coffee table, or the stairs, even. I had a roommate in college, and his puppy ate all our shoes, the chair legs, table legs, stairs, molding, the pantry door—I mean, not the whole door, just a hole through so he could reach his food, and for whatever reason, my other roommate’s bras. He was also very fond of pizza boxes.”
“That’s horrifying.”
“Yes. And he was a St. Bernard, not a Morkie, so I suspect Misha just doesn’t have that same level of destruction in him.”
“I would think not.”
“But again, I’m prepared. I also have dog dishes for him, I got bells for the back door, and my yard is fenced all the way around, so he can run laps and not get out.”
“This is very proactive of you.”
“Well, I want you to be able to stay with me whenever you feel like it, so there needs to be that option.”
“Thank you.”
“For what?”
“For doing all that thinking about me and Misha.”
He flopped down beside me on the couch. “All I think about is you,” he confessed, leaning in. “Period.”
“That’s very honest of you to admit that.”
“I want you to know how I feel. And just so you’re aware, I don’t care what he destroys in here. Nothing is irreplaceable except you and him.”
I chuckled. “You say that now, but when you get home to goose feathers floating in the air like a bad movie, I think you’ll be singing a different tune.”
He took hold of my chin then, gently. “I won’t. I promise. Just stay here.”
“Now?”
“Now. Later. All the time.” He leaned in and kissed me softly, then eased back to meet my gaze. “You should move in with me. Let Ada have the house.”
“Because?”
“Because my place is nicer and we’ve been together every night since we met.”
“Except when you left.”
“Which I hated,” he admitted. “I don’t wanna do that again.”
“That’s crazy fast,” I murmured. “You don’t really even know me.”
“We’ve talked for hours on the phone every night since I left.”
That was true. I knew him better than people I’d known all my life. “We have,” I agreed.
“I know you, and when I think of you with someone else––”
“Oh, c’mon, I don’t even know any––”
“I don’t care. It’s important for me to tell you I want it to be just me.”
“Well, so you know, there is only you.”
He took a breath. “Okay.”
“Something’s wrong. Tell me,” I prodded him, kissing the underside of his jaw.
His breath caught. “No, I just… Do you ever worry and obsess about something, and then when it’s okay, you need to take a minute and wrap your head around the fact that it is?”
“No, not really, but…it sounds like you’re happy. Are you happy?”
He nodded.
“Are you sure?”
“I’m thrilled,” he said, sounding anything but.
I snickered.
“Just, stay here with me. I want you and Misha with me in my house so badly. I… This feels so different.”
“What does?”
“This. You,” he husked. “And I know it’s new, and that’s some of it, but this reaction I’m having…I’ve never had it before.”
“I can’t tell if that’s a good thing.”
He sighed. “It’s a very good thing.”
“I don’t have any other plans,” I soothed him, and eased him down for a kiss.
In my head, I’d imagined us combusting when he got home. That he would walk me through the front door of his house, close the door, and throw me over his couch. I was certain that everything about men having sex was rough and hard, as that was all it had ever been for me. I’d ached to show others tenderness, but the encounters were always rushed, with whispered demands of harder, faster, and fuck me. And while that was hot and sexy, I always missed the tenderness and connection I kept hoping for.
“We need to get some things clear,” Gale murmured as he broke the kiss, stood up, and held out his hand. When I took it, he pulled me to my feet.
“What’re you—”
“Have you been through the whole house?”
“No,” I told him. “It felt intrusive without you here.”
“Then look around so you know where you’re going later,” he announced, walking me from the living room, down a short hall, to his large bedroom. “This is my room, our room whenever you’re here, which after tonight, I hope will be all the time. I like the brown and cream colors, but if you hate it, we’ll change it. That right there is an antique armoire I bought years ago and never understood why.”
I stayed quiet, just listening.