Total pages in book: 111
Estimated words: 105846 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 529(@200wpm)___ 423(@250wpm)___ 353(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 105846 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 529(@200wpm)___ 423(@250wpm)___ 353(@300wpm)
I suck on my lips for a long moment to work up the courage and then finally ask, “So…how did you—the you you are now, I mean—and Summer come out of all of this? Your life now is completely different, and Summer is…”
My voice crawls to a stop. He knows what Summer is—the absolute best of us.
He grunts a little as he clears his throat, and I do him the courtesy of pretending not to notice. “The girlfriend I mentioned?”
I nod.
“She was pregnant with Summer, though I didn’t know it. I only found out when she put me on the birth certificate and took off right after she was born.”
“She took off?” I nearly shout.
“She said she couldn’t handle a ‘broken baby.’ That’s what she called her when she was born with osteogenesis imperfecta.”
A broken baby. A mother saying that about her own child hits me straight in the gut. It’s callous. It’s cruel. It’s…pure evil. My eyes make a bid to climb right out of my head as anger burns the lining of my throat.
“And that’s the only time I’ve been back to New York—to get Summer and bring her here,” he adds. “It’s been the two of us ever since.”
Bennett pulls to a stop in the Happy Trail parking lot, right next to Josie’s old Civic, with a crunch of gravel and a small squeal from his brakes. And I sit in the seat, unmoving, for what has to be an entire minute.
“Bennett—”
“Norah—”
When we finally speak, we do it at the same time.
I laugh, prepared to focus on our faux pas, but Bennett grabs me by the waist of his sweatpants I’m still wearing and pulls me toward him, sealing our lips in a kiss.
Soft but still eager, his mouth works at mine until a small gasp creates an opening for his tongue. I moan and scoot my body toward him more, going so far as to climb onto his lap to straddle him when his tongue flicks at the tip of mine.
Bennett presses his fingertips into the skin of my hips just beneath my waistband, and I roll my torso toward him involuntarily.
I gasp again when my hair tie disappears unexpectedly, releasing a forest of wild curls around my face. Bennett shoves his hands in both sides and tugs—just slightly.
Holy shit. This might be the hottest moment of my entire life.
Forehead to forehead, Bennett and I breathe hard as he pulls back just enough to whisper, “Fuck, Norah.”
“Bennett, what are we doing?” I ask, my voice shaking with adrenaline.
“I don’t know. But I’m tired of fighting everything all the time. Tired of fighting whatever this is between us.”
“I am too,” I whisper, and he kisses me deep again, his lips and tongue persistent against mine to the point of madness. I swear, I’m nearly three sheets to the wind, drunk off this kiss.
“I want you,” he says, and he slides his big hands to my chest, gripping my breasts through the material of my shirt. “Fuck, do I want you.”
God, I want him too. Badly.
My breathing is ragged, and my body is already primed and ready for whatever action he can give. And I’m so close to giving in to the craving I have for him. So close to finally learning what it feels like to have his cock inside me.
But somewhere in the deep recesses of my brain, I’m reminded of what he’s been through today. If there’s any place he should be right now, it’s back at the hospital with Summer.
Plus, I went off birth control right after the wedding to save money—figuring the next dick I saw would be at the age of eighty-five—I don’t have a condom, and little Norwegian boy is hardly my sexiest look.
“I want you too, Ben. But…”
“Ah, fuck.” He leans his forehead against mine again. “Trust me, I know.”
“Bookmark this so we can resume it another time?” I ask, offering a little smile as I do. “I swear, I’ll remember what page we’re on.”
“I won’t forget what page we’re on either.” Bennett gives me a soft, nearly delicate kiss. One that starts at my lips but doesn’t finish making me tingle until it reaches my toes.
Carefully, he helps me climb off his lap and out of the truck, and then tucks me into the driver’s seat of the Civic with the utmost care. We kiss again, this time in goodbye, and I remind him to call me if he and Summer need anything at all.
He’s still standing there when I drive away, and as I look at his tall, muscular frame in the rearview, I can’t help but think…
This might be the end of a long, horrible day and night, but it sure feels like the start of something else.
28
Norah
I take a right turn onto the gravel driveway that leads to Josie’s, and it’s not long before I’m parked and dragging my exhausted carcass into the house.