Total pages in book: 151
Estimated words: 142976 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 715(@200wpm)___ 572(@250wpm)___ 477(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 142976 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 715(@200wpm)___ 572(@250wpm)___ 477(@300wpm)
His beautiful lips tilted upwards at the corners.
“I’m good. You seemed in distress earlier. I was worried that it may have been the—” A vague wave toward her midsection. “That.”
“No, it had nothing to do with the that,” Fern said. “I was excited about something.”
“Aye?” he asked. “What?”
“You were out running?”
“Hmm.”
“I thought you went to work or something. Your company has offices here, right?”
“I’m on my honeymoon,” he told her with a nonchalant shrug.
“Oh, yes, of course. I forgot.”
“What were you excited about?”
“You’ll think it’s stupid.” And abruptly she thought it was stupid too. Doubt immediately swamped her as she wondered what on earth had made her think she could pursue a four-to-five-year degree at this stage in her life. She was too old. She didn’t have the strength of character to see it through.
Oh God, she… was doing it again. Doubting herself.
Crap.
“Why not let me be the judge of that?” Cade suggested, looking mildly annoyed that she’d presumed to know what he’d think.
“I’ve decided to pursue a career in occupational therapy,” she told him, her voice firm, chin tilted upward defiantly as she braced for his ridicule.
“Why would you assume I’d think that’s stupid?” He sounded affronted. He stepped onto the patio and took the seat across from her, legs spread, forearms braced on his thickly muscled thighs, with his hands dangling between his knees as he glowered at her.
“I’m too old,” she whispered.
“That sounds like an excuse not to do something. Not a reason. What else have you got?”
“I’m not strong enough?”
“It takes strength? I mean you could always build some muscle. We can start you on an exercise regime tom—”
“I mean mentally strong,” she interrupted quickly, more than a little touched that he’d immediately sought a solution to the perceived problem.
He stared at her for a long moment before actually laughing in her face. It was a short, sharp, clearly mocking sound that seemed to surprise even him.
“Fern, you just managed to stymie a deal months in the making between two massive global corporations, pretty much fucking over one of them in the process. It takes mental and emotional fortitude to go against everything you’ve ever known and leap into the unknown like that. I don’t think you need to worry about being mentally strong.”
Her heart swelled to about three times its normal size as his words filled her with pride. She had done that, hadn’t she? His praise made her preen a little… and she shamelessly wanted more.
“And, I mean, I’m pregnant. Sure, I’ll have access to the best childcare and all of that, but… I’d still have to take time off to have the baby, then maternity leave, and then find the right person to take care of my baby when I’m studying. It’s just that the timing isn’t great,” she said, only to see what his response to that would be. She was gratified when he exhaled noisily, his impatience clear.
“Will it ever be?”
She considered his words, chewing on her lip thoughtfully. He was right. If she used the pregnancy as an excuse not to move forward, she’d later use the baby, then he’d be a toddler, then he’d be at school, then onto high school… there would always be an excuse not to do this.
The only reason she had to go ahead with it was because she wanted it. And that would never feel like a good enough reason. What Fern wanted had never been considered valid or important enough by anyone in her life before.
“I’ve never really done anything because I wanted to do it,” she admitted.
“Bullshit,” he scoffed. “I seem to recall you going off with a strange man at a party not so long ago, just for the hell of it.”
“And look how that turned out,” she reminded him.
“Granted, winding up pregnant after a below average quickie, wasn’t quite ideal, but at least you went for it, right?”
“Yes. And at least I now know what it’s like to have sex.”
“Whoa now, lass,” he said, holding up a hand. “Let’s not get carried away. I’m honor bound to point out that you do not, in fact, know what it’s like to have sex. Not really. Sure you know the ins and outs of it”—He allowed himself a juvenile little snort at that, which, in turn, made Fern laugh.—“But real sex? What that encounter should have been? It’s nothing close to what happened between us that night.”
“Well, then…” she murmured, sounding breathless and a little daring, as she held his stare, her eyes running over that chiseled face, those long, spiky lashes, that beautiful mouth with its pillowy, sensuous bottom lip. “How should it have been, Cade?”
He hesitated, a deep red flush staining the line of his cheekbones, as his own gaze raked over her face, then over her body, clad in another awful shapeless blouse and skirt combination. That same piercing gaze lifted to her long, loose hair, and took on a smoky intensity that stole her breath away.