Total pages in book: 76
Estimated words: 73174 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 366(@200wpm)___ 293(@250wpm)___ 244(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 73174 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 366(@200wpm)___ 293(@250wpm)___ 244(@300wpm)
“No. Tell me everything. I want to hear it all.”
“Why do you want to be my boyfriend?” I said, wrapping my arms around his waist and pulling him in close. I nuzzled my face near the crook of his neck. “You could have any woman you wanted, any man you wanted, anyone. You didn’t even know you were into dudes before, and I’m just some guy in a suit.”
“But I want you to be my guy in a suit,” he said, kissing me beside my ear. “No one else is on my level, Emmett. That’s why. You really fucked with my head and with my heart. And maybe I really am crazy, because nothing felt better than that.”
“Than being fucked with?”
“By you,” he added.
I smiled. “And being fucked.”
“God, yes,” he growled, leaning in to claim my mouth with his again.
When had I ever felt anything like this? Someone choosing me—really choosing me, for who I was? Storm was a challenge, in every way that I needed it. He was also one of the most affectionate people I’d ever known.
I breathed deeply as we broke off from the kiss.
“I’m glad you shook up my world, Storm,” I murmured. “I didn’t want it. But I really fucking needed it.”
“It’s what I do best,” he said. “But I’ve got to say, you’re not so bad at it yourself.”
I puffed out a laugh. “All I did was prove to you that fall can be nice.”
“Fall is my favorite season now,” he said quickly, with a resolute tone.
“You don’t have to lie to me. It’s okay if we have a different preference, you know.”
He shook his head. “Nope. Fall is when I fell for you. And I think that deserves a top slot for favorite season more than anything else.”
My chest ached. “You’re being too good to me. Quick, we need to fight with each other so that I don’t explode. What am I supposed to do with all of these good feelings?”
“Feel them, baby,” Storm said with a smile, rocking back and forth with me in his arms, like we were dancing to some music. “Feel everything. Because I’m right here with you.”
That, I realized, was the one thing I hadn’t been letting myself do, until I met Storm.
I hadn’t been letting myself feel.
He’d crashed into my life like a meteorite, causing me to feel everything so acutely.
Feeling the pain and grief I’d been trying to repress at work, honoring my dad but also honoring my own values in the process.
Feeling the rage that came with not being in control, then learning that I had to give up the illusion of control if I ever wanted to be happy.
And then, finally feeling something that had been eluding me for longer than I could have known: that happiness, true happiness, that could only come from starting to live my life for me.
I wasn’t hiding from anything anymore.
And I wouldn’t hide my feelings from him, either.
“You make me so fucking happy,” I whispered as I leaned against his chest. “And you drive me crazy, and you make my life so much better than it’s ever been before.”
“Just wait ‘til you see how good I am as a boyfriend,” he murmured. I could feel the rise and fall of his chest as he laughed.
It was so unlikely that my path would ever cross with Storm’s. But now that it had, I couldn’t picture any other way forward for me.
It made sense, even though it didn’t.
And maybe I was starting to love that.
“You know,” I said. “I know of a really good coffee shop nearby that has a pumpkin spice boozy milkshake.”
“That sounds like an abomination,” Storm said, “and also sounds absolutely fucking delicious. Let’s go.”
He reached down to lace his fingers through mine, and we walked hand in hand down the street toward the shop.
Like boyfriends, instead of rivals.
Or maybe a little bit of both. Just how we liked it.
20
STORM
After the night from hell at the restaurant which turned out to be one of the better nights of my life, Emmett and I had what was definitely the best week of my life.
During the day, I was on fire at my practices. The renovations on my kitchen were moving rapidly along. And every evening, I headed over to Emmett’s house, and he pulled me in through his front door with a kiss. We spent hours and hours naked in bed together, trying things out on each other.
I could tell Emmett was still in a bit of a daze. He’d just changed up his whole world, and I was here beside him on the new path he was forging.
“Are you sure you’re okay with me posting about this publicly?” I asked him now, looking over the shiny new website he’d had designed for his new company, Waycott Marketing. It was a quick, simple site, and mostly just a landing page with Emmett’s past clients listed out, but it looked great for a start.