Total pages in book: 48
Estimated words: 45901 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 230(@200wpm)___ 184(@250wpm)___ 153(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 45901 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 230(@200wpm)___ 184(@250wpm)___ 153(@300wpm)
“Only for two years,” I said. “And I won’t be working under Mr. Price then.”
“But you’ll still be working for a company that’s letting you be abused,” he pointed out. “How can you trust a place like that? A big corporation that doesn’t give a fuck about their workers and only cares about profits?”
“I don’t—not completely. But I really don’t have any choice. I’m stuck here.” I took a deep breath and swiped at my eyes. “Anyway, it helps to have you to talk to about it. Thank you for letting me cry and for not being judgmental about my choices or my, uh, curves.”
“Ah, baby…” he sighed and placed a gentle kiss on my forehead. “How could I be judgmental when you’re so fucking gorgeous?”
I gave a sad little laugh.
“Gorgeous…right. I’m a mess right now, I’m sure.”
“You’re a little messy,” Tark acknowledged. Reaching between us, he raised the hem of his T-shirt, showing washboard abs, and used it to dab at my wet eyes. “But you’re still gorgeous,” he finished, smiling at me.
“You’re so sweet to me.” I sighed and snuggled against him. “I’ve never had anyone treat me like you do—not since I was little.”
“You haven’t? What about your aunt and uncle—the ones who raised you?” he asked, frowning. I had told him as little about my childhood as possible, so the fact that my aunt and uncle had raised me was pretty much the limit of his knowledge of my past. Well, other than the fact that my mom had died and my dad had left when I was young.
I shook my head.
“No, they didn’t do this kind of thing. I mean, they didn’t hug me like you do. They barely tolerated me, to tell the truth. I don’t think they would have taken me in at all except they thought it wouldn’t be ‘Christian’ to let me go into the foster care system and they were afraid their friends at church would talk about them if they did.”
“Seriously?” He looked at me with a frown. “That’s fucked up, sweetheart.”
“I know.” I hung my head. “I think that’s why my boss’s criticism and nastiness bothers me so much. He says the same kinds of things they used to say to me. About me being stupid and fat…”
But I couldn’t finish—I was too ashamed. I shook my head and looked down at my hands.
“Hey, Babygirl, look at me.” Gently, Tark raised my chin until our eyes met. “You’re beautiful,” he murmured, stroking my cheek. “And you’re fucking brilliant too. I didn’t understand half of that stuff Madam Healer was telling you that first day we met but you soaked it up like a fucking sponge!”
“It’s not that different from what I’m already studying,” I pointed out.
“Which is also fucking hard to understand,” Tark pointed out. He pushed my hair away from my face. “You know what your problem is? You’ve never had anyone to believe in you—anyone to baby you.”
“Baby me?” I frowned uncertainly. “What do you mean?”
“I mean, someone to be sweet to you—to comfort you when you feel hurt. To be there for you, no matter what,” he clarified.
I felt my heart give a little leap.
“I haven’t had anything like that since my dad left when I was eight,” I admitted in a low voice. “I mean, I haven’t had anyone to hold me like you are now.”
“Nobody at all?” he asked.
I shook my head.
“Not for years. I, uh, have this one memory of my dad holding me and kissing my knee—I skinned it learning to ride a bike, you know? And it seemed like he loved me. But not long after that, he left and never came back.”
Tark frowned.
“It’s fucked up that humans act like that. How could he just leave you?”
I shook my head.
“I don’t know. Pretty much my whole childhood I used to imagine that he was going to come back for me someday and take me away from my aunt and uncle.” I sighed. “But of course, that never happened. In fact, before I moved out my uncle told me that they’d contacted him after my mom died and he refused to come take me. So I guess he didn’t love me, after all.”
“Aw, Babygirl…” He pulled me close to him again, nestling the top of my head under his chin. “You don’t have to feel like that anymore, you know.”
“Feel like what?” I asked, snuggling against him. I have to admit, I loved our size difference. He made me feel so little…so cared for and loved.
“Like nobody loves you or cares about you.” He pulled me closer and squeezed me in a tight hug. “Because I care about you—I love you. And I want to take care of you.”
I felt as though the breath had caught in my throat. We had only been dating a few weeks at this point—it should have been too early to say those three little words. But it wasn’t—it so wasn’t. Hearing Tark say that to me seemed to heal something in my heart—something that had been broken since I was little. I felt my eyes welling up with tears again but this time they were tears of joy.