Total pages in book: 110
Estimated words: 104037 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 520(@200wpm)___ 416(@250wpm)___ 347(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 104037 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 520(@200wpm)___ 416(@250wpm)___ 347(@300wpm)
He pulls the top blanket over my chest for me to snuggle with. “Because I know we are.”
The remark is so off the cuff, but I pause, lifting my head once more. “How do you know that?”
“Um,” he says with a shrug. “It’s unique.”
I nod, holding the blanket tight. “It is.” But I reach down to rub my hand over the design just as he pushes up. “I love it.”
“Me too.” The cover is pulled to the side, exposing me to the cool air again. Smiling as he climbs over me like a tiger about to attack his prey, he says, “And for the record, you might be in heaven, but I’m going straight to hell.”
“Why do you say that?”
“Those pearly gates won’t open for someone with my level of bad deeds.” Kissing my mouth, he then asks, “Want to join me in hell?”
“You’re not so bad. What’s the worst you’ve done? Drink too much, have a lot of sex, do some drugs, play some rock ’n roll? Sounds like a good time, if you ask me.” Running the tips of my nails over his temple, I wrap my arms around him and kiss him again. “And for the record, I’ll follow you anywhere, Laird.” It’s tempting to mess around with him and add “if you keep doing what you just did,” but I don’t. I won’t. His making me orgasm isn’t what will get me to hell with him. No. “All you have to do is ask.”
“Will you come to LA with me?”
My heart stutters to a stop, seizing my breath with it. When I don’t manage to say anything, he adds, “The cold’s been fun, but I’d rather see you in my day-to-day.”
“Your day-to-day?” I understand the words, but for some reason, my mind gets lost in the comprehension.
“I know it’s a lot to ask since you’re from New York, but maybe you could extend the trip or even the job if you need—”
“It’s never about the money. My family has money. As much as I don’t have contact with my dad for being heinous to my mom and absent from my life, he set up a trust fund for me.”
A smile slowly spreads across his mouth. “I love that you followed your passion.”
“It is my passion, but I work because I don’t want to ever rely on my parents again. I built a business, a successful one, but then the accident happened, and I was forced under their dime again. That’s why I’m catering my mom’s wedding.”
“Maybe I’m too tired for this conversation. I have no idea why you would be catering your mom’s wedding to your ex-boyfriend because you were in an accident.”
“It’s tit for tat with my mom. That’s why we don’t get along.”
He falls to the side of me and rubs the bridge of his nose. “I’ll be honest, I either need food or sleep—”
“Why does it sound like there’s an ‘or’ in there?”
He turns back to me and smirks. “Or sex.”
I roll over and kiss him—gentle at first and then with intention. “Option three.”
“Have you ever been in love, Poppy?”
I take another bite of a cracker and chew because I can’t decide if I tell him the whole truth or just what I know to be true. “No seems accurate when I recall the men in my life, but do you want to hear something preposterous?”
After adding new logs to the fire, he finished an apple and helped me work through two packages of crackers. Then because desperate times call for desperate measures, we eat Froot Loops without milk. “Bring it on.”
I cleanse my palate with water and set the bottle on the coffee table. “I feel like I’ve been in love before. It doesn’t make sense when I think of my bad relationships.”
“What do you mean you feel it?”
“I dream about it as well. I feel cherished in someone’s arms and happy.” I shrug, feeling full and getting tired. “I don’t know how to describe it.”
“Content?”
I nod, glancing at him from the fire. “Safe. I don’t know. It’s how I imagine love to feel like.”
His eyes haven’t left mine, but he comes to sit next to me. “Tell me more. Please.”
“I’ve spoken to doctors, and they tell me to see a therapist. Past trauma from the accident is common.” It’s too late to overthink, so I say, “I feel like my brain is protecting him from the accident even though it couldn’t protect me.”
He strokes my hair, causing me to laugh. “I don’t sound like someone who has their act together, do I? It’s a silly theory, I know.”
Laird’s not laughing like others have. “Besides love, what does it feel like?”
“Like a part of me never woke up.” I unfurl my legs to stand, but he takes hold of my hand. I look at our hands bonded together and then at him. “I guess it didn’t, considering I have amnesia.”