Total pages in book: 107
Estimated words: 102731 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 514(@200wpm)___ 411(@250wpm)___ 342(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 102731 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 514(@200wpm)___ 411(@250wpm)___ 342(@300wpm)
“I’m okay,” Mum promised. “Your dad was in the room with me the whole time.”
Releasing her, I was almost afraid to ask, “When do we hear their decision?”
“We already know.” Relief blazed in her eyes. “He was denied parole and he won’t be eligible for another fifteen years. He’s not getting out anytime soon, baby girl. And he never will if I have anything to do with it.”
I hadn’t realized how much the fear of Nathan out in the world, in my world, was weighing on me until the danger was no longer a possibility. I burst into tears, shaking with relief as first my mum held me and then my dad.
Twenty-Nine
CALLIE
“You know, you really don’t need to pick me up and drive me home,” I’d teased Lewis as we walked outside to his SUV.
He’d insisted on collecting me after work that evening so I could visit his new house for the first time since he moved in. Lewis had even cooked us dinner—steamed salmon, potatoes, and a whole half plate of green veg. Someone had been paying attention to Verity’s recommendations that I eat lots of veggies.
Lewis loved the poster I bought him as a housewarming gift, and my parents (well, Mum) had bought him a swanky set of pots and pans he was very grateful for.
Aye, it had been a good night. Especially when I told him the great news about Nathan. Lewis was so relieved for me, as I knew he would be.
However, there was an underlying tension between us. Or maybe it was just me. But I found myself gazing at my boyfriend like he was the most complicated, sinfully delicious entremets on the planet. The way his T-shirt stretched across his back as he moved. The way his sweats hung on his arse. An arse I knew was rock hard and bitable. When he was cooking with peppers, I’d cracked, “What does a nosy pepper do? It gets jalapeño business.” Lewis had groaned at the dad joke, and I got an immediate flashback of him groaning as he came.
Seriously, everything he did turned me on. And not just like a wee bit. I was full-on horny, could-jump-him-and-ride-him-until-the-end-of-time aroused. I didn’t know if it was the “taking it slow” that was making me want him all the more or if it was bloody pregnancy hormones or both.
All I knew was that I was needy. And if I wasn’t so determined to give Lewis what he needed from our relationship, the taking it slow would be over by now.
It was almost a relief to go home. Though, even in the car, my gaze kept straying to his big man hands. He had great hands. Something about those silver rings on his long-fingered, big-knuckled man hands did something extra to me too.
As he drove from his stunning home toward Ardnoch, I ogled him. His strong jaw, handsome profile that was as familiar to me as my own face, the broad shoulders, thick biceps …
My attention caught on his tattoos again.
Of course I’d studied them a lot over the last few weeks, but I hadn’t seen him naked since our night together, and back then I hadn’t been focused on his tattoos. His T-shirts nearly always hid the upper half of the woman’s face on his upper biceps and shoulder. Now and then, I’d find myself looking at her, wondering …
So I reached out and drew his T-shirt sleeve up.
“What are you doing?” Lewis asked, amused.
I swallowed hard, staring at the beautifully drawn face. “Lewis … is that … me?”
“Of course it’s you,” he said, as if it wasn’t a huge deal he had my face tattooed on his arm.
“Oh my God.”
He flicked me a look. “You didn’t realize?”
“No.” I traced my fingers over the tattoo. “What does it all mean?” I drew my hand down to the tree.
“The tree is my family,” Lewis answered gruffly. “The roses and thistles are Ardnoch, and the clock … it’s set to the time and date I left you all.”
A sharp ache flared across my chest. “Lewis …”
“And if you look really closely, in amongst the thistles, you’ll see two words in script.”
Intrigued, I peered, searching. And then I saw it.
Callie Forever.
Tears filled my eyes.
Lewis glanced quickly at me again and saw them. “Shit. I didn’t mean to upset you.”
In answer, I pressed a tender kiss to his arm. How could I have ever doubted his love for me? It baffled me now that I could have been so young and impetuous and careless with his heart.
“I’ll make it up to you,” I whispered.
He frowned as he kept his eyes on the road. “Make what up to me?”
“Everything.”
A heaviness fell between us, and I didn’t know how to dispel it, so I asked, “Has anyone else seen the writing in the tattoo?”
Lewis drove onto Castle Street, heading toward the cottage. He grimaced. “Roisin saw it.”