Total pages in book: 65
Estimated words: 61563 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 308(@200wpm)___ 246(@250wpm)___ 205(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 61563 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 308(@200wpm)___ 246(@250wpm)___ 205(@300wpm)
My heart hurts so much in this moment. Not the pain of what I’ve lost, but the pain that I have something so beautiful and something I’m so grateful for, and yet I still have these moments.
I nod against his shoulder and say, “Please.”
I could listen to his deep, rugged voice read poetry to me in the dark for hours.
I could rest in his warm embrace for days.
I could stay here with this man forever.
Mason
It wasn’t supposed to be like this. It wasn’t supposed to be this much more. Two weeks have passed and it’s all become more and more normal. More and more it feels like I’ve finally won her over.
I watch Jules as she licks ice cream from her spoon, her tongue flat against the bottom and mindlessly watches the news. Her notepad is in her lap with the pen on top although she was writing when I walked in here. It’s 4:00 a.m. and she can’t sleep.
My mother used to feed me ice cream every night before bed. I had to be in my room and under the sheets as soon as I was finished, but I got ice cream every night. She made sure to keep a variety of flavors on hand; I wanted something different every night. Mom always ate strawberry, though. It was her favorite.
Jules glances over at me, a flirtatious look in her eyes. “Do you want some?” she asks, maneuvering her body in catlike motions to crawl over to me.
Even though I shake my head, there’s a small smile on my lips as I wrap my arm around her and place my hand on her thigh to scoot her closer to me.
She moans softly as she scoops up a bit of cherry ice cream from the bowl. That move has to be intentional but her gaze stays on the television as if it’s not. Maneuvering on the sofa, I readjust myself in my pajama pants.
She peeks at me, blushing and then brushes her arm against my bare chest.
“You’re sweet to get me this,” she says with that look in her eyes. The look that tells me I’ve made her happier than she thought I would be. “Thank you,” she adds and plants a small kiss on my shoulder.
Staying up to distract her wasn’t my intention when I came out here, but I don’t mind. Truthfully, I couldn’t sleep either. I felt the absence of her warmth the moment she got up. For such a graceful woman, she’s not very quiet getting out of bed.
I gave her a few minutes to see what she would do, peeking in the doorway to the living room as she got lost in her words. Watching as she sat cross-legged on the sofa, leaning over her notepad and scribbling like mad. It wasn’t until she started to cry that I came into the room. I thought she needed me; I thought it was about him.
But she said they were happy tears, like the kind you cry when you’ve gotten closure. I don’t know why that hurts me more.
“No problem, I wanted to get out anyway.”
“Did you go for a run?” she asks me, eating the last of the ice cream and facing me. I shake my head no. I don’t have time for that right now. Usually she’s in bed when I run early in the morning and then shower before she’s gotten up. It’s been a week of her staying at my place and that being the routine.
“My fault?” she asks and scrunches her nose, not liking that she’s thrown off my schedule.
“It doesn’t matter,” I tell her. It truly doesn’t. “I’ll make it up later tonight.”
She hums a small sound and then adjusts on the sofa. “Will you come by my place tonight? Instead of here?”
I answer easily, not thinking twice, “Of course. I may be late; I have a lot of things to wrap up at the office.”
She straddles me then, a leg on either side of my hips until she settles into my lap. I let my hands rest on her ass as she drops the empty bowl and spoon beside us on the sofa, the spoon clinking as she shoves them farther away.
“Mr. Thatcher,” she says as she wraps her arms around my neck and squares her shoulders. “You’re going to be late. I need you to stay at the office … and help me …” Her long lashes flutter as she bites down on her lip and continues, “… to file the paperwork.”
An asymmetric grin finds its way to my lips as she laughs at her own attempt to be a sultry secretary. I can tell she’s holding it in, not taking it too seriously at all. Her straddling me though, that has nothing to do with role play.
Glancing at the clock behind her, I note that I have another hour at least before I need to get going. “I think you may be mistaken, sweetheart,” I tell her.