Total pages in book: 135
Estimated words: 139088 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 695(@200wpm)___ 556(@250wpm)___ 464(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 139088 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 695(@200wpm)___ 556(@250wpm)___ 464(@300wpm)
Then he followed me up to my apartment (such a good boy, he didn’t even need a leash).
Knox had coffee ready.
I took a few sips.
And about twenty minutes after that, I knew Knox had forgotten that Neil Armstrong even existed.
Mission accomplished.
FIFTEEN
“WALKING ON SUNSHINE”
“So, Harlow says we’re really cute together, and she loves how protective you are of me,” I related from where I sat astride my guy on my bed.
Activities that happy Saturday were such that I’d switched out shirts and was now in his army tee (no panties) and Knox was wearing nothing but the sheet to his waist and his sling.
Jacques was curled at my knee that was flush with Knox’s ribs, so Knox could pet both of us, and Jacques could snooze.
I had my phone, and I was going through the bevy of texts I got after all that went down that morning, along with some that came in the afternoon.
“Ditto with Jessie, though she focused more on the protection thing and apologized about giving me too much space,” I carried on. I went out of Jessie’s text and into some others. “On another note, apparently, Alexis has asked Martha to give her away, Bill and Zach are pouting because they wanted to do it, and Joey wants to know where you work out.”
Knox chuckled.
I tossed my phone aside, and being careful with his shoulder, and my dog (pooches needed uninterrupted naps, says me), I bent toward him and declared, “This being out and proud business is the bomb.”
“Yeah, it is,” Knox said through a smile.
“Who knew?” I asked. “I thought it’d be annoying.”
“Babe?” he called, even though I was right in his face.
“What?” I answered, even though I was right in his face.
He stopped petting Jacques to tug on his tee I was wearing.
Here we go.
“Knox,” I said shakily.
The jig, of course, was up, case in point, me straddling him, with him being naked in my bed.
But I knew that took it to a new level.
“You never let me go,” he whispered.
I pressed my lips together…hard.
He watched me do that then noted, “You gotta know that means everything to me.”
Okay, this was us?
Not a question.
This was us.
Honesty. Putting it out there. With our friends. With each other.
I needed to do this, no matter how vulnerable it made me feel.
“That two weeks was the best two weeks of my life.”
He grunted, and proving he didn’t get the memo of uninterrupted pup naps, rolled, Jacques woke and scurried away, and Knox was on top of me.
“Knox, your—”
He framed my face with his two big hands, and I shut up about his injuries.
“Hear me, Luna, when I repeat that means everything to me,” he growled.
Oo.
I loved his growl.
Even so…
“I thought I was…I…” Ugh, I had to give this to him. “I thought I was in deeper than you.”
His forehead came to mine, knowing him taking things up with Cheyenne made me feel that way, and he whispered, “Baby.”
“It never feels good to be the one on that side of a relationship.”
“You weren’t.”
“I get that now, but…” I shrugged against the mattress. “There it is.”
“That’s never going to be you.”
I blinked at the fierceness of his tone.
“I’m so deep in this for you, it was like the last year was a fuckin’ fever dream, daily torture, and I couldn’t wake up,” he declared.
Oh God.
I hated that for the both of us, especially him.
I ran my hands up his back.
“I’m like Jacob,” he stated. “I’m gonna spend the rest of my life breaking my back to prove I’m worthy of you.”
Now…
Hang on a ding-dang second.
“Knox—”
He touched his mouth to mine, lifted his head, and said, “No discussion. It’s just what it is. You want a dance studio, I’ll build it with my own hands if I have to.”
“I’m not a ballerina, and I consider any kind of activity, except shopping, sex, serving, interior design and the occasional organization project, anathema.”
He ignored me. “You wanna go to Paris, pack, we’re on a plane.”
“Knox—”
“You want a mansion like Mace and Stella in Paradise Valley, I’ll take bouncer jobs to add to our income so I can give it to you.”
“Stop it, Knox.”
He put gentle pressure on my head with his hands. “You need to get this, baby.”
“And you need to get…baby…that isn’t how it works,” I snapped.
When my temper suddenly flared, he stared down at me in surprise.
I pushed him off to his side (right, he helped because he rolled, no way I could push that mountain of muscle off me on my own steam) and got up to my hand to loom over him.
“You know, if I ever see your mother, I’m fucking that bitch up.”
“Luna—”
“Granted, if your dad was backhanding her, and obviously the whole drug dealer thing was bullshit, I totally understand her need to get away. But disappearing? Not fighting for you? Up in smoke except for sending money, no phone calls, not even heartfelt letters about how much she missed you, until it’s easy for her to find you and reach out on her own time. Nah. That’s total horseshit.”