Total pages in book: 69
Estimated words: 69775 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 349(@200wpm)___ 279(@250wpm)___ 233(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 69775 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 349(@200wpm)___ 279(@250wpm)___ 233(@300wpm)
His eyes were so soft and warm as he asked, “Will you be my girlfriend?”
I’d said yes.
I’d actually said yes quite a few times and thrown myself at him.
When I woke, he’d kissed me for the first time.
That warmth was in my heart as I sat up and stretched my arms over my head.
The beep of a phone had me glancing at the phone that was plugged into the charger next to the bed.
A phone that Boone had plugged in for me as he’d shown me into this room and ordered me to sleep.
He’d stayed on the side of the bed, running his fingers over my back in a soothing way, until I’d fallen asleep.
The phone beeped again, and I touched the screen with one finger.
An “URGENT” text was on the screen.
I couldn’t stop myself from clicking on it.
My phone opened without me putting a password in and it took me to an email that read “OPEN IMMEDIATELY.”
I opened it.
I read the email, even though I knew that I wasn’t supposed to be on my phone.
But seeing as it’d come across as “urgent” I’d decided…fuck it.
I read, and reread what it said, my heart in my throat.
I’d known that my marriage to Boone was recent.
I also knew, thanks to Eddy, that I had another apartment in Miami that I’d have to clean out soon since I’d moved jobs back home.
If I had things to move…
I got out of bed and stretched, thankful that the throb in my head was low and much less intense than it was yesterday.
I headed to the bathroom first, washed my hands, then lifted my shirt to take a look at my belly.
I could feel the baby moving inside of me, likely doing somersaults.
That’d partially been what woke me, along with the sound of my phone.
As I looked at my belly, I smiled.
It was weird to see it moving from the inside.
I pressed my hand into what appeared to be an elbow or a knee and got a kick back in response.
Dropping my shirt, I went in search of the man that made my heart race.
I found him in the kitchen standing in front of glass windows that overlooked a mountain range.
He was talking on the phone.
“…know that she was involved somehow,” he said. “If she was the one in the passenger seat like she usually was, she’d have been killed.”
She being me.
Apparently that day that we’d had the wreck I’d been driving.
And seeing as Boone didn’t appear to be the kind of guy that usually let a woman drive, I’d wondered why.
“No one’s seen her since,” he continued. “My mother hasn’t answered any of the phone calls that Denver or my dad has placed.
“Yeah, Ida Bell. She’s good,” he said.
Who was Ida Bell?
“Yeah, it’s good to call you sister, too,” he answered. “I’ll call you if I get any more updates. Yeah, you, too. Bye.”
His sister.
Ida Bell was his sister.
When he hung up, he shoved the phone into his pocket and turned, pausing when he saw me in the doorway.
“What do you know?” I asked quietly.
He froze.
“I’m dying to know what happened exactly.”
He contemplated not telling me, I could read that easily on his face.
But when he studied me for a long moment, I knew he’d decided to share it.
When he got done telling me about his mother, another memory hit.
One of a mean woman that…
“She killed our baby!”
Boone’s face fell.
“She did,” he replied gruffly.
The memory wasn’t complete.
Just a small snippet in time of me talking to Boone, telling him that his mother had caused me to abort my own baby.
Boone had held me so tight as I’d cried that I could still practically feel his arms around me…
“I’m so sorry,” he said.
And it sounded like he’d said that combination of words to me a lot.
I swallowed. “And you can’t find her?”
“No,” he answered. “We’ve looked, too. She’s nowhere to be found.”
“Great.” I huffed. “That’s awful.”
My heart felt like a painful bruise as I thought about the baby that we’d lost before we’d ever gotten to know her.
The pained look in his eyes made me know he felt the same way.
A constant aching pain of where something should be but wasn’t.
“So no one can find her?” I asked.
“No.” He sighed, shoving his hands into his pockets. “It’s only a matter of time, though. She won’t be able to stay hidden for long.”
I hoped he was right.
The thought of always looking over my shoulder didn’t appeal to me.
His eyes dropped to the phone in my hands and he frowned. “What do you have there?”
Finally remembering the email, I held the phone out to him. “I got this, and it says urgent.”
While he read the email, I once again looked around.
The house was grand.
And big as hell.
Two people living here could get lost in this giant place.
“It’s not very baby-proofed,” I said as I eyed the fireplace instruments.