Total pages in book: 108
Estimated words: 104869 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 524(@200wpm)___ 419(@250wpm)___ 350(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 104869 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 524(@200wpm)___ 419(@250wpm)___ 350(@300wpm)
He caught her chin between his thumb and forefinger and kissed her deeply. “I’m thinking that if we’re going to do this again, we’re going to have to move to the bedroom.”
“To save the couch from more cum stains?”
He chuckled.
“No, to save my back from early onset osteoarthritis.”
He rolled them both over in one fluid motion and pulled her up into his arms, reveling in the rare sound of her happy giggle as he carried her to the bedroom.
Chapter
Twenty-Two
“Uh…so if we’re still doing the whole scheduling thing, I should probably tell you that Tina invited me to lunch today.”
Smith lounged on the comfortable bed watching Kenna, who was sitting cross-legged at the bottom of the bed, drag a brush through her beautiful hair. He’d just been wondering if it would be weird to ask her if he could do that for her when she spoke.
“That so? She invited me too. Do you need a ride?”
Her brush strokes faltered and she glanced at him with an amused smile. “I do have a driver now, you know.”
“You do?” Her words surprised him and he pushed himself up against the padded headboard to look at her more intently. “When did that happen?”
“The other day, when I went on my little sightseeing trip. Sam Brand—the security guy married to one of Tina’s friends?— arranged it. The driver, Caleb, works for him.”
“That who took the photo?” he asked, his voice lowering as he recalled his visceral reaction when he’d realized that someone else had taken it.
“Hmm?” She’d resumed her brushing, head angled slightly downward as the sleek fall of hair curtained her face. “What photo?”
“The one you sent Tina.”
“You saw that?”
“Yes. Did this Caleb guy take it?”
“Yes. He’s a little surly. Didn’t say much all day. I very much appreciated that about him,” she said as she swept her hair over her left shoulder.
“He left you to bask in silence, you mean?” he asked and she laughed, eyes shining in appreciation.
“It was very relaxing,” she admitted. “I’m not the chattiest of people.”
Fucking understatement.
“I noticed.” His dry voice teased another easy grin from her.
“And I find it overwhelming when everybody is always talking. Sometimes it seems like people talk just for the sake of it, you know? Like they’re afraid of the silence. And too often, I also find that the ones who talk the most have the least to say.”
“Which one am I?” he asked curiously.
He’d wanted access to that guarded mind and he was getting it in spades now. He was finding these uninhibited, animated confidences both charming and incredibly fascinating.
“You?” His question stopped her dead, as she tilted her head and stared at him consideringly. “Neither. You talk only when you have something to say. Granted, you often have a lot to say, but it’s never meaningless. I always thought—still do, of course—that you’re one of the most interesting people I’ve ever met.”
She thought that? Seriously?
“Why?” The question slipped out before he could think better of it.
“Why? God, Smith.” She shook her head helplessly. “You’re so-so engaging and easy to be around. You attract people. Everybody in your immediate radius is drawn to you, wants to talk to you, be noticed by you. You have more natural charisma and magnetism than anyone I’ve ever met.”
“You grew up in a house full of dour arseholes,” he muttered, abashed, his cheeks going hot with embarrassment. “The bar is extremely low.”
Instead of taking offence as he’d half expected her to, she laughed, the sound bubbly.
“True, true. I’m sure that’s one of the reasons I was so drawn to you. Your openness. You didn’t feel the need to hide what you were feeling from me. And I found that so refreshing. It was only after we married that things went a little pear-shaped. You closed yourself off from me. I can’t even blame you for that. I know why you did it.”
“Self-defense,” he told her. “You were so distant and after the miscarriage, I needed to put up a few shields of my own.”
“I did so much damage,” she whispered mournfully, hanging her head.
“No, sweetheart. You were protecting yourself, and if I hadn’t had my head shoved so far up my own arse, I would have known that. I would have worked at earning your trust and lowering your defenses, instead of putting up my own.”
“But…”
“You’re breaking your no wallowing rule, Kenna,” he warned and she smiled at him through shimmering tears.
“I wasn’t sure we were still adhering to that one,” she confessed with a laugh.
“It’s a good rule. I vote we keep it.”
“Agreed.”
He smiled at her, the intensity of his joy at just being here with her was a little unnerving. He was naturally concerned that they were opening themselves up to a lot more pain, but he was helpless to deny them this opportunity at a—