Total pages in book: 94
Estimated words: 92371 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 462(@200wpm)___ 369(@250wpm)___ 308(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 92371 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 462(@200wpm)___ 369(@250wpm)___ 308(@300wpm)
did it really end?
I spend the rest of the Fourth with Hunter. Then I keep my head down, work, and eat at my desk, biding my time until Blair and Vera come home.
Alice was engaged, in love with another man. And she was right. Our time together wasn’t real. She fell in love with the escape. I was the escape. On our last night together, the wall between real life and a contrived reality broke. Why? I don’t know, and I can’t change it anyway. It’s time to put that time of my life to rest and forge ahead with my future and the woman I’ve known for much longer than a fortnight.
By one o’clock, I look at Blair’s location. She’s still in New York at the airfield. I gather my dirty dishes from breakfast and lunch and return them to the kitchen, listening for Alice, hoping to avoid seeing her. When I succeed, I can’t just be happy that I’m avoiding her. Instead, I wonder where she’s at. Then I hear laughter, so I follow it all the way to Hunter’s study.
It’s story time.
My curiosity is stronger than my willpower to avoid her, so I stand around the corner from the partially opened door and eavesdrop. Last I knew, she was reading him a romance novel, per Vera’s suggestion.
“I think women write men how they want them to be, not how they are,” Hunter says. “We’re not … what’s the word? Swoony?”
Alice giggles. “But you could be.”
“Do tell, young lady. How do you suppose I become swoony at my age?”
“Actually, you already have some serious swoon game.”
He barks a laugh. “Like what?”
“Every day you tell Vera you love her.”
“There’s nothing special about that. Men should love their wives.”
“Yes, but you whisper it in her ear when you think no one is watching. And I know that doesn’t seem like much, but it’s the little things that mean the most.”
“Go on,” he says. “I’m listening. What else do I need to do?”
“I can’t tell you. These have to be your little things. And you surely have more of them, because Vera is still with you.”
“Have you been swooned?”
Alice chuckles. “Yes.”
I’m not sure I can listen to her talk about the man she lost. Yet, I can’t seem to pull myself away from the door.
“What’s the most unforgettable thing a man has ever done to sweep you off your feet?”
“It’s … nothing. Let’s just finish this chapter. You haven’t fallen asleep. Just close your eyes and stop talking.”
“I’ll stop talking when you tell me.”
She sighs. “I fell for a guy who would stop just before our lips met for a kiss, and he would grin and whisper, ‘Hi.’”
“Hi?”
“I know. It’s hard to explain. But it was intimate, like he wanted to take that extra second to make sure I knew it meant something more than an uncontrolled act of passion.”
“Hi?” Hunter questions again.
Alice giggles. “I’m just saying, it’s the little things. Legit, the tiniest gestures are swoony.”
I lean my head back against the wall and close my eyes. Me. I’m the guy who said “hi” before I kissed her. And I’ve never done that with anyone else. Why did I follow the laughter? I didn’t need to hear her say that. It’s easier to get over her if I don’t think of what we had as real. But that just made it so fucking real.
“Hey, sexy. Miss me?”
I swivel in my desk chair and grin at Blair standing in the doorway. “As a matter of fact, I did.”
She kicks off her heels and saunters toward me in her tight jeans and white blouse, straddling my lap. I slide my fingers into her long, blond hair and kiss her because I love her. I inhale the saffron and rose because I love that too. We’re getting married. And that’s all that matters. If only I could stop mentally reciting the reasons. If only I could say that I thought about her nonstop while she was gone.
“Shut the door,” I whisper in her ear before kissing her neck. Maybe all I need is to bury myself inside of her and forget about everything and everyone but her.
“Baby, I have so much to tell you.”
I begin to unbutton her blouse. “We’ll talk later.”
She pulls my hands away and giggles. “Stop. I’m serious.”
I blow out a long breath and lean back, scratching the back of my head. “Okay then. Let’s hear it.”
“Well,” she climbs off my lap and plops onto the bed, crisscrossing her legs, “the studio plans are beyond my wildest dreams.” Her voice escalates into pure giddiness.
I can’t help but smile.
“And I hope you were serious about letting my mom and me pick out an apartment because I found one within walking distance of my studio, and I put down a deposit to hold it. Look at these pictures.” She taps her phone and hands it to me.