Total pages in book: 84
Estimated words: 81207 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 406(@200wpm)___ 325(@250wpm)___ 271(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 81207 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 406(@200wpm)___ 325(@250wpm)___ 271(@300wpm)
We lose ourselves in sex talk. From there I tell them about our new cat, whom we named Butterscotch, and holding hands at the farmers’ market, which makes them tell me I’m an idiot and Eric is in love with me.
I probably smile too big.
I do have to talk to him, though. If I don’t, this will eat me alive, and that will be what comes between Eric and me.
I don’t know when or how or what to say, but I’m going to admit to Eric that I’m in love with him, and hope like hell this whole thing doesn’t blow up in our faces.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
Eric
“Do you think our parents will be able to tell we’re sleeping together?”
Donovan’s head whips my direction from the driver’s seat. “What the fuck. I hope not.”
I cock a brow at him, enjoying giving him shit. “Are you embarrassed of me, husband?”
“No. I just don’t want to consider—at all—that our sex life might pop into our parents’ heads.”
I chuckle, then reach over and place my hand on his thigh. I’ve been enjoying this new layer of our relationship. While we haven’t been doing it long, sex with Donovan is the best sex I’ve ever had, but my favorite part is how we lie around talking afterward. The way we laugh and tease each other, or when he talks to me about work and is still trying to get me to consider starting my own business.
I love the way we take care of each other, when we’re fucking and when we’re not. Donovan is always on my mind, and I can tell I’m always on his too. He thinks of little things to do to make me happy or to help me out, and it’s probably the most important thing in my whole universe to do the same for him.
“Yeah, I guess you have a point. I just wonder how I’m going to keep my hands off you when we’re there.” Now that I can touch him, I want to do it all the time. But we also had a talk before heading out. We don’t want to do anything to confuse our parents, and us being married will definitely do that. It still confuses me.
“Eric…?” he says, making me realize he’d been speaking while I was lost in what’s becoming a familiar Donovan trance. It’s what I call it when I smile like an idiot and can’t stop thinking about him. Or I’m confused by him. Basically the only options when it comes to him.
“Hmm?”
“No cuddling in front of our parents.”
“You’re so boring,” I tease. “I wish we could have brought Butterscotch. She’s going to be so lonely. She’s used to at least one of her daddies being home.”
“We’ll give her extra loves when we get home.” He tosses a smile in my direction, and it makes my heart speed up.
We continue talking all the drive up to Victorville. Our parents still live in the same houses they had when we were growing up. Most of the neighborhood is that way. It makes me sad sometimes, when I think about my mom being alone. As far as I know, she never even dated after losing my dad. I know she didn’t when I lived at home, and when I bring it up now, she always has some excuse.
It’s her birthday today, which is why we’re heading up. Donovan’s parents invited her over. I’m glad she still has them. They’re the only family we have—Mom having grown closer to them over the years because of my relationship with Donovan.
I can tell by the way he’s tapping his fingers against the steering wheel that he’s nervous.
“What’s wrong, D?”
He pulls up in front of his childhood home. “Aren’t you nervous at all? It’s different now, and what if they can tell we’re…whatever we are? And then they think it means more than it does?”
My instinct is to get my feelings hurt a little at what he says. Does this not mean as much to him as it does to me? But then I acknowledge that I don’t know how to put a name on this either, so how can I expect him to know? “We’re still us. No matter what, we’ll always be us. That will never change, so there’s nothing to be worried about.”
He sighs. “Why are you the best person I’ve ever known? You always make me feel better, even when my head is still a mess.”
“Why is your head a mess?”
“Because we have no idea what we’re doing?”
“We’re husbands—”
“It’s a marriage policy. We’re married for insurance.”
“Yes, but that doesn’t change that we’re husbands. And best friends. Who have sex and like to cuddle. We have the perfect relationship, so why are we freaking ourselves out to put a name on it?”
His eyes close for a beat too long. “Because I—”