Total pages in book: 95
Estimated words: 90951 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 455(@200wpm)___ 364(@250wpm)___ 303(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 90951 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 455(@200wpm)___ 364(@250wpm)___ 303(@300wpm)
Eyes shining, Bea’s lips tremble into a smile. “Aw, that was exactly the right thing to say. Again. You’re getting good at that.”
“I meant it,” I say, hugging Bea—and Bean—closer. “I’m not going to mess this up again, I promise.”
“Me, either,” she says, her smile steadying. “I’m glad we decided to be in love.”
“Me, too.” I laugh, making my cock twitch inside her, and both of us wince. “Let me go grab a washcloth and a towel. Be right back to clean you up.”
She grips my wrist. “No. Not yet. Stay. Just a few more minutes. I like feeling you inside me.”
“I like being inside you,” I say, relaxing back onto the mattress and pulling the duvet cover over our cooling bodies. “It might be my favorite thing in the entire world, in fact.”
She exhales a satisfied sigh. “Mine, too. So, tell me more about what you like to do to me on the beach in your dreams.”
I do.
And she gets very excited, insisting the beach I’m describing sounds exactly like a beach she used to visit on the Isle of Arran, not far from the whisky distillery she toured her first week there.
“Did you try the whisky?” I ask.
“Just the tiniest sip, but it was good,” she says. “Really good. We’ll go back while we’re there next year and have a full glass.”
I blink. “Next year?”
“Yes, we have to go for a visit. I promised my friends I’d come back next summer. In June or July, most likely. They’re dying to meet Bean.” She snuggles closer. “I bet they’ll be pretty excited about meeting you, too. We can rent my old cottage and get Hamish Jr. and Rory to babysit a couple of times while we’re there. They’re so sweet, and babysit their little cousins all the time. That way we can stay out late and make your fantasy a reality at the dunes after everyone else has left for the day.”
“Sounds perfect,” I say.
And it does. God, it does.
So perfect, I’m a little scared.
Before, I would have pushed the fear away. Or, at the very least, hidden it from Bea. Instead, I confess, “It scares me a little… How perfect it sounds.”
“Why? Because you think I’m not serious?” she asks, stroking idle fingers up and down my arm as I continue to hold Bean.
Just…hold her. Cradle her. Let her know that I’m here, and I’m not going anywhere. Not ever again.
Not if I can help it.
I might not be able to help it, though.
“No,” I say. “I know you’re serious. It’s not about that. Or even us. I guess I never got used to the future being something I could count on. As a kid, it just…wasn’t. Even now, I could be injured or traded at any time. My life, my future, it’s still only partly in my hands, you know?”
She hums thoughtfully. “I can see that. But I think that’s the same for everyone, whether they want to admit it or not. What’s that saying? People make plans, and God laughs?”
I grunt. “Good point.”
She covers my hand again. “But I know you probably had a lot more uncertainty than most people did while you were growing up. If you ever want to talk about it, I’m here, okay?”
I tense, but I don’t pull away. “Thanks, but I don’t think I will. I don’t want to give the past any more power. It already cast such a long shadow. It took years to get out from under it. Those people don’t deserve another minute of my life. Not another second.”
Bea turns, summoning a sound of protest from low in my throat as my cock slips from inside her.
But then she’s back in my arms, face-to-face, cupping my cheek as she whispers, “I hear you. I just want you to know that you can talk to me. About anything. Always.”
“I do know.” I smile as I add, “Talking isn’t as hard as it used to be.”
She laughs as her hand slides from my face to rest it on my chest. “I believe you. You talk way wayyyyy more than you used to. I like it.” She leans in, pressing a kiss to my right pec, my left pec, then the center of my chest, right over my heart. “It turns me on, actually. All your sexy talking in that deep sexy voice…”
Her kisses drift lower, lower, until I ask, “Are you sure, Bea? I’m a mess.”
“You’re my mess.” She kisses the skin below my navel, making my breath catch and my erection surge the rest of the way back to life. “And I need to blow you for my mental health. Like Clover said in her note. Now, please lie back, relax, and enjoy it.”
Threading a gentle hand into her hair, I murmur, “Well, if it’s for your mental health… How can I refuse?”