Total pages in book: 89
Estimated words: 88463 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 442(@200wpm)___ 354(@250wpm)___ 295(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 88463 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 442(@200wpm)___ 354(@250wpm)___ 295(@300wpm)
I don’t let my feelings get hurt. I learned that early on in life. But I’ll be damned if Willow didn’t accomplish it twice in one day.
I need a beer.
I pull up to the house, and Aiden hops out and opens the back of the vehicle so he can retrieve his goods.
“Thanks, guys,” he says, his smile back. “I’m going to go set this up.”
“Do you want dinner?” Willow asks him.
“I’ll eat with the guys at the bunkhouse,” he calls over his shoulder as he hurries off.
“You’d think it was Christmas,” Willow says with a chuckle as we walk up to the house. I unlock the door and then push it open and wait for her to walk in ahead of me. She rubs her hand over my chest as she walks by, and I want to pull her against me, but I don’t. “I was thinking of grilling some chicken with asparagus and salad. Thoughts?”
“That’s fine, but I want to talk.”
“I know.” She strides into the kitchen and starts pulling things out of the fridge. “Can we talk while I work? I really am starving.”
“Fine.” I lean on the island and watch as she seasons the chicken. There are a lot of words rolling through my head right now, so I just start with the obvious. “What the fuck, Trouble?”
She pauses, and her forehead furrows as she looks up at me. “What?”
“What in the actual fuck?” I shake my head and drag my hand down my face.
My girl sets the food back in the fridge—good, I want her full attention—and circles the island to step in front of me.
“I hurt your feelings.”
“You got weird on me,” I reply. “Are you implying that you don’t want to live here? Because if that’s the case, what in the hell are we doing?”
“Aiden and I moved here for the summer so he could—”
“I know why you moved here. I was here for it.” Christ, I’m frustrated. “But things have fucking changed between you and me, and you know it. I’m so in love with you, I can’t see straight. When I’m not with you, I get twitchy. You’re like a drug, and I constantly need another hit. So explain to me like I’m a fucking four-year-old how I’m supposed to be okay with you and the kid moving back to Missoula at the end of the summer.”
Her mouth opens, but no sound comes out, and then she closes it again. Every muscle in her body is tight. Her shoulders are practically wrapped around her ears.
I take a breath and step to her, cradle her face in my hands, and kiss her forehead.
“I need you to talk to me, Wills. Because I’m not letting you move out of this house. Not at the end of the summer, not ever. Unless we’re going somewhere together.”
Finally, she exhales and braces her hands on my sides.
“It’s not that I don’t want to stay with you. Not at all.”
Thank God.
“Of course I do. It’s just . . . you know how I am with surprises.”
She’s shit with surprises. “You never did like having plans fucked with.”
“I like structure. I need it, because after what my mom pulled, I just—”
“I know.” I tug her to me and hug her close. Shit, it’s like I fell in love with her and forgot who she is.
This is Willow.
“I should have talked to you privately before I told Aiden he didn’t have to go back to Missoula. It was the heat of the moment, and I wanted to reassure him.”
“Yeah. We should have discussed it first. I don’t like being handled.”
I pull back and frown down at her. “Do you seriously think that’s what I was doing?”
“Yeah. I do. Aiden was upset, and you handled it. My refrigerator died, and you’re gonna handle it. You simply take over.”
I’m staring down at her when my phone rings. I pull it out of my pocket and see that it’s Gideon and let it go to voicemail. I’ll call him back later.
I’m having my first fight with the love of my life.
“I’m not handling shit. I’m helping.”
“Without asking if I need help.”
My phone rings again, and this time I answer the call.
“Hey, this isn’t a great ti—”
“Put me on speaker. I’m only saying this once.”
My eyes fly to Willow’s as I put Gideon on speaker.
“We can both hear you, Gid.”
He clears his throat, and now I notice that he’s breathing kind of hard. “I need you both to know that I’m okay.”
Willow’s eyes immediately fill with tears, and she reaches for me. I pull her against me.
“What’s going on?” I ask him before I plant my lips on the top of Willow’s head.
“I was shot today, but I’m okay.”
“Oh, God,” Willow cries, covering her mouth with her hand. “Where? How? Gideon, if you die, I will kill you.”