Total pages in book: 89
Estimated words: 82955 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 415(@200wpm)___ 332(@250wpm)___ 277(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 82955 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 415(@200wpm)___ 332(@250wpm)___ 277(@300wpm)
I wouldn’t lie under oath, and this inquisition feels like the same kind of pressure. There’s no squirming out of this. “I—”
“I think that long pause tells me everything I need to know.” She starts walking toward room 8 to check on a patient, whistling as she goes. “Get that bag, girl.”
Smiling like a Cheshire cat, I look around, realizing I look like a fool sitting here all by myself like that. What’s not to be happy about? I’m dating Brandon Culver. Although I don’t gamble very often, if I were to wager a bet, I’d bet on us.
Five days later . . .
The windows of the house are dark at this hour, but the porch light shines bright, guiding me home like a beacon. Though home feels more subjective these days. When I pull onto the property, I glance in the rearview mirror, hoping to catch sight of that mountain that’s more comforting to my soul these days. It’s too dark at midnight to see the landscape, but I won’t complain. I’m happy to have had a second shift instead of an overnight for a change.
It’s a busier shift with real care needed for patients. It was fun and exhilarating to feel needed and valued again. But missing Brandon is wearing on my heart. Working opposite shifts from each other leaves no real time to reconnect. I miss how his arms engulf my waist when he’s wrapped around me from behind. That chin scruff scratching against the skin of my inner thighs when he’s determined to make me come. I bite my lip as the memory of him kissing me until I’m breathless embeds itself.
Our physical connection is undeniable, but it’s the emotions that sneak up that grip my heart. Maybe it’s too soon to delve into them, but while his eyes hold me in the now, our future seems to glow in neon lights. Brandon and Autumn. Ten years in the making.
I shut the door and start across the yard toward the pink Victorian. Waves break against the shore while the moon helps guide my way. I stop before I reach the porch. But it’s not fear that grips me when I see a large figure sitting on the top step. “Hey, you,” I say, walking toward him.
He lifts his head as if he’d taken a catnap. A smile broadens on his face, and his eyes catch the moonlight. Standing, he gallops down the steps to greet me, lifting me into his arms like we’ve been apart for months. It’s crazy that a few days feel so impactful, but my heart stutters in my chest, reaching for him.
“What are you doing here?” He lowers me to my feet, but I leave my arms wrapped around him.
His hair is messy, and his eyes hang down at the corners. He’s not been back at work long, but I can tell he’s still building his energy back. “I missed you.”
My heart flutters for him. “I missed you, too.” I brush my hand over his cheek and settle it on his chest. “You need sleep, Lieutenant.”
“I need you more.”
We could be at his house in fifteen or maybe twenty minutes in the dark, or I could have him upstairs in two minutes flat. Taking him by his hand, I start pulling him up the steps. “Stay with me.”
He glances at the house over my head. “Here?”
“Yeah, here.” I get him two steps closer to the front door.
We reach the porch, but he’s put his brakes on. “What about your sisters and Dolly? Won’t we wake them?”
A laugh bubbles inside me, but I try to restrain it. I fail. “Depends how loud we are.” Tugging him to the door, I ask, “Want to find out?”
“You have a naughty side, Nurse.”
Taking a cue from him, I waggle my eyebrows. “You haven’t seen anything yet.”
He takes my hand and leads the charge inside and up the stairs. I could tell him that Dolly sleeps like a log and only Winter lives here right now since Spring is still in school. And Summer moved next door and is usually traveling with Daniel. But it’s cute that he thinks he’s sneaky.
As soon as the door closes, his warmth wraps around me from behind, his hand already slipping down the front of my scrubs. “Do you know how many times I think about your pussy in a day?” The rough of his fingers scrapes against the skin of my lower belly. Such a turn-on. I love how rugged he is, how hard he works, and the hard muscles he builds from hauling heavy equipment.
I’m small to his large frame, and I really love how possessive he is over my body. It’s his more than he knows. I’m his. We’re just not to the point of saying it yet.
“How much?” I’m desperate to hear his reply and how much he thinks about me, wondering if it’s as much as I think of him in all the ways.