Total pages in book: 74
Estimated words: 72156 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 361(@200wpm)___ 289(@250wpm)___ 241(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 72156 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 361(@200wpm)___ 289(@250wpm)___ 241(@300wpm)
She spun in his arms but he didn’t make a single move to touch her. “Why are you so good to me?”
“You’re the one for me. Always.” He took possession of her lips and she moaned, melting against him.
Gripping her ass, he pulled her close. She didn’t fight him. He relished the feel of her soft body against his. In the last few months, she’d started to put some weight on, and he had no problem with her curves. He loved to feel them rocking against his own.
“We need to go and finish dinner.”
“I don’t like your friend.”
“His heart is in the right place, I think. I don’t even know if he has a heart but where everyone kept giving up, he didn’t. He didn’t make me feel crazy for still looking for you. I also don’t believe he has a filter between his head and mouth. He just says what he wants to.”
She pulled away. “Okay. I can do this. It’s not hard, right? We’ve just got to get through all of this.”
“I’ll be with you. Remember that. No matter what, you can turn to me. Even with Bethany in your arms.” Saying her name finally didn’t have the sting he thought it would have.
They walked back down to the table and Preacher was shocked to see no one had killed themselves. It was a success.
****
Later that night, back in the safety of Anne’s home, Robin accepted the glass of wine poured for her and giggled as it had to be her third or fourth glass. She rarely drank, if ever. After what Milly did to her, she avoided alcohol. Getting through dinner with Preacher, Reaper, her father, Bishop, and Dog, well, anyone should be entitled to a drink in celebration.
“I thought he was going to stab him or something. You should’ve seen how tense it was,” Anne said. “Your dad kept on asking me a whole load of questions, though. Has he always been so nosy?”
“Nah, my dad and I aren’t on the best of terms at the moment. He thinks I’m a whore and well, he could be right. I don’t know.”
“You’re not a whore and the next time I see him, if I ever do, I’m going to slap him. No one calls my bestie a whore.”
“But I totally could be.” She started to laugh. “I’ve got two men. I’ve slept with both and I’ve got one of their babies, and I can’t even think about who I want to keep in my life.” The wine was making her loose. “This is the first time I’ve drank in a very long time. I like it. It feels nice. I’ve got a bit of a buzz.”
“Well, if it makes you feel any better, I’d pick Preacher,” Anne said.
“Why would you pick Preacher?” Robin was curious as to why her friend already had a favorite.
“I saw the way he looks at you. Yeah, I know Reaper looks at you a similar way, but this is different.” She shrugged. “I don’t know. Reaper’s look is of … ownership. It’s like he has a hold over you and being Bethany’s father, I guess in a way, he does, because you both have her together. It’s not right the way he does look at you, and it kind of unnerves me. He thinks he already knows how it’s going to be with you. Preacher, it’s not about ownership, otherwise, he wouldn’t have come back to you after the first birth. I learned a whole lot about your life today. Preacher’s feelings for you are real whereas I think Reaper, it’s not as pure. This could be the alcohol talking.”
Anne burst out laughing. “Looking at my own love life, I could be completely wrong. Robin, you shouldn’t be listening to me. I haven’t slept with my own husband in years because of what I could possibly catch from him. How pitiful is that?”
“Have you ever thought about being with someone else?” She’d asked Anne this before but wine seemed to make her a little loose in her thoughts.
“Nah, not really. In all honesty, I don’t think anyone would want me. It’s fine for men. They don’t seem to have the same trouble as women. I know he paints me as a monster to the girlfriends. The wife he can’t get rid of, but I can handle it. I’ve been handling it. I’ve never done anything wrong to him. When I finally fell out of love with him, I was the one who said not to hide it from me, you know. I can deal with the pain. It doesn’t hurt now, but I do sometimes think about it. Being with someone else, but then I think about Elijah, and I don’t know…”
“It can’t be fun living this way.”
“The truth is it’s not. You know what’s worse? When he wants to get laid but there’s no one else, he still tries to come to my bed and he wants me. I hate it more than anything. I know I’m second or even fourth in line for his affection. There are times I wish I could make him see what he was missing. I don’t love him. Catching your husband with another woman will do that to you. If not the first time, then a dozen times later.” Anne sniffled. “I don’t want to think about it. I feel like a weak woman when I do.”