Total pages in book: 75
Estimated words: 77170 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 386(@200wpm)___ 309(@250wpm)___ 257(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 77170 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 386(@200wpm)___ 309(@250wpm)___ 257(@300wpm)
We stay clamped together for some timeless moments, until he lets me down and I slide off him.
I plunk down on my couch, the fabric tickling my bare ass, and he sits next to me.
“Wow,” he says.
“Double wow.”
“If you think I’m done, think again.”
“I was hoping you’d say that.”
“Hey…” He trails a finger over my cheek. “I love you, baby.”
“I love you too.”
He kisses my lips. “What would you say about…making this thing between us permanent?”
My heart races. “You want to live together?”
“Well, yeah.” He pauses and then looks me right in my eyes. “But I was talking about marriage, Ava. I want you to be my wife.”
I gasp without meaning to. “Brendan…”
He frowns slightly. “You didn’t think that was where this was going?”
“Well, yeah. Of course.” My voice sounds…stilted. “But not so soon. We haven’t been together for long, and—”
He looks away. “I understand. You’re so much younger than I am.”
“That doesn’t have anything to do with it.”
“Of course it does. I’m older. More ready to settle down.”
“No, you’re totally misunderstanding me.” I touch both his cheeks. “I do want to marry you, Brendan. I do. But I have to figure this whole thing out first. This thing with my grandmother. Why she chose me. What your involvement is.”
He nods. “I may find out soon what my involvement is.”
“The blood tests?”
“Yeah. If I’m related to Wendy’s grandson, Jack, that would explain my involvement.”
“It would. Maybe. Why would it matter?”
“I haven’t quite figured that out yet,” he says.
I stand. “That’s my point. There’s a reason. There’s a reason both you and I are involved.”
He pulls me back down next to him. “There’s not always a reason, Ava.”
“But with this woman, there is. Why did she reach out to me? Why not my father? He’s her son. Or why not my sister? Why me?”
“I don’t know, Ava.”
I scoot a few inches away from him. It’s not that I don’t want to be close, but I feel… I feel like I need some space. “I have to know. I have to figure this whole thing out before I can be a good wife to you, Brendan.”
He chuckles lightly. “I’m not saying we have to get married tomorrow.”
“I know that. I just think…”
He inhales sharply. “You don’t want to make the commitment.”
I grab his hand. “No, that’s not it at all.”
“Then what is it, Ava? We just had some mind-blowing sex. It was incredible. I love you, and I know you love me. So what is it?”
Before I think better of it, I blurt out an answer. “It’s… I need space, Brendan. I can’t deal with anything more than my family right now. I closed my bakery, for God’s sake. Something I’d never do.”
Brendan stands, grabs his jeans and boxer briefs, and stumbles back into them.
“What are you doing?”
“What does it look like I’m doing? I’m getting dressed, Ava. And then I’m leaving.”
“But you don’t have to open the bar yet, you can—”
“I’m giving you space.”
“Brendan…” I don’t know how to make him understand. I’m not sure I understand myself. I don’t need space from him. Except I do, sort of.
“You’ve made it pretty clear where you stand, Ava. Why don’t you call me when you no longer need space from me?”
“But I…” I shake my head. “It’s hard to explain.”
“You’re a smart girl, Ava. One of the smartest people I know, and one of the most intuitive. If you can’t say what you mean, then who can?” He grabs his shirt, shoves it over his shoulders. “I love you, and because I love you, I’ll give you the space you require.”
He leaves.
And I let him leave.
I hate myself for it, but I let him go.
Because I have so much else on my mind. The mystery I need to solve.
I am the key.
And I need to figure out why.
Chapter Thirteen
Brendan
I’m not angry with Ava so much as frustrated. I get that she wants answers. That she wants to figure out why her grandmother came to her. What I don’t get is why she won’t let me help her.
I head back to the bar and up to my place. I still have another hour before I need to get everything open. I think about Ava and the dinner we enjoyed last night at Fortnight. The dinner cost me a fortune, but I was glad to pay for it because she’s my lady—at least I hope she still is—and she deserves the best.
Perhaps she’s just not ready for a proposal of marriage.
Indeed, it wasn’t my intention to propose today. My God, that lovemaking was so amazing. We were together in a way we haven’t been before. Maybe that’s because of everything going on in Ava’s life as well. She’s finding herself. Not that she didn’t know who she was before, but now she’s been forced to recognize the fact that things were never what they seemed, and she’s finding herself within.