Total pages in book: 170
Estimated words: 160166 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 801(@200wpm)___ 641(@250wpm)___ 534(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 160166 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 801(@200wpm)___ 641(@250wpm)___ 534(@300wpm)
Marry me. He said it again.
My blood runs hot as his promises sink in. The water continues to crash around us and his hands stay on my hips, my hands on his chest. Our eyes locked.
That’s what I want. I want the safety he’s offering me. I want him to wrap me in his arms and never let go. But marriage?
“Why would you want to marry me?” I whisper the very real question out loud. I know there has to be another reason.
DECLAN
No matter how much she tells me she’s okay, I can see the pain lingering there. The distrust. She’s not a good liar. I already knew that though.
“I don’t just want you to marry me because I love you and I don’t want you to ever doubt it. I need you to marry me to protect you from legal shit.”
Her lips part but she stops herself from asking whatever it was that came to her mind.
The hot shower sprays around us and I barely hear the noise. Every thought that has screamed in my head, demanding to be heard, bombards me.
All of them about Braelynn. Every single one that kept me up while I sat against the concrete wall of the cell, every thought as I searched Mauer’s home looking for anything that could end this.
It all points to one end. It all brings me back to her.
Taking one step forward, I move her out of the spray, her long dark hair slicked back over her tanned skin. The steam billows around us, keeping us warm as the water hits my back.
When her eyes find mine, it’s a trance. I’m lost in her longing gaze.
Her fingertips splay between the short hair on my chest and her gentle touch is everything I need to soothe the pain that hasn’t let go.
She reaches up, on her tiptoes, and kisses me. A soft, sweet peck but I need more. I need something I don’t know she’ll understand. Something raw and real to me, but maybe I’m out of my fucking mind.
“Can I share something with you?”
“You’re asking?” she questions playfully, but her eyes read that she’s worried. No longer on her tip toes, she takes a half step back and brushes the hair from her face.
I don’t know where to start, but I let the thoughts escape and hope it makes sense, “My parents were married Catholic, they were young and it was in an old church with a family priest.”
Her brow pinches and she whispers, “okay,” as if she’s following. I’ve never felt so nervous in my life.
“She said that wasn’t her wedding day though. She told me stories. She said they were meant to be. That they loved in another time.”
I watch her swallow, her chest rising and falling as I admit, “I haven’t slept and my mind is racing.” Water sprays against my face and I stand up taller, rubbing it out of the way. I’m sure I’m not making sense. “I’m not at my best and I feel like I’m losing my damn mind, but all I can think about is you.”
“Declan are you okay?” she questions and the truth is, I’m not. I won’t be okay until she’s mine in every way.
“No,” I admit.
“It’s okay,” she consoles me and I shake my head.
“It’s not.”
“I need you,” I admit to her, the memory of nights ago coming back again.
“I’m right here,” she whispers, her hands once again finding my chest.
The chuckle is genuine as I tell her, “My naive girl, I don’t just want you in this world. I need you in the next. I don’t think I’ve ever had a choice. I think we’ve done this before. It’s why when I’m with you, everything is right and the world isn’t so dark. In another lifetime, maybe when life wasn’t so fucking brutal.” I let every thought that’s haunted me pour out of me.
“I think I’ve loved you forever and always will. That I've always belonged to you, and you’ve always belonged to me. I want to protect you, keep you safe, and make sure you are loved. It’s all I want in this world and the next. Put me out of my misery and tell me you’ll marry me.” I swallow thickly, barely able to breathe, and then close the short distance between us, my forehead nearly touching hers.
“Tell me you’ll marry me. If you don’t, I won’t survive this,” I murmur to her. She might not know just how true these words are. Or how vulnerable it is to tell her.
Hell, she might not believe a word of what I’ve just said when it’s the barest of truths and I would never tell another soul about them because I’m all too aware of how it could crush me.
She could destroy the last piece of who I am in this moment and I know it all too well.