Total pages in book: 118
Estimated words: 105921 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 530(@200wpm)___ 424(@250wpm)___ 353(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 105921 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 530(@200wpm)___ 424(@250wpm)___ 353(@300wpm)
"But?" Tenn reached out to tuck a strand of hair behind my ear, then changed his mind and pulled it to the front where it fell over the swell of my breast. His fingertip stroked over my skin, sending shivers down my spine, and still, he waited. So much patience. I wished I had the same.
"I don't want there to be a but," I admitted. "I want to say yes. Yes to staying here. Yes to everything."
"But you can't," Tenn said, no trace of anger or frustration in his voice, his eyes.
Perversely, his patience annoyed me, the surge of irritation pushing me past my reservations into spitting out the truth. "I love you, okay? I don't know how it happened so fast or how I can be so sure, but I love you. I'm in love with you."
I didn't mean to sound so aggravated when I finally told him, but every word shot out like a bullet. I crossed my arms over my chest, off-balance after my rushed confession. I wasn't sure I'd been ready, but the words were out now. Too late to take them back.
Tenn just smiled, a slow spread of his lips, a heat in his eyes that told me what I already knew. "I'm in love with you, too."
Something about hearing it chased off all my fears. I'd known he must love me. No one could touch me the way he did without love in there somewhere. I'd known before our mad race to get Thatcher. I definitely knew after.
I hadn't thought I needed the words. I'd been wrong. Struck silent, I sat there, staring at him.
"I love you, Scarlett. I love August. And once I get to know Thatcher better, I'm sure I'll be a goner for him, too."
"That's the but," I whispered, my throat dry at the easy way he'd said he loved my sons.
"Have they said they want to go home?" Tenn asked, hesitation in his eyes for the first time.
"No." I shook my head. "I think August would be crushed if I told him we were leaving. He thinks this place is heaven. But Thatcher isn't saying anything, and I haven't had the guts to talk to him about it. He's so—" I couldn't find the right way to describe what was off about my oldest son. "Contained," I finished, for lack of a better word. "He's locked up inside and he won't talk to me. I'm worried about pushing something this big on him when he's already reeling."
Tenn leveled concerned eyes on my face as he leaned in to kiss me. When he pulled back, he stroked a hand down my shoulder, ending with my hand in his, our fingers tangled together. "I don't want to do this long-distance, especially since I can't travel—"
"No, definitely not."
He smiled at my instant refusal. He could tell me a thousand times that his inheritance didn't matter, and I was never going to listen. It wasn't about the money or the house. It was about giving, not taking. I was determined that if we did this, I was not going to take away from his life. Bringing two kids with me was a lot. Being the reason he risked his birthright? Not happening.
Giving me a gentle bop on the nose, he finished, "I don't want to do this long-distance, but I will if that's the only way. Like I told you before, we can figure this out. What's your deadline? When did your department head say he had to know?"
"July 10th."
"We have almost two weeks. We can let Thatcher settle in a little more and see how things go. I think you're right not to push. Not yet."
"Okay." I settled in beside Tenn, my head on his shoulder, his arm around me. I was exactly where I wanted to be. Well, almost. I would have preferred to stay like that all night.
It was way too soon to share a bedroom with him in front of my kids. It was one thing when we were camped out in Tenn's suite. Those days had a dreamy, haphazard quality that made our crazy arrangement make sense. Now that both boys were here and we'd needed our own rooms, suddenly, sleeping in the same bed with Tenn felt wrong.
August wasn't clueless, but he was focused on the priorities of an eight-year-old. The five years between him and Thatcher could have been a lifetime. Thatcher wasn't an adult, but he was close enough. And since I was the actual adult, I had to make the right choices. I was pretty sure those did not include moving my brand-new lover into my bed in front of my boys.
"We're both nuts, you know that right?"
Tenn nuzzled the top of my head. "You might be. I'm completely sane."
"We've basically just met." I still couldn't get my head around it. How could I be so sure about him? Yet I was. I had a million doubts, but none of them were about Tenn.