Total pages in book: 82
Estimated words: 78016 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 390(@200wpm)___ 312(@250wpm)___ 260(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 78016 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 390(@200wpm)___ 312(@250wpm)___ 260(@300wpm)
“And don’t even worry about a recommendation or your pay being deducted. You’ll be paid in full, and Blackwood will give you a good rec. You did good on the tour. You kept us organized and in line. The promo for the tour exceeded everyone’s expectations. It was a success, and we only have a couple of weeks left.”
“Thank you. I’ll type up everything that’s coming up and email it to you and Jill.”
“Sounds good. Give my wife a kiss for me when you get home, yeah? I hate not being there while she’s pregnant.”
“Since I’m between places, I’m actually planning to beg her...and you to let me crash.” I wince, making Camden laugh. Since I was going to be gone for a couple of months, I gave up the room I was renting, throwing all my stuff into storage. I thought I had another couple of weeks to get it all figured out, but I guess not.
“I’m sure she’ll love having you crash. And it’ll make me feel better knowing she’s not all alone with Felix. She won’t admit it, but I know she’s been doing too much and pushing herself. She’s acting like she isn’t less than three months away from giving birth.”
My heart swells at the love shining in through the annoyance in his tone, proving that while my best friend drives him nuts, he loves her crazy ass.
“You might not be saying that once you’re home and I haven’t found a place yet.”
Camden laughs. “You’re welcome any time. Besides, our bedroom is on its own floor.” He winks and then envelops me in a hug. “Give him time... he’ll come around.”
“Maybe,” I say back, noncommittedly.
I call Layla on the ride to the airport, and of course, she’s ecstatic about me staying with her temporarily. I could stay with my mom, but we haven’t been close since she remarried. I actually get where Braxton was coming from when he learned his mom had a whole new family. Our situations aren’t the same, but the feeling of your parent starting a new life, one that you feel like you’re an outsider to, is something I’ve felt for years and can completely relate to.
While I wait for the plane to take off, before we’re required to turn off our phones, I check my messages no less than a dozen times, hoping Braxton will text me. Of course he doesn’t, and as I switch it off and the plane starts its takeoff procedures, I can’t help but feel like maybe I made a mistake by crossing over that imaginary line with him. The past six years sucked, for sure. Watching him from afar, wishing we could have another chance, hoping for the opportunity to make things right, wanting to be with him again. But now, I almost wish I was still on the other side, hoping and wanting, because now that I’ve had him again, it hurts worse, knowing what we might never have.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
BRAXTON
The floral scent lingers... even after days...maybe weeks. I have no clue what fucking day it is of her being gone, but I can still smell her. The fragrance of fresh roses clings to the pillows and sheets. If I had allowed the linens to be washed, the smell would disappear, but I’ve refused. It probably makes me a masochist, getting lost in the scent of a woman I pushed away, not wanting the smell to go away. And during the few minutes when I wake up and am faintly sober, I regret not having the sheets burned, but as soon as the alcohol flows through my system, I crave her scent. It’s like the sweetest, most addictive drug—one sniff and I’m hooked.
“Yo, we’re here,” Camden yells through the door. Usually, the guys and I take turns in this room, but they let me have it when Kaylee was here, and I’ve continued to sleep in it since she left.
Fuck, she left.
Sometimes, my heart fucking aches. I miss every damn thing about her—the way she would run her fingers through my hair, lightly scraping her nails on my scalp. When she would wake up and smile softly, all sleep drunk and happy. The sight of her in my shirts that weren’t long enough to actually cover anything, so when she would walk, her peach of an ass would peek out.
That same ass I’d spend hours squeezing and grabbing and fucking. She loved to be fucked, slow, fast, hard, soft. She would take me any way I wanted. Unlike some insecure women, she’s comfortable with her body, with me seeing and touching her body. And after we would have sex and both of us were sated, she’d cuddle up next to me, and we’d talk until she’d eventually pass out.
Other times, I hate her... for the same reasons that my heart hurts. Because she came back into my life, gave me all of herself, and then walked away.