Total pages in book: 87
Estimated words: 81994 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 410(@200wpm)___ 328(@250wpm)___ 273(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 81994 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 410(@200wpm)___ 328(@250wpm)___ 273(@300wpm)
“This is your home,” I murmur and swallow, feeling my heart pound against the inside of my ribs.
“Since you’ve been here, this has become my home, but before you, it was a place I slept at night. You have given me a reason to come home.”
“You want me to move in with you?” I whisper, hope blooming in my chest.
“Yes, I want you to move in with me.”
“You’re serious?”
“Yes, baby.” He laughs, shaking his head.
“What about my place in Vegas?”
“Sell it…keep it… I don’t give a fuck what you do with it.”
I stand up, glance around the room, and then look back over at Kenton, who looks worried. My heart does a flip from knowing that he really wants this; he really wants me.
“Are you sure about this?”
“Without a doubt. One hundred percent sure.”
“What will your family say?”
“‘When are you getting married?’” he replies. I feel my eyes get big and my mouth fill with saliva. “One thing at a time,” he says gently, and I nod.
I’m not sure if he’s in love with me, but I think this feeling I have for him is love—or some form of it. Never really having been loved before, I don’t know what it really feels like. I know that what I feel for him makes what I felt for my son’s father pale in comparison. I know that I want to spend all my time with him, and he’s always my first thought when I wake and my last thought when I go to bed at night.
“Okay.”
“Okay?” he asks, searching my face.
“Yes, okay. I’ll move in with you,” I tell him, a smile creeping onto my face.
“Yeah?” His lips twitch, and I nod before running at him and climbing onto his lap. His arms wrap around me as I press my mouth against his. “Shit,” he groans, pulling his mouth from mine.
“Why are you stopping?” I try to pull his mouth back to mine when I hear someone knocking on the door. “Oh.”
I smile as he sets me aside and adjusts himself in his jeans before standing. I sit there for a second and then get up to follow him to the door. After he looks outside, his eyes come to me before pulling the door open.
“You’re home?” Nancy says, smiling. “If I would have known that, I wouldn’t have come so early.”
“It’s fine. We were up.” He kisses her cheek, letting her into the house.
“Why were you up?” She looks between the two of us, her eyes twinkling, and I know she’s going to say something that will have me turning red. “You know, I want my grandchildren to have our family name. I think it’s about time you two stop playing house and just get married.”
All the air leaves my lungs at the word ‘children.’ I grab the table closest to me for balance. When a wave of dizziness hits me hard, I’m surprised that I don’t hit the ground.
“Jesus, Mom! Autumn just agreed to move in, and now you’re trying to scare her off.” He shakes his head then looks at me. “One thing at a time,” he says gently, reading my face.
I nod and swallow against the lump in my throat. I could see myself having his child. I can picture a little girl with his dark hair and golden eyes. She’d be a daddy’s girl and he would adore her. Her life would be so different than mine was when I grew up up.
“You okay, baby?”
I feel a hand on my cheek, and I shake the thoughts out of my head. I look into his concerned eyes and take a breath before nodding.
“You’re moving in?” Nancy asks. The surprise in her voice has me getting up on my tiptoes to look over Kenton’s shoulder. I smile when I see the look of approval and the wide smile on her face as she looks between us. “So I’m guessing everything has been sorted out?” She looks at Kenton, who nods. “I knew my boy would fix it.” She shakes her head then ducks by Kenton and grabs my hand, pulling me with her to the kitchen.
“What are you doing, Mom?”
“Well, now that it’s official, we need to talk about redecorating. This place was okay when it was just you, but now that Autumn’s going to be living here for good, we need to make some changes.”
“We don’t need to talk about that, Mom. Autumn can make any changes she wants to, but we don’t need to have a sit-down about it.”
“Honey, until you give me a wedding to plan and grandbabies to play with, you’re going to have to give me something.”
“Jesus. I’m going to the office.” He looks at me then his mom and shakes his head. “You gonna be okay here with her?”
“Of course she will be okay with me,” Nancy scoffs. “I’m going to get coffee started and call Susan to see if her boys have anything on their schedule.” She looks at me then my clothes. “You should get dressed so we can go downtown and head to some stores. I need to get an idea of what you like. I hope we can do the kitchen right away.”