Total pages in book: 75
Estimated words: 74122 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 371(@200wpm)___ 296(@250wpm)___ 247(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 74122 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 371(@200wpm)___ 296(@250wpm)___ 247(@300wpm)
She raised her eyebrows. “So you’d be perfectly fine with me leaving?”
“Truth?”
“Of course,” she insisted.
“Fuck no!” he shouted.
Emma laughed. “Didn’t think so, but it sure sounded good and it was almost convincing.”
“Fuck, Em, don’t want you to leave. Fuck no. Wanna marry you, make you my ol’ lady.”
Her head jerked on the pillow at his words. “Dawson... like I said, I’m not even divorced yet.”
“And like I said, you’ll be free soon.” Sooner than you think. “Just wanna hear you say yes. That you wanna be with me an’ the rest will fall into place.”
“Are you sure you want to help raise a seven-year-old?”
“Wouldn’t offer if I didn’t want that.”
She covered her face with her hands. “Everything’s happening so fast.”
He grabbed her wrists and pulled her hands away. “Know it, baby girl. If it’s too fast, we’ll get you an’ Lily settled somewhere that ain’t here, an’ I’ll move into one of the rooms at church ‘til you’re ready.”
Emma stared up into his face and he could see the mix of emotions rolling through her. “Dawson, I need to find a teaching job, and I might not be able to find one in this area. And now that I gave up my apartment... It... it opens up opportunities for me to move where there’s work. It might not be feasible to stay in Shadow Valley. Or, hell, even in the Pittsburgh area. I can’t not work. I can’t put you in that position that you’d have to support me and even Lily. That’s not fair to you.”
“Baby girl...”
“No, I’ve never not worked, Dawson. Lily’s seven. She’ll be in school. She doesn’t need me to stay home. I...”
“Lily might not be your only kid...”
Her mouth gaped open. “This is too much. I can’t... You’re talking marriage and moving in together and helping raise my daughter... Having a baby with you! It’s too much to wrap my head around. I’m sorry. I need time... We’ve known each other for only a little more than three weeks now. Why—”
“Why,” he repeated. He grabbed her hand and pressed it to his chest over his heart. “Why? ‘Cause I know here, it’s the right thing to do, Em. This is right. There was a reason you walked into my life. For both of us.”
“You’re sacrificing so much...”
“Ain’t a sacrifice. Wouldn’t do shit if I didn’t wanna.”
“These are huge decisions for both of us...”
“An’ that’s tellin’ you how fuckin’ serious I am.”
“The cursing, Dawson...”
What? “Fuck,” his eyes widened. “Oh shit, sorry. Gotta learn to quit cursin’ in front of the girls, right?”
Emma chuckled as she grinned and shook her head. “Yes, that would be a good idea. Can you do it?”
Fuck. Could he? “Don’t know. Hard habit to break. Will do my best though.”
“You can say fudge instead of fuck.”
The fuck if he was going to say fudge instead of fuck. Especially around the brothers. He’d just try not to let it slip. Too often, anyhow.
“So, what’re you sayin’?”
“I...”
He was pushing her, and he needed to stop. Otherwise, she might give him an outright no. And that couldn’t happen. He needed to give her space and time. Lily would need to adjust back to being with her mother before some stranger was living with her. Especially one like him.
He needed a better plan, one she could agree with more easily.
“Listen, gonna give it time. I’ll take a room at church. We’ll set you up somewhere for six months. I’ll get to know Lily slowly. We’ll get all the legal shit squared away. Then, when six months are up, you’re with me. We’ll get a place big enough for all of us. When a teachin’ job comes up, it comes up. No worries. Got me?”
He grimaced at allowing the last part to slip out. He was being bossy and now was not the time for that. Now was a time for asking, not telling, even though that went against his grain.
All the breath left him when she answered softly, “Got you.”
He stared at her. Did she just say...
Did she just agree?
Was she sticking?
Holy fuck.
Holy fuck.
HOLY FUCK!
He dropped his head and kissed her, taking her mouth hard. With relief, she gave the kiss the same fervor he did. His heart was racing, his mind spinning at everything those two words meant. Everything that those two words would change in his life.
For the better.
They could do this, he and Em. The two of them. There was nothing he wanted more. Well, except...
“Wanna fudge you, baby girl. Once more before we go back downstairs.”
He smiled at her peal of laughter. Laughter that quickly dissipated into groans, moans and whispered confessions of how much they needed and wanted each other.
As Dawg carried a box up the steps to Emma’s temporary place, an extended stay hotel that she said was bigger than her former apartment, his phone vibrated in his back pocket.