Total pages in book: 39
Estimated words: 36476 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 182(@200wpm)___ 146(@250wpm)___ 122(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 36476 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 182(@200wpm)___ 146(@250wpm)___ 122(@300wpm)
“I don’t know. I just do.” I run my fingers through my hair, frustrated that I can’t explain myself. I’m not used to that. It’s not something I do normally. Hell, I’m not used to a lot of things when it comes to her. All these different feelings. “We’ll get married,” I blurt out. Her eyes widen. “Then you’ll see how serious I am. This isn’t a fling. I’m not going anywhere, and even if I did and we’re married, you’d be set for life. You could buy every diner in this city.”
Not that I’d ever let her divorce me, but I don’t say that. I’ve already said too much.
“I don’t want you to marry me because you think it’s what I want.”
“It might be what you want, but it’s what I need.”
“Come untie me. I want to touch you.” How can I say no to that? I enjoy being in control when we’re making love, to have her pinned beneath me for my taking, but I don’t always want that. I crave her touch and words that always have a way of soothing this volcano of emotions that are brewing inside of me.
I pull the binds from her wrists. She crawls into my lap. “Okay.” She places a kiss on my chest.
“Okay?” I repeat. “To the quitting or the marrying me?”
“Do we have to move back to—”
“No, your family is here. I told you I was staying.”
“Then yes to all of it.” She barely gets the words out and I’m kissing her. Then I’m inside of her. I shouldn’t be. We made love again after she soaked in a bath. I know she’s likely to be sore, but from her moans, I thrust on and don’t stop until she’s coming around my cock and I’m coming inside her. I thrust as deep as I can, wanting every drop of me inside of her.
“We should probably talk about the lack of protection, but I need to get ready for work.”
“Neither of us have been with anyone. It’s not needed.”
“You know that’s not what I’m talking about.” I slowly pull my cock out. I see her wince.
“You’re sore. I’m sorry, Sunshine. I should—”
“I loved every second of it, Ivan. Don’t do that. The way you are with me is why I’m agreeing to marry you, so don’t get soft on me now.”
“I’m never soft when I’m around you.”
“You made a joke!” She giggles, the sweet sound filling the room. She rolls the other way off the bed and away from me.
“What are you doing?”
“I still have to go in. The bar I don’t need to give notice to, but the diner I do. I won’t leave them high and dry.”
I won’t fight her on this, but my sunshine can be loyal to a fault. Her heart is made of gold. I could buy the diner and then shut it down and then there would be no diner to work at.
“Don’t.” Rae points a finger at me. “You’re not buying the diner. And don’t give me that pout.”
“I don’t pout.” Or I never used to.
“You didn’t do a lot of things before me.” She wiggles her eyebrows. I go to make a grab for her, but she’s a quick little thing. Her blond hair flies behind her as she darts into the bathroom. I let her go, knowing I won’t be able to talk her out of going in. Fine, she’ll give her notice. Then she’ll be with me all the time. That thought makes her leaving a bit better.
Less than an hour later, I’m dropping her off. “You going to stalk outside or come in?” she asks as she slips from the SUV.
“No, I’m going to see to a few things.” I lean down to kiss her. There is much to be done. I need a ring. That’s at the top of the list.
“I’m with JJ after work,” she reminds me. I stand there figuring it’s best to not say anything at all. “Hey, that pout again, but don’t forget I skipped out on my last late lunch with her because of you.”
“Fine,” I finally say. JJ had nudged my sunshine toward me a bit, but I was coming for her anyway. Rae pulls me down for another kiss before she heads into the diner. I watch her until she’s inside before I get back into the SUV.
The first thing I do is get her ring. I already had something in mind, and Nathan had been searching nearby places where I could find a round canary diamond that was large enough for my liking. He finally found a dealer that had one. I had them put a halo of diamonds around the ring to make the yellow stone even more vibrant.
I click through a few of Paul’s emails as well. He’s on top of things but has found a few things he wants to speak to me about. It gives me pause that it’s not something that can be asked in an email. Checking the time, I know I still have a little to kill before I’ll get my Raegan back, so I decide to call him now.