Total pages in book: 80
Estimated words: 77118 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 386(@200wpm)___ 308(@250wpm)___ 257(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 77118 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 386(@200wpm)___ 308(@250wpm)___ 257(@300wpm)
It was so damn perfect that I wanted to cry.
After months and months of plans and repairs and construction and more problems and pitfalls than I ever could have imagined—though Slash frustratingly seemed to anticipate and let roll off of his back—it was finally almost done.
I hadn’t anticipated just how much this would mean to me.
The classes had started as a sort of therapy for me, getting me out of the house, giving me the confidence to be out alone again.
But then I’d just fallen in love with it.
I’d attended every class I could get in on. At that one studio, then several other ones. I enrolled in martial arts classes and Krav Maga classes and LINE classes.
Along the way, I’d met some amazing people. Some of whom were going to teach classes at the studio because, Slash was right, it was important to delegate things. As much as I wanted to handle the business side, and the general upkeep, the marketing, and all the classes, I knew I’d quickly run myself ragged doing that.
And I suddenly had a very important reason not to push myself too hard.
It hadn’t been planned.
I mean, of course not.
I would have been insane to get pregnant when I was in the middle of building a business.
It wasn’t even something as silly as forgetting to take my Pill.
Nope.
It all came back to that night in this very studio before it was a studio, when I’d taken a hard blow to my face. Which had caused some dental issues. And during the course of getting those taken care of, I’d developed this horrific nerve pain condition. And the medicine that I’d been prescribed to use for it when it flared up, apparently, made my birth control less effective.
And, well, Slash and I were still fucking like we couldn’t get enough of each other, so… yeah.
I was going to give him a baby before we even really gave the wedding plans any thought.
That was fine by me. We would get there. I wasn’t exactly a traditional kind of girl who had to do the ring, the wedding, the house, and then the baby thing.
Judging by the way Slash beamed when I’d told him I’d missed my period, yeah, I guess you could say we were both pretty on-board with our son or daughter that would be coming in another eight or so months.
But the baby was all the more reason I wanted this never-ending studio project finished, so we could officially open our doors and start teaching classes.
There would be women’s self-defense classes, some of which I would teach until Dr. Price told me I wasn’t allowed to anymore. But we were also going to have classes for kids and teens and just adult kickboxing exercise classes.
The town needed something like this.
It was kind of nice to be a part of helping the old factory town start to come back to life.
The studio itself was a two-room space so that there could be two classes running simultaneously. I figured it might be nice to have a kid class and an adult class running at the same time so while the kids were busy, the moms and dads could fit in a workout as well. Both rooms were white and airy with mirrors and soft, padded floors in a black that I hadn’t been sure about, but decided it had been the best option.
There was a small desk to the left side and a seating area beside that for the parents who wanted to sit and observe classes.
The windows had been important to me.
Big, almost floor-to-ceiling windows to let in lots of light. My last studio, while great, had been kind of dark and almost a little intimidating for a women who happened in alone.
I wanted mine to be more welcoming.
But for the windows that lined where the classes would be, I had installed mirrored film, so no one could see inside.
The guys had just finished installing it before heading to the diner to grab some lunch.
Moving outside, I took a slow, deep breath, seeing my sign, and the windows where I only saw myself reflected.
Until it wasn’t just me standing there.
But it wasn’t Slash, one of the guys, the Murphys, or anyone that should have been there.
Still, somehow, his sudden reappearance didn’t startle me, didn’t make me gasp and spin.
I just stood there, looking at his reflection back and to the side of me.
He didn’t look different from the last time I’d seen him. It had only been a year and a half after all.
But there was a sort of detached appreciation for his good looks, the kind of feeling that didn’t come with any heat, any actual attraction.
“When did you get out?” I asked, looking at those familiar eyes that still warmed when he looked at me.