Total pages in book: 152
Estimated words: 147545 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 738(@200wpm)___ 590(@250wpm)___ 492(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 147545 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 738(@200wpm)___ 590(@250wpm)___ 492(@300wpm)
“She was willing to,” I say. “But I knew no one would have come, so…”
She glosses past that. “Right. Well,” she turns, picking up a white gift box tied with a pink ribbon, “we wanted you to have something to commemorate the occasion, and after our dinner, my husband thought this would be the perfect thing.”
I cock an eyebrow, surprised. “Mr. Walters picked out my gift?”
She nods eagerly.
I thought he hated me.
I untie the bow and lift the lid. At first, I just see a book, but it’s inside a clear acrylic display case. I look closer at the cover and see it’s a very old copy of The Great Gatsby.
My breath catches as I realize I think I know what it is.
I look up, wide-eyed. “Oh my god. Is this…?”
Myra nods happily. “A first edition. To start your collection.”
“It’s signed, too,” Tor tells me, and my disbelieving gaze jumps to him.
My jaw hangs open. “Wow. This is such a generous gift. I don’t even know what to say. Thank you so much.”
“You’re so welcome,” Myra says, smiling. “Now, I have an appointment to get to, so I’ll leave you to it.” She gives Tor a hug before she leaves, then she gives me one, too.
We walk her out, Tor’s arm settling possessively around my waist, and once the door closes behind her, he grabs me and pushes me backward until my back meets the wall. “Now, where were we?”
“I think we were about to admire my new first edition,” I tell him innocently.
He smiles as he bends to kiss my neck. “No, I think I was about to admire something else.”
A sigh escapes me as he trails his lips across my shoulder, kissing around the thin strap of my dress. He drags it down, then shoves the material lower, pulling down the cups of my bra and baring my breasts. He bends to catch my nipple in his mouth, and I gasp, my hands finding his broad shoulders.
The tight material rips as he drags it lower.
I gasp. “My pretty dress.”
“I’ll buy you a new one,” he assures me, ravaging the material as he pulls it down to my waist. I’m wearing a strapless bra, and that annoys him, so he reaches back and unclasps it. When the material drops, my tits are free—just the way he likes them.
Catching my hand, he says, “Let’s take this to the bedroom.”
I smile up at him. “Let’s.”
___
A shopping spree with Shaley was on my to-do list, anyway. I decide to go before our trip to Boston instead of after so I can replace the dress Tor ruined before that style is gone and also see if I’d like to buy anything for the trip.
It’s a short one, just a couple of days, so we can hand in my paperwork and explore the grounds a bit. It’s summer, so the campus will likely be pretty empty. Still, I’ve seen pictures, and they’re so idyllic and collegiate that they make the overachieving old version of me die with anticipation at the idea of actually getting to go there.
I daydreamed, but I never thought attending a university like that would really be in the cards for me. It certainly wasn’t in the budget.
When Tor and I first got back together, I eased up on the spending because I felt like I had been working hard to punish him financially when we were separated. When I told him this, he seemed confused because he hadn’t even noticed.
Finally, he decided to give me a better idea of “our” financial position. He didn’t show me everything, but he showed me just his trust fund now that it has absorbed Tim’s. There were a lot of zeros. I needed to sit down after I saw it.
So, when I take Shaley to the boutique, I feel no hesitation in telling her to pick out anything and everything she likes—it’s all on me.
“Are you sure this is okay?” she asks uncertainly, no fewer than six dresses draped over her arm.
I nod confidently. “Yep. I better see the number of dresses doubled before you even think about going to the checkout.”
“This is crazy,” she mutters, but she snatches another hanger off the rack. “Absolute lunacy.”
“Don’t forget to look at the purses, too.”
My gaze settles on a beautiful dress on the next rack. It’s not the pink and creamy color palette I shopped for when I was selecting dresses to wear to see Tor’s family. It’s navy blue with white flowers. The straps are thin, but when I pair it with a soft white cardigan I had already picked up, it feels… well, it feels like me.
I snatch it off the rack. This is my Boston dress.
After our shameless shopping spree, we load our bags into the back seat of the Lexus and head to the salon. Our nail polish is chipped from our last mani-pedi, and I want to freshen them up with a new color before our trip anyway. Now that I know what I’ll be wearing, I decide to go with a midnight blue to complement it.