Series: Willow Winters
Total pages in book: 13
Estimated words: 11536 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 58(@200wpm)___ 46(@250wpm)___ 38(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 11536 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 58(@200wpm)___ 46(@250wpm)___ 38(@300wpm)
The days are bleeding together and if there’s one thing I’d like to change, it’s this part right here. The part where I give her a goodnight kiss and leave.
There’s not a part of me that doesn’t want to lay her to sleep in bed, like her man should.
Like I should.
Aubrey
I don’t think I’ve ever wanted someone in my bed overnight. Not a moment has existed where I’ve thought: I’d like to share and I definitely won’t regret not being able to cocoon myself in my comforter or spawl out. But every night he leaves, there’s an emptiness I can’t shake.
When I lie down, I imagine what it would be like to share the bed with him and sleep soundly in his arms. My eyes close as the front door shuts and that’s all I see: the image of the two of us, sleeping together. Actually sleeping.
Peeking out of the peephole, I watch him take his time walking to his car. He peers over his shoulder, looking back with his keys in his hand and I know he can’t see me, but I wish he could.
If he could, I think he’d ask if I want him to stay.
He lingers more and more each time he leaves and the invitation is on the tip of my tongue. Taking a step back, I let out a deep breath and cross my arms over my chest. I know how it will happen, though.
He stays a night, maybe a couple in a row.
And then either we’re sick of each other and need space, or it’s a full-blown “come move in with me” situation.
I’m not sure which way it’ll go and my nerves eat away at me, dreading that if we move to that next step, it could lead to a split. That’s the last thing I want, but I don’t think I can stand here one more time and watch him leave me.
I don’t know what it is about tonight, but my heart pounds and I can’t just stay here, pacing in my foyer, thinking about all the what-ifs.
I’ll never know if I don’t take the leap.
Ripping open the door, I ready myself to run out in the dark night lit only by the full moon and stop him. To call out his name, hoping he sees and hears me before he drives off.
I’m so prepared and determined that when I open the door, I’m shocked to see him standing there on the bottom step, keys in his hands still, with a look in his eyes that tells me he’s just as shocked.
My heart rages and my body heats as he smirks up at me and says, “Bree baby?”
“Did you leave something?” I question him breathlessly, wondering why he came back.
“I think I did.” His charming smile widens and he slips his hands into his dress slacks as he stands a few steps away. “Did you have something you needed to … say or ask?” he questions and I swear I’ve never been more in love. The ease between us, the look in his eyes. There’s a spark I pray never goes away.
“Stay the night?”
“Isn’t that a little serious?” he asks in a playful tone, taking a single step forward, but still too far away for my liking. I venture a step outside, standing under the porch light.
“I think I could be serious with you.”
“You’re not afraid of falling in love with me, Bree baby?”
“I think I already am.” Before the words are fully spoken his arms are wrapped around me and his lips are on mine, stealing the gasp. He kisses me in the light spilling from my front door, for all of Cedar Lane to see.
EPILOGUE
Aubrey
I don’t wake up feeling so alone, so much anymore. Even though I am.
No longer dreaming of Bennet, I reach over to the cold sheets where he used to lay. Where he kissed me a thousand times and where he held me in the darkest moments of our lives. Before we were torn apart.
Every night, though, I see him again. As if it’s a decade ago and when we first met all over again.
I don’t know much about soulmates or fate or whether the vows we made on our wedding day meant anything past the moment he left me, but every night I dream of my husband. Only I don’t know him. It’s as if we’re complete strangers who fall hard for each other. The days are lonely and he’s not here to tell me it’s all right … but when I sleep, we get to start over from the beginning and I feel those butterflies anew. We have our first kiss and I am loved again. I miss him every waking moment and, in my dreams, we relive our romance as if it’s the first time. Every single night, I fall in love with him all over again.