Page 144 of Whisper Sweet Nothings
She just stayed right there, crying and hugging me for probably two or three minutes before she finally pulled back to look at me. Her hair was in a loose braid falling over her shoulder with a thin white bow tied around the bottom. I glanced down to see that she was wearing her white sleep shorts and matching top. My hand glided up her thigh, beneath the loose-fitting bottoms, and grasped her ass cheek.
Her head fell back as she laughed. “What are you doing here?”
“I owed you a conversation. I thought you were mad at me.” My other hand moved to the side of her neck and face.
“I am mad at you. But I’m also happy to see you.”
I swiped the tears from beneath her eyes with my thumb. “I’m happy to see you, too. I was on my way out last night to catch my flight here, and I wanted to surprise you. Leave it to Melody to answer the phone.”
Her lips turned up in the corners. “So, you weren’t going out looking all clean and handsome?”
I laughed. “Haven’t been out once since you left. Everyone’s given me shit for it. Apparently, I’ve been very withdrawn.”
She nodded before moving off my lap to sit beside me on the bed.
“No touching me until we finish the conversation. You know I’m weak for you. So, tell me why you’ve been so weird.”
“Honestly, I didn’t realize it was that noticeable. But, after talking to Dr. Debbie, I can now understand how I gave you a lot of mixed signals.”
“Who’s Dr. Debbie?”
“Bridger’s therapist. He made me go see her a couple times this week. He’d already psychoanalyzed me, and she was much kinder about it.” I chuckled.
“Tell me.”
“I truly thought giving you your space while you were on this adventure was the right thing to do, Winnie. Your father and I spoke a lot about how Jaden hindered your growth, and I would never want to do that. So I wanted you to go spread your wings, and see what opportunities were out there. But apparently, it was fear-driven, and pretty selfish of me.”
She snorted. “‘Fear-driven,’ huh? You don’t say?”
I blew out a breath. “Yep. It’s taken me a long time to want to have a relationship again. I never held Scarlet’s choices against her, but at the end of the day, she chose to leave. I’ve been fairly guarded ever since Melody was born, and you’re the first person I’ve opened up to outside of my family. And I was hesitant to tell you how I felt, because—” I shook my head, trying to find the words.
“Because you were afraid that I’d leave you,” she said as her hand found mine. “And you were afraid to talk to me about it because you thought that you’d be pressuring me to stay.”
“Wow. You’re good at reading me, huh?”
“I’m a woman with abandonment issues of my own. So that’s why it’s important to have the hard conversations. But I’m open to having them, Archie. Because this isn’t casual for me. This”—she motioned between us—“what’s happening here between us? It’s not like anything I’ve ever felt before. It’s so much stronger, and it’s so worth the risk.”
“I love you, Winnie. I love you so fucking much that it’s actually painful. I haven’t been sleeping, because I missed your body in my bed. I missed your laugh and your smile, and I missed your cooking. Definitely missed your cooking.” My gaze locked with hers, and I chuckled.
“My cooking, huh?”
“Well, among other things.” I sighed. “I missed you. Our home doesn’t feel right anymore when you’re not in it. And I don’t want to scare you off, but I came here because I need to tell you these things. I need to tell you that I want forever with you. I want to build a life and a family with you. I know that you’ve been married before, and I won’t pressure you in any way to do that again if that’s not something you want, but I want everything you’re willing to give me, Winnie.”
“First of all, I’m not against marriage. I’m against being married to an asshole.” She shrugged. “I actually love marriage, and I see that with you. I see all of it. A love that goes the distance. A family that we continue building together. A life. One that feels right with you.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah, Archie. So next time you go quiet on me, we’re going to talk about it, okay? Because I am thrilled that my career is taking off, but that doesn’t change the things that I want with you. I can write romance sitting on our front porch growing old together, because you’ve given me the inspiration to do it. You’ve shown me what it feels like to love a man deeply and to be lovedback the same way. Even if you hadn’t said the words, I felt it. I felt it right here.” She lifted my hand and settled it over her heart.
“I promise to say it to you every day moving forward. I’m sorry it took me so long to figure out my shit.”
“You were worth the wait, Archer Chadwick. Even if you made me say it first.”
“You didn’t say it first. You said ‘love ya,’ and it was all muffled and during a very stressful time. I was freaking out that you were leaving, and then you dropped a casual ‘love ya’?”
Her head fell back in a fit of giggles, and I swear it was fucking music to my ears. “I do love ya, Archie.”
“I love you.” I stared at her, and she smiled back at me.
