Page 242 of Time Stops With You

“I want to be a part of your dream. Even if it’s just financially.”

I sigh.

“And I want you and your mom and Josiah to live in a bigger house. I don’t think you three can fit in that apartment forever.”

I nod, a lump in my throat.

“And,” Cullen says sleepily, “I set up a trust for your mom. I can tell she’s a very proud lady and she won’t want to take you or Josiah’s money. So she’ll have her own account. I already talked to my lawyers about it.”

“Cullen.”

“Sh.” He wraps me in his arms and pulls me against him. “Everything hurts. I don’t have it in me to argue.”

I can’t tell if he’s over-exaggerating the pain or not, but it’s enough to scare me into silence.

Time passes, and my eyelashes start feeling heavy.

But just as I’m about to sleep, Cullen rolls me onto my back and kisses my lips until I respond to his touch. He whispers his love for me and buries himself in me and I know the night is not over yet.

Twenty-Seven

CULLEN

There was not a romantic bone in my body before I met Nardi. I woke every morning, intending only to lose myself in my computer, barely surfacing to eat, pay bills, and shower.

I lived like an NPC, a soul-less character in the background of a game. Pre-programmed with a tragic backstory, stilted dialogue and destined to disappear as the real, main character took center stage.

Then I met her.

And something inside me jolted awake.

Perhaps if I’d been in love before, I would have known what to call that ‘something’ sooner. In the gaps of my ignorance, I thought it was curiosity.

And then obsession.

Too late in the game, it hit me.

I loved Nardi.

But even what Ithoughtwas love… wasn’t at all.

Because love isn’t supposed to hurt like this.

Bleed like this.

Cause this much damage.

As I tighten my hold on her and nuzzle my face into her straight black hair, agony stirs in my soul. It makes me clutch her harder and she whimpers in her sleep, protesting the pain I’m inflicting.

I press my lips to her ear. “I’m sorry, Nardi.”

She doesn’t hear me, yet those soft fingers that had clung to me all night lift to my face. They pat me in comfort before slapping back against the pillows.

A light snore gushes from her parted lips.

I stifle the urge to wake her again, not to invade her body but to simply look into her pretty brown eyes. Hear her voice. See her smile one more time.

We’d exchanged our love all night. I’d been so gentle, it nearly killed me.

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