Page 48 of Words I Couldn't Say
THREE INCREDIBLE WEEKS PASSED WITHOUTincident since the first night Ava and I had slept together. Three weeks in which she’d snuck over every night after she’d thought her parents and brothers were asleep. Three weeks we’d used to make up for lost time. Five years’ worth. And three weeks she’d been falling asleep in my arms just where she belonged. I just hoped that it wasn’t temporary. She might have thought we were friends with benefits, but I knew the truth. I couldn’t guard my heart from her anymore even if I tried. Hell, it was already hers. It’d always been, and no amount of fighting it would ever change that fact.
“You do realize we don’t have to sneak around anymore, right?” I asked Ava as she looked for her clothes in the dark. “We aren’t teenagers anymore.”
She placed a hand on her hip and pointed a finger at me. “Do you want to be the one to explain to my dad what you’re doing with his little girl during our sleepovers? Or why we’re only friends with benefits and not dating?”
I laughed, pushing up from the bed, grabbing her hips, and dragging her towards me. “Babe, I hate to break it to you, but I’m pretty sure we’re not fooling anyone.”
She playfully punched my shoulder. “Still! It’s weird. Every time I come over here, my parents will think we’re sleeping together.”
I grinned. “Would they be wrong?”
Her cheeks turned pink with a sexy blush. “No.”
“Are you ashamed to be sleeping with me?”
She gasped. “No, of course not!”
“Am I your dirty little secret?
“You don’t have to be,” she replied.
“What are we doing here, Ava? What do you want?”
“I want you. That’s all I want.”
“As friends with benefits?” I asked, hoping like hell she’d give me more.
She leaned in and gave me a quick peck before pulling back and gazing into my eyes. “I want whatever you’ll give me. I’ll take you any way I can get.”
My heart faltered, but then she continued.
“But remember the promise you gave my dad when we were eight? That’s what I ultimately want.”
And, just like that, my heart soared. Because that promise I’d given Jeremy?
It meant I’d marry Ava one day.
That day couldn’t come soon enough.
Jeremy Banks proved me right a few short hours later. While Ava was off shooting scenes, I was taking advantage of my time off by chopping wood in preparation for a harsh Ohio winter. As much as I hadn’t thought I’d like working with my hands, I’d come to love it. I took great pride in my work, in my home, and I wanted it to show. I was stacking firewood when a large shadow loomed over me. I looked up and saw Jeremy there, pointing a finger in my face.
“We need to have a man-to-man chat, Manning,” he said briskly. Then he walked to his back deck, apparently expecting me to follow.
Generally I wouldn’t appreciate the gruff order, but since I was sleeping with his daughter, I followed this one.
When I met him on the back deck, my eyebrows rose at the sight of two cold ones. As I wiped the sweat from my brow, I gratefully accepted a beer then sat next to him. “Should I go ahead and state my intentions, or would you rather ask me first?”
Jeremy tilted his head, watching me curiously. “You think I don’t know your intentions? Wasn’t I the one who told you to write the damn book? I already know your intentions, kid.”
I laughed. Twenty-three years old and Jeremy could still make me feel like I was that eight-year-old again. “Then what’s this about?”
He gave me a pointed look. “Quit sneaking around. If you’re going to date my daughter, you do it proud, in public. Tonight, you’re at our house for dinner as her boyfriend.”
