Big and Bold by Hope Ford

Author:Hope Ford [Ford, Hope]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2025-08-22T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 9

DUSTIN

I’m a hard man. My whole life I’ve kept things bottled up. I’ve never been vulnerable. Hell, I didn’t even know what that word truly meant until now.

But I have to try because I can’t lose Annie.

I need to lay it all on the line and see if we can make this work. I can’t lose her, and if I do, I’m going to spend the rest of my life regretting it.

While she was in the bathroom, I tried to come up with a plan, but now that she’s standing in front of me, it’s like my mind has gone blank. I wish I could lay her back on our bed and just show her, but that hasn’t worked well for me in the past. I need to do more.

I must have taken too long to continue because she walks around the bed. “I think we’ve talked enough, Dustin.”

She pulls the covers back and climbs into bed, pulling the blanket up to her shoulders, her back to me.

I turn off the lamp and lie down on the bed, my body turned to her. She sighs softly, and I curl my hand under my cheek. “I’m sorry, Annie.”

She gasps, and it’s almost like she can’t believe she’s hearing those words from me. Hell, I should have started with that. “I’m sorry for everything.”

She rolls to her back and looks up at the ceiling but still doesn’t say anything.

“I know I messed up. Hell, I messed up a lot.”

I roll to my back too and throw my arm up over my head. “I don’t deserve a second chance, but I would give anything if in this next month, you could be open…”

My voice trails off because I worry I’m messing up again. She has given and given and given. She gave up her life, moved away from her family, all of it. And all I do is take.

When I don’t continue, she asks, “Open to what?”

I tense because this is so important, and I wish I was holding her instead of lying here trying to give her some space. I turn to face her. “You don’t owe me anything, Annie. Nothing at all. I know you don’t, and I feel like a dog even asking you this, but since we’re going to be together for the next month, I don’t want you to hate me this whole time. I’m going to prove to you that I can be different⁠—”

“Different?” she asks. “I don’t want you to be different.”

My voice drops. “I mean, fuck, Annie. I don’t even know how to explain it. I’ve kept my guard up with you.”

She fully turns her body toward me and rests her hands under her cheek. “Why?”

I choke a little. “Well, uh, that’s a loaded question.”

She groans. “Forget it⁠—”

I put a hand on her arm. “No, listen, I’ve kept my guard up with you because I knew… I mean, I thought you were going to leave me anyway. I thought you were just biding your time with me.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.