Total pages in book: 90
Estimated words: 85274 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 426(@200wpm)___ 341(@250wpm)___ 284(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 85274 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 426(@200wpm)___ 341(@250wpm)___ 284(@300wpm)
“Reading anything good?” I ask, attempting to make conversation as I take a bite of my quesadilla.
“Apparently when I give birth there’s a chance that I’ll shit myself.”
I’m in the middle of chewing when she says this, so I not only choke, but my food goes flying out of my mouth and all over the counter.
“What?” I ask, sure I heard her wrong.
“That’s what it says,” Ellie replies, looking at me with wide eyes.
“What the hell are you reading?”
“What to Expect When You’re Expecting. I figured the more I know, the better I’ll be prepared.” Her words come out nonchalant, but I can hear the undertone in them—she’s scared. She never had a mom growing up, aside from her older sister, Sienna, who took on the mother role, which isn’t the same. Sienna grew up having to care for Ellie, so becoming a mom was natural to her, but Ellie doesn’t have any experience with taking care of anyone but herself, and she’s worried she won’t be good at it.
I lean over and palm her face, turning her head so she’s forced to look at me. “We’ve got this, Kitten. This baby will be loved and cared for and want for nothing. Hell, he’s already loved and he’s not even here yet.”
Tears prick her eyes, and I move my thumb to wipe one that escapes. “Thank you,” she says softly. “I know I messed up, but—”
“Enough of that,” I tell her, dropping my hand from her face. She might’ve made a bad choice, but she didn’t do it maliciously. She was desperate to feel again, to be intimate with someone, and she trusted me enough to know I would never hurt her. “I’m glad it was me you went to. Some other guy might not have understood your cues.”
I could tell from the moment we met at the club, she was skittish and needed to be handled with care. I tried to walk away, telling myself I didn’t want to deal with it, so when one of my employees told me someone was asking to speak to me, I took that as my sign. But then fate intervened, and I ran into her when she was heading out. And I knew I needed to have her. I could tell she wasn’t experienced, and she confirmed that the little experience she had wasn’t good, but I didn’t know how deep the demons went that haunted her.
“That’s what happened before,” she admits. “I tried being with other guys. Once in high school and then a few times in college, but every time, I’d freak out. They would be too rough, too selfish. I didn’t know how to explain what I needed because I wasn’t sure myself. And then Rae said I needed someone I trusted, and you were the only one I thought of.”
“And how was it?” I ask, genuinely wanting to know—but also curious, since I’m the only person she’s been with—yeah, I’m refusing to count those fucking assholes who raped her.
Ellie’s cheeks tint a light shade of pink, and I immediately wonder if they were that color the night we were together. “Well, I don’t have much to compare our night to...” She smiles sheepishly. “But it was good...Really good, actually. Like, you totally put my vibrator to shame. Whoever comes next will have a lot to live up to,” she says with a laugh.
But I don’t join in because the thought of her being with someone else isn’t funny—at fucking all. The idea of some other guy seeing her naked—when I didn’t even get to do that—or kissing her and feeling her soft, creamy skin and then sliding inside her warmth as she moans in pleasure, causes my blood to boil and my fists to clench.
Fuck that, Ellie is mine.
And before I can think about what I’m doing, I’m wrapping my fingers around her nape and pulling her face toward me, fusing our mouths together. My tongue demands entrance, and she opens, granting me access.
My hand ascends, fisting the back of her hair, and I deepen the kiss, our tongues tangling as we greedily taste one another. She tastes spicy with a hint of something that’s all her. And when I suck on her tongue, and she moans into my mouth, I’m instantly hard, desperate for more than just her kiss.
I need every goddamn part of her. The parts I’ve already savored that left me hungering for another taste. The parts I never got to experience.
Every. Fucking. Part.
I lift her onto the island and spread her legs, so I can stand between them, and then yank the towel off her body. I step back for a moment, wanting to take her in now that we’re in the light, needing to rememorize every goddamn curve on her.
Micah’s cautionary words creep into the back of my mind, but the second our eyes connect, and she looks at me like I’m everything she could ever want or need, I shove his words out the door, slam that bitch shut, and lock it.