Total pages in book: 71
Estimated words: 64929 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 325(@200wpm)___ 260(@250wpm)___ 216(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 64929 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 325(@200wpm)___ 260(@250wpm)___ 216(@300wpm)
Telling myself they were interesting was one thing, but honestly acknowledging everything I really wanted to do was almost frightening. My hands traced over his chest, and I let my fingertips ghost over his nipples with the lightest touch. He made a soft sound that might’ve been a moan, but I couldn’t be sure. Peeking up at his face, I did it again. He bit his lip and gave me a heated look, and the stiff peak tightened under my touch.
There was just so much I wanted that I didn’t even know where to start — or where he was comfortable letting me explore. Moving my hand away from the sensitive skin, I let my fingers explore where they’d been itching to touch.
“I’ve always wanted to touch these.” I traced around the patterns and over the pictures he’d decorated his body with. “You would come out of the bathroom, and water would still be dripping down from your hair and over the tattoos. I just wanted to run my fingers over them.”
Days ago, even hours ago, I would have felt stupid telling him that, but everything was different. Everything had changed.
“I wanted you to run your tongue over them,” Owen admitted, dragging his bottom teeth over his lip and making me want to lick it, to suck it.
To do so much more than that, and it was nearly overwhelming. “A couple I got when I was just being stupid,” Owen murmured, taking my hand in his and guiding his fingers to the flower between his shoulder and his chest. “Thought I’d be in less trouble if it was something pretty.” He grinned. “I wasn’t.”
“I loved them all.” My fingers kept moving over the skin. I couldn’t get enough. It was like some kind of a dam had burst inside of me. “I was so jealous every time I saw that you’d gotten a new one or when they would talk about it.”
I could have sat there all night, curled up in his arms. I wanted him a little more naked, though, and he was right about the floor getting uncomfortable. I leaned close and kissed one that had drawn my gaze from the first time I’d seen it. It was a cross between a weather vane and a compass, and I wanted to ask about it. For now, though…
“Shower with me and then stay the night?” I pulled back enough to look up into his eyes. “I want to see you and touch you, and then I want to wake up with you so I know nothing has changed.”
He smirked, but there was no malice in it. “Everything’s changed, Pup. That’s the point.”
Laughing, I shook my head. “You knew what I meant.”
“Mm, maybe,” Owen said. He gently nudged me, helping me to my feet before following suit. “C’mon, Pup. Let’s get you cleaned up.”
Chapter 14 Owen
I couldn’t remember the last time I’d woken up before Adrian, but he was still there, curled in my arms. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d woken up in bed with someone at all, really. There was too much intimacy there, too much of something I wasn’t ready to share with anyone.
At least, I hadn’t thought I was ready to share it with anyone. Now that I’d gone there with Adrian, I wasn’t sure there was any going back to the casual encounters I’d indulged in.
I wasn’t going to shame myself for them. They’d been fun, and I’d been careful. But that was all they’d been: fun.
With Adrian, it had been all intensity and tenderness, something entirely new to explore that enraptured me far more than I knew how to describe… or really wanted to admit, because it was painful to think that I might end up losing this.
I didn’t let myself think that way for long. Instead, I thought about the night before, of how fucking hot he’d looked beneath my touch. Those little barks and growls, the way his tail had wagged as he’d chased after the ball and brought it back in his mouth — in his mouth, which seemed impossible for Adrian — were almost impossible to believe.
If I hadn’t woken up with him snuggled against my bare chest, I’m not sure I would’ve believed it at all. It felt like a dream but for the way he felt in my arms, so natural, as we’d fallen asleep after I’d bathed him. Every touch, every caress, every laugh… It had all coalesced into something truly unforgettable.
I nuzzled his neck, placing a kiss on his skin, and it sent a wave of heat through me. I didn’t want to wake him, but at the same time, morning wood had never felt so difficult not to try to sate.
Fuck.
I was so screwed.
Adrian made a sleepy groan and pressed tighter against me with eyes still closed. Giving him another kiss, I watched as he frowned and tried to hide his face against me, grumbling softly, “Too early, more kisses.”