Total pages in book: 88
Estimated words: 81787 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 409(@200wpm)___ 327(@250wpm)___ 273(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 81787 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 409(@200wpm)___ 327(@250wpm)___ 273(@300wpm)
“I need some air,” Wilder said, moving away from me. “Will you be okay with being alone for a little bit?”
No. I wanted him here. But I also didn’t think I could fix what was wrong. Not when he was shutting me out like this. I wasn’t going to beg him. I’d done that already. No more.
“Sure,” I lied.
Twenty-Eight
Wilder
Stepping back into the cave, I felt guilty for leaving Oakley here, but I had needed to clear my head. Hit shit. Curse. Lose my goddamn temper, and I hadn’t wanted to do it in front of her.
The room was silent as I walked through the small hallway. It was past midnight, so when I found Oakley curled up on the sofa, asleep, I wasn’t surprised.
The reality of all this was twisted up so badly that there was no clear way to see it. She was right. We wouldn’t change what had happened because of Sarah. She made the difference. But I would change the after. I’d never have treated Oakley like I had. Fuck, I would have begged her to forgive me. There would have been no wedding with Sylvia.
The what-could-have-beens. Everything we had lost. It would forever darken my world. I’d never get past knowing I’d had her once and lost her. She’d been mine.
I looked at her as I removed my shirt and took off the sweats. I knew there were still things coming and that we couldn’t change the past, but for tonight, I was going to hold her. I was going to sleep in a bed with Oakley Watson in my arms. Finally. Even if I just got it tonight. All the reasons this was a bad idea be damned.
Wearing only my boxers, I went over and pulled the covers back to see Oakley still wearing just the sweatshirt. Her naked ass pressed against me was going to be a temptation, but I didn’t care. Reaching down, I picked her up, and she curled into me, pressing her face to my chest.
Emotions for this woman that I had thought were gone, never to return, came barreling back with a vengeance. The need to cherish her, love her, own her were there, threatening to take over again. I couldn’t do that. Not now. We were two different people. Age, time, and circumstances had made sure of it.
I placed her on the bed, then lay down behind her, tugging the covers up over our bodies. Wrapping my arm around her waist, I buried my nose in her hair. God, this was heaven. The warmth of her body against mine, her scent surrounding me. I could die right here, content.
No! I had to stop letting my head go there. Fuck that. It wasn’t my head in danger here. It was my heart. I had to keep up my guard. And I would—tomorrow. Right now, I was enjoying this. I was going to revel in it.
“Wilder?” Her voice was raspy from sleep.
I tightened my arm around her. “Yeah.”
“Mmm,” she murmured and wiggled her ass against my already-hard cock.
I closed my eyes and tried to control my reaction. She was half asleep.
“I like this.”
Yeah, well, I fucking loved it. I didn’t respond, but she shifted again, as if she was trying to get closer. We were on a twin bed, and any closer, she’d have to be on top of me. That image made my cock twitch.
Unable to help myself, I pressed a kiss to her temple. “Go back to sleep, baby.”
She let out a happy sigh and rubbed her ass on me again.
“Oakley, stop wiggling. You keep it up, and I’m going to end up fucking you.”
I felt her stomach jump with a quick breath at my words, and then she turned over to face me. Even in the darkened room, her pale blue eyes were bright.
“That’s not exactly a threat,” she said in a sultry voice.
The reasons why I shouldn’t do this were more than I wanted to count, and not one of them mattered. Not right now. Not with her in this cave, in this bed with me, staring up at me with those eyes. An open invitation.
I lowered my mouth to hers and kissed her gently, savoring how it felt to have her in a bed, kissing her, touching her. Things I’d fantasized about for so long. Things I’d never thought I would get to experience.
Her hand slid up my arm and into my hair as she opened her sweet lips and let me in. All other problems faded away. This was Oakley, soft and needy in my arms. The girl who used to dance in the rain, ask me what the best part of my day was, press kisses all over my face while she told me how much she loved me.
She draped her leg over my hip and pressed her warm center against my erection, then let out a low moan. The wetness from her need seeped through the cotton on my boxers, and I trembled.