Total pages in book: 155
Estimated words: 147128 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 736(@200wpm)___ 589(@250wpm)___ 490(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 147128 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 736(@200wpm)___ 589(@250wpm)___ 490(@300wpm)
I felt the bulge between his legs growing and wrapped my legs around him. He stopped enough so we could breathe, then stroked my cheek with his thumb to hold me still and started kissing me again.
It was a very hard kiss. The kind that got your lips bruised and swollen.
It was more than I could’ve ever wished for and it was definitely worth all the years I’d waited.
I felt his left hand move under my shirt, and I gasped into his mouth at the contact, shivering as he dragged it up to my rib cage and stopped right below my breast. His hand tightened around me and I arched my back, savouring the way he bowed forward with me so he wouldn’t have to stop kissing me. I smiled into our kiss and gripped his hair tighter.
Right when I was about to lose my head even more than I already had, the light overhead suddenly turned on, and I vaguely heard someone open a door from very far away.
I wouldn’t say I mewled when William completely withdrew from me, but it was a close call.
‘Uncle Willie.’
I was still panting when I looked to the side and saw a sleepy Ivy, holding her arms up so William would lift her up.
Quickly jumping down from the table, I tried to tidy up my hair and clothes which I could only imagine were a real mess.
‘I can’t find my toy,’ she mumbled as she rubbed her eyes.
Beth and Nico had left to spend the night alone and Ivy wanted to stay behind with William.
He picked her up. It did something to my heart that William had to clear his throat a few times before speaking. ‘Do you remember where you saw it last?’
‘I think in the yard,’ she mumbled, resting her head on his shoulder, eyes already shut.
‘Okay, let’s take a look then.’
‘I’m gonna miss you, Uncle Willie. Can I sleep with you?’
William glanced at me over his shoulder so Ivy looked as well.
‘Hello, Charlie,’ she mumbled.
‘Hi Ivy.’
‘Did you lose something back here, too?’
‘No.’ I took a trembling step towards them and forced a smile on my face. It had never been mine in the first place, so I couldn’t have lost that something. ‘I was just having a… conversation with your uncle.’
She nodded sleepily. ‘Kay.’ Hugging his shoulder, she turned to her uncle. ‘If we can’t find it, can I sleep with you?’
William’s gaze found mine again, and I offered him a small smile. Our night had just ended. I nodded at him and moved to go inside, because without his body heat and closeness I was starting to shiver.
‘I’ll go inside,’ I said to both of them quietly. ‘Goodnight.’
I got a goodnight from Ivy, but nothing from William, even though his eyes followed my every step. His fingers around my wrist stopped me before I could disappear through the door.
‘Tomorrow,’ he said.
It was both a promise and warning, but it didn’t mean much since I was going to leave New York and William in a few weeks. I had to.
Don’t ever change your life around for a guy.
I’d made a promise to myself. And I owed it to myself to keep it.
So why did my heart hurt then?
22 William
She was avoiding me. I wasn’t sure whether I wanted to laugh at her or be annoyed. The car ride back to New York had been a quiet one since it was 5 a.m. when we left Montauk and both pup and woman had fallen asleep on me ten minutes into our ride. Then when we made it to our street it was a rush to get to work in time and get started on the meetings we had lined up with the team. We were three hours into the work day and I hadn’t had any alone time with her. At the end of our first meeting, before lunch, other than a fleeting touch here and there when she wasn’t expecting it, we had had no contact.
What I really wanted to do was to get her alone so we could talk, but she was proving to be very slippery, as always. I stopped by her office just as Gayle showed up. I nodded in Gayle’s general direction but kept my eyes on a flustered Charlie who was standing stock still before me.
‘Charlie,’ I started. ‘Good morning.’
Her gaze moved between me and Gayle, eyes jumping back and forth.
‘Good morning?’ she answered sceptically.
‘Good morning to me too,’ Gayle added when there was a silence. ‘Not that anyone wondered about me.’
Before I could ask if I could steal her away so we could have a moment to ourselves, Gayle’s phone started ringing. She checked the screen and gave us a curious look. ‘You two keep being weird, I have to take this one.’ She walked a few steps into Charlie’s office.