Total pages in book: 106
Estimated words: 103104 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 516(@200wpm)___ 412(@250wpm)___ 344(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 103104 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 516(@200wpm)___ 412(@250wpm)___ 344(@300wpm)
His finger circles my clit in tandem as he takes me, and I writhe underneath him. He does it so well, so good until I can’t breathe, until I’m thrashing as I clutch his ass and dig my nails in. “Tulip…” he grunts. “I’m close. Come with me.”
He moves faster, faster, his cock thickening even more and I call out his name, undulating under him. He cups my face and goes over with me, his breath hard and unsteady as he kisses me with our eyes open. Emotion claws at my heart as my body pulses around him in the aftershocks.
I want you kissing me, just me.
God. His words.
I’m falling so hard, dancing near the edge of the vastness that’s him.
And I know there’s barely any trust left in me for guys, but for him…
I want this. Whatever it is.
17
Coiled and tense, I’m waiting for her in the parking lot. Okay, what’s the etiquette for seeing a girl after you’ve had sex with her? I mean, I know what happens after the usual girls, but she’s…her.
Her Jeep parks a few spaces over from mine and I jog over. She gets out of the car, bends over to grab her backpack, and turns to face me.
My heart skips. Fucking skips.
Last night.
Well.
It’s all I can think about and I’m ignoring those voices in my head, the ones that tell me to tread carefully, to go slow.
I just…
Want her.
I shove down niggling warnings that prick at me, reminding me that I have other commitments. Football. Dane.
One day at a time.
That’s what I’ve been telling myself since I walked out of her dorm last night.
For now, she’s here and I’m here and I refuse to go one more day with this need for her unmet.
She slings her backpack up and over her shoulder. There’s a hesitant look in her eyes.
“Sleep well?” I ask, fidgeting as we take off for the entrance of Camden.
A slow blush rises up her cheeks. Her head dips, a vulnerable expression flitting over her face. “Yeah. You?”
My head goes back to last night, when I had her under me, all the things I told her, about my mom, admitting I was SA. I didn’t leave her dorm until nearly midnight, and walking away from her in that bed was hard.
She smiles, her lips curving up, lush and pink. “Hello. Earth to Knox.”
“Great.”
I slept like crap. Once I got home—with a mewling cat in my arms—Dad was sitting in the kitchen, demanding to know where I’d been. I paused, getting Astley settled with some sandwich meat from the fridge and a water bowl as I contemplated my answer. Truth is best.
“I was with Ava. I’m with her,” I told him finally. Damn, it felt good to get it off my chest, to finally tell him I want her, I want her next to me, I want her so fucking bad that no one even matters—
With his wide eyes searching my face, he interrupted my thoughts. “Knox, son, that girl is trouble for your brother. He can’t get over what happened to her, and just maybe, there’s a reason—”
“You don’t get to tell me who I see,” I snapped back and then stomped up the stairs.
“Your brother still isn’t home,” he called at my back, and I stopped in my tracks.
I came back in the kitchen and we sat on the barstools. After a few texts, I figured out he was at Liam’s. Dad and I both went to bed exhausted.
I finally got to sleep, then Dane woke me up around three, crawling in on the other side of my bed, eyes hollow and empty. I watched him get under the covers and turn over to face the wall, his shoulders shuddering.
Was he crying?
Why didn’t he spend the night at Liam’s?
When six o’clock rolled around, I couldn’t sleep, so I got up and ran for two miles, then came back, showered, and let Suzy fix me breakfast while Dad got ready for an early flight to New York. I went through the motions automatically, my head on Ava. Wondering if she was eating something. Wondering if her lips were as swollen as mine.
I come back to the present when she nudges me.
“How are we going to do this?” she asks as we get to the front doors.
I don’t have to ask what she means. I see the tension on her face as I open the door, and she glides through, her finger plucking nervously at her skirt. I take it and clasp it in mine. She’s not sure what we are, and neither am I, yet here we are.
She bites her lip, eyes darting around at the students in the foyer.
“They’ll fall in line.” Or I’ll eviscerate them.
I don’t see any of the other guys. Dane said he’d ride with Liam this morning, and they’re going to be late considering Dane was barely awake when I left.