Total pages in book: 76
Estimated words: 71110 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 356(@200wpm)___ 284(@250wpm)___ 237(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 71110 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 356(@200wpm)___ 284(@250wpm)___ 237(@300wpm)
“It didn’t?” She’d thought it had.
“No, it did. I had a great time. I can talk to you like I talk to a friend, except I don’t want to do the things I want to do to you to my friends. The feelings are different. I’m screwing this up, aren’t I?”
He was never going to be the most eloquent man, but he was one of the most honest. He didn’t seem to try to hold back or distance himself. He wasn’t a man who would withhold affection or try to manipulate her into something she didn’t want to do. She shook her head. “No, but I might be. I’m scared of getting hurt, but I don’t want to push you away. And I want to move this relationship along. I can’t promise you I’m going to be able to stay with you most nights, but when we can, if you want to, I’d like to be close to you.”
“I’ll want to. I’ll want to a lot. I need you to understand that I’ll always want to, but I’ll be okay with what you can give me. You have a lot going on. I want to add to your life, Daph. Not be one more thing for you to worry about.”
Okay, she took back the thought about him not being eloquent because that was the sweetest thing she’d ever heard. But she was worried about something else. She needed him to understand that the friendship thing went both ways. She already cared about him so much. The emotion was a soft place in a heart she’d hardened years before. “But if you don’t, it’s okay. If you don’t, we can still be friends. Like you said. If it doesn’t work, then we can still hang out.”
He frowned. “Yeah. If you change your mind, it’s okay. Like you can say no any time and it’s okay.”
“And if it’s not good for you, it’s okay if you don’t want to go further.” Yep. The awkwardness was right back. She hadn’t had sex in seven years, and he was a god of a man who had to have women falling all over him. She wasn’t awful to look at, but she also wasn’t exactly the world’s most sensual woman. Sex hadn’t been that great before, and she had to think it was partly her fault. Not all women could perform the same way.
Boomer’s eyes widened, and he stepped back. “Wait. You think the sex isn’t going to be good?”
It was a weird conversation to have. “I think I want you to know that the deal works both ways.”
The sexy grin was back on his face. “Baby, the sex is going to be good.”
She wondered how pink she’d gone. Maybe bright red. “You can’t know that.”
“I can.”
“How?”
“First of all, I’m pretty good at sex.” He was the one moving into her space now. One big hand came up to smooth back her hair. “Second, if we have a problem, we practice. I was bad at school, so pretty much anything I was going to learn had to be drilled into my brain through practice. Now that didn’t help on things I didn’t like. I’ll never be good at math like Lou. But I liked reading, and even though that was hard for me as a kid because I’m dyslexic, I wanted to read stories. So I practiced, and I still like to read. I wanted to learn how to cook, so I practiced. I need you to understand I’ve never wanted to do anything more than I want to please you, so if it doesn’t work the first time, you should know I’m going to practice until I get it right.”
His lips came down on hers, and warmth flooded her system, his words melting through any awkwardness she’d felt. Years of isolation and worry washed away because he was so in this moment with her. She let her arms wind around his waist, allowing her mouth to open and accept the strong stroke of his tongue inside. He stoked her arousal from a tiny ember she’d thought was dead to this warm longing she’d never felt before.
She’d sat up the night before, worried about what had happened, and even though her head had been flooded with what could have happened, she’d also thought about him. About how he made her feel things she hadn’t before, how he made her feel safe and cared for, and how much safer she would have felt if she’d spent the night before in his arms.
She wasn’t going to let fear hold her back another second.
Boomer pulled away slightly. “Come on. Let’s go inside.”
“Can you stay the night?” She unlocked the pool house using the code Charlotte had given her. It would be all right if he couldn’t, but she wanted to set her expectations.