Total pages in book: 70
Estimated words: 64880 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 324(@200wpm)___ 260(@250wpm)___ 216(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 64880 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 324(@200wpm)___ 260(@250wpm)___ 216(@300wpm)
Pike swallowed hard, anxiety swarming across his skin like ants on a birthday cake. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d been this nervous. But he’d never wanted to say the right thing as much as he did right now. Back when they were kids, he’d been too stupid to realize how easy it would be to lose what they had. Now he knew all too well that one wrong word could ruin what might be his last shot to see if there was something alive and in need of saving, hidden among the wreckage of their failed love.
His tongue slipped out to dampen his lip as his thoughts whirled. What the hell was he going to say? How did a man even start in a fucked up situation like this one?
Tulsi’s brows lifted. “Are you okay?”
Pike cursed. “No, I’m not. I’m no good at this part and you know it.”
Surprise softened her features, and when she spoke, her words were a whisper barely audible over the leaves rustling overhead. “What do you mean?”
“You know what I mean,” he said, heart slamming in his chest. “I’m still in love with you, Tuls.”
Her eyes flew wide. “What?”
“I’m still in love with you,” he repeated, refusing to back down even if he couldn’t tell if that look on her face was shock or horror. “I never stopped loving you, and I don’t think I ever will.”
Tulsi shook her head numbly side to side, but before she could tell him he was crazy, Pike slipped his arm around her waist and pulled her close, cutting off the words he couldn’t stand to hear with a kiss.
For a moment, she stiffened against him and fear that she was going to push him away shivered across his skin. But then she moaned against his lips—a sad, hungry sound that echoed through his soul—and twined her arms around his neck. She hugged him tight and opened for him, her tongue swirling against his with the same shameless passion he remembered.
But this kiss was even better than all the kisses that had come before because now Pike knew how torturous it was to live without them. This kiss was priceless, perfect, and so bittersweet that he groaned in pleasure-pain as he crushed Tulsi closer, knowing she’d never be close enough.
How had he survived for so long without her? She was the treasure he’d been hunting for, the precious thing he’d lost, and all the proof he needed to believe in miracles. Her love was the best reason he’d ever had for living, the only thing worth dying for, and now that he had Tulsi back in his arms he never, ever wanted to let her go.
CHAPTER TEN
Tulsi
Tulsi stood on tiptoe, knocking Pike’s hat into the water as she drove her hands into his soft hair, kissing him with an intensity that left her breathless. But she didn’t need to breathe. She needed Pike’s lips bruising hers and his taste filling her mouth, banishing the memory of every kiss she’d shared with men who weren’t this man.
No one else had ever been able to make her feel this way—so wild and desperate. With other men, she remained in control and conscious of all the roles she played outside of the bedroom. With Pike she was pure need, pure desire. She didn’t care about playing nice or following the rules. She and Pike were a brush fire and a hot desert wind. He fueled every primal instinct inside of her, leaving no room for shame or doubt.
When he picked her up in his arms, she didn’t hesitate to wrap her legs around his waist and lock her ankles at the small of his back. She didn’t try to hold back the moan that burst from her lips as his erection pressed against her through their jeans, bringing her body even more savagely to life. She only kissed him harder, her breath coming faster as she circled her hips, grinding against the long, thick length of him, their tongues tangling and Pike’s hand tugging roughly at the top of her shirt.
He freed her breast to the warm air, fingers capturing her nipple and rolling it hard enough to send sharp waves of longing coursing through her body. She gasped into his mouth, fingers digging into his shoulders as the tension building inside of her twisted up another notch.
“God, Tulsi, you’re killing me,” he mumbled against her lips. “If we don’t stop now, I’m going to take you right here in the river.”
“Don’t stop,” Tulsi begged against his lips, hips bucking more frantically against his. “Please don’t stop. I want you so much.”
Pike spun toward the bank with a hungry sound that made Tulsi even more wild to have his skin on hers, his body driving inside of her as he filled the unbearable emptiness that had haunted her since the day he left her behind.