Total pages in book: 69
Estimated words: 63716 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 319(@200wpm)___ 255(@250wpm)___ 212(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 63716 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 319(@200wpm)___ 255(@250wpm)___ 212(@300wpm)
And there was also the fact that my father would almost certainly never speak to me again. It felt pathetic to care, but a part of me still did. So even though I wanted Julian’s hands on me, his mouth on mine, to bring to life the fantasies I’d begun having in my bed in the middle of the night, I couldn’t tell him the truth.
Not that one anyway.
There was something I could tell him though. Something I had to tell him if this was going to go any farther.
“I’ve never–”
Julian leaned in, his face intent. His eyes weren’t glittering anymore but focused on mine. Steady. I had the strange feeling that he would be a good listener. Not a characteristic I’d have expected.
“--slept with anyone,” I finally finished, my tongue tripping over itself. It wasn’t an admission I made often, and never to a man like Julian.
Disbelief spread across his face. “Anyone in the industry?” he clarified, trying to make this a concept he could wrap his head around.
“No, anyone anywhere.” Keeping one hand wrapped around the railing for support, I turned to face him. “I’ve never met anyone that I wanted to be with like that.”
Julian’s eyebrows went up as his gaze swept over my body in a frank perusal. He was seeing what everyone did. The long legs, the narrow waist, the curvy hips, the full breasts. The same package that had made Fletcher pursue my mother twenty-six years ago. My spine began to stiffen, but then Julian’s eyes found mine again, and I relaxed. There was something tender in his gaze that I hadn’t expected. A quality that I’d never associated with my father.
“I’m glad you told me,” he said quietly.
I half-expected him to tell me that this couldn’t go any further. Being someone’s first was too much responsibility. He’d wanted an uncomplicated roll in the sheets, not this. When he stayed silent, I forced myself to ask. “Does it change anything?”
Julian’s hand came up to skim my cheek, reminiscent of the first time he touched me in the car. “Maybe it should, but it doesn’t.”
I should have hoped that my revelation would put an end to this mad game we were playing, but instead, I felt relief. His thumb moved across my lips, sending a surge of heat to my core. I stepped into him, then tilted my head back. An invitation.
Julian shook his head, a ghost of a smile curling his lips. “Same rules, Laurier.”
With a soft huff of exasperation, I pushed up onto my toes and pressed my lips to his. His arms came around me, but his mouth stayed hard and unyielding. I opened my eyes and saw amusement in his. He was going to make me work for it. Curiously, though, I liked touching him when he wasn’t responding. It felt…safe.
I could feel his heart beating faster as I smoothed my hands over his chest and pressed myself against him. There was a rock-hard bulge against my leg that told me he was feeling everything I was doing, but he didn’t make a move to accelerate it.
I skimmed my hand down to cover it. His indrawn hiss of breath was the only sign that he was feeling the same heat, the same want that I did. He didn’t move a muscle, even as I rubbed against him harder. Finally, though, he said in a painfully polite, choked way, “If you’re going to keep touching me like that, we need to get off this balcony.”
He held his hand out, palm up. I placed mine in it and allowed him to lead me back inside. I expected him to move toward the stairs, but instead, he closed the door between the living room and the outside and pulled the vertical wooden blinds across them. With only one lightbulb burning underneath a thick shade, the living room smoldered with shadows. Julian’s gaze was intense as I looked up into it. I wanted to touch him again, but as I reached for him, he caught my wrist and trapped it in his hand.
“I changed my mind. You can’t keep touching me like this, or I won’t be able to take my time.”
Disappointed, I struggled against his grip. “I’m not asking you to take your time, Lewis.”
“No, but I’m going to.” He bound both wrists between us, and wrapped his free hand around the back of my head and gave me a long, hard kiss. “Tonight is going to be about you.”
Frustration clawed up the back of my throat, even as a moan slipped from my lips. He felt so damn good, but he was so damn confusing. What did he mean tonight was going to be about me?
Then he let go of my wrists and his hands were on the snap of my jeans, undoing them, pushing them down along with my panties. I kicked them off, too aroused to be shy even though I was now half naked in front of him. Recklessly, I pulled off my shirt and unsnapped my bra, too. Then I held my breath. I had no idea what came next. How we got from point A to point B.