Total pages in book: 86
Estimated words: 85484 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 427(@200wpm)___ 342(@250wpm)___ 285(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 85484 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 427(@200wpm)___ 342(@250wpm)___ 285(@300wpm)
I hold my breath.
“I think you are the most interesting, witty, capable woman I know. I could sit and talk to you for hours—and then replay the conversations in my mind for days. Just being around you makes me walk a little taller when I leave because it feels special to breathe the same air as you.”
“Stop it,” I say, smiling so hard my cheeks ache.
He snakes his hand beneath the sheet and rests his palm on my hip. “When I call you my dream girl, I’m not fucking joking. God could let me build a chick and put her together exactly how I wanted, and she’d be a poor excuse for you.”
“What is happening here?” I say, snuggling up beside him again.
He pulls the blankets over us, forming a cocoon around our bodies.
I giggle against him, riding a high from the compliments. How can this be real? Why did I not believe this before? Would it have made a difference if I did?
He strokes my back and presses a kiss to my forehead. And through it all—the words, the touches, the sweet gestures—I realize that this is exactly the life I want. This is the vision I’ve always hoped exists for me in the world.
My smile falters.
“You’re aware that every female you’ve ever met has a vibrator at home named Jess, aren’t you?” I ask.
He bursts out laughing.
“I mean it,” I say, laughing too.
“Do you have one?”
“Maybe.”
I take in the pleased, smug grin on his face. “What’s Vibe Jess like?”
I giggle. “Vibe Jess? Well, Vibe Jess gets the job done. Not as well as Real Jess, I’ll give you that, but he’s given me more orgasms than any other person—real or fake.”
“So I have competition?”
“I can’t handle this conversation,” I say, the giggles turning into laughter. “This is so ridiculous.”
“No, what’s ridiculous is that you’ve used a plastic toy when all you had to do is call me. You’re so goofy. But now I want you to bring Vibe Jess on our trip. I want to outperform that little fucker, and I want him to watch.”
I snort. “Stop it.”
He pulls back and smirks. “I mean it. Bring it with you, or you’re getting spanked.”
“Ooh,” I say, wiggling my brows. “Is that the moment I get to call you daddy?”
His smirk fades. “I’d watch saying that.”
“Why?”
“Because I happen to know that you have a knot on the top of your head, a handprint on your ass, and your pussy is going to be sore tomorrow. It would behoove you to give yourself a few days before I do it all again.”
He’s right—my sex already aches. But that smolder in his eye makes me clench for him anyway.
Jess looks away and focuses on something across the room. “Let’s change topics before I fuck you again.”
Probably a good idea. At least for now.
I draw small circles on his stomach, laying my leg over his again.
“For the record, since you were so honest with me …” I press my cheek to his chest. “You make me laugh harder than anyone I’ve ever known. I forget all about my life’s fuckups when you’re around, and I’ve never met a man who consistently—and honestly—shares compliments. Who doesn’t play games. No one except you.”
He kisses the top of my head.
“You’re amazing, Jess. Honestly. There are sixty-nine million reasons any woman on the planet would pick you.”
“I don’t care about any woman on the planet but you.”
He wraps his arms around me and holds me tight. It’s as if he thinks I might pull away and never come back.
And, if I was using my head, that’s exactly what I’d do.
“I’m sorry,” he says, the gravel back to his tone. “I’m completely putting you on the spot here.”
“No. Don’t … don’t apologize. I appreciate your honesty. I just …”
I work my bottom lip between my teeth, a surge of fear racing through my veins. What do I do?
“Jess, I …”
My breathing is uneven as I inhale. The exhale is just as shaky. All I can do is be honest with him.
He stays still. He doesn’t move—not even a muscle.
How do I verbalize what I feel? What I fear? How do I tell this beautiful man the one thing stopping me from returning his sentiments is that I’m absolutely certain that a time will come when he changes his mind?
If there’s one person I don’t think I’d cope with seeing disappointment in me, it’s him.
“Disappointing people has such a negative connotation to it. But when you really think about it, sweetheart, disappointing someone probably means you stood up for yourself. If you never disappointed someone, then you’ve probably never made yourself happy either.”
Even if what Honey said about this is right, I don’t think it would be standing up for myself that would bring about that disappointment. It would be ensuring Jess gets what he deserves. So I have to speak the truth.