Total pages in book: 135
Estimated words: 131916 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 660(@200wpm)___ 528(@250wpm)___ 440(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 131916 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 660(@200wpm)___ 528(@250wpm)___ 440(@300wpm)
It’d been different exposing myself through the texts and calls we’d shared over the last two weeks. Coming to the place where I’d felt so comfortable with him that my secrets had begun to pour from the reservoir where I kept them dammed.
My hurts and griefs and fears.
My wants and needs.
I wasn’t sure what to do with it now that he possessed those truths. Now that he was here, in the flesh.
After the panic had melted away and now it was just the two of us. Beating hearts and murmuring spirits.
“Wasn’t so bad, was it?” I could hear the amusement in his voice. The soft care that shouldn’t be possible.
I kept holding on, though playfulness had drifted into my voice. “I don’t think my arms or legs work anymore.”
“Not a problem. I’ll just carry you.” He said it low, with a hint of that suggestion that spread through me like flames.
How it was possible I was thinking about him touching me after what had just happened was beyond me, but there it was, that shivery, throbbing sensation coursing through my body.
“I’m not sure I’d survive that, either.” It came out both timid and wry.
The truth that I wasn’t sure how to handle what he made me want.
But it was there. Burning like a beacon inside me.
River grunted. A low sound that hit me like seduction.
My thighs trembled where they were still tucked up close to his hips and my heart drummed wildly against his back.
“The way I’m going to make you feel might knock you out for a minute or two, but believe me, Charleigh, pretty sure it’s me who’s not going to survive you.”
He was still facing forward, balancing us with his big boots planted on the ground, and he let go of the handlebars with his left hand and set it on my knee.
The contact hit me like a lightning strike.
Then thunder rolled as he let it slide upward until he was squeezing my upper outer thigh.
His big, tattooed hand hot and heavy.
“Mutually assured destruction.” I mumbled it at his spine as I held on.
A laugh rumbled through him, his voice just as dark and low. “But we’re sure going to have fun while we’re doing it.”
I wasn’t even sure how he maneuvered it, but he’d swiveled around on the bike to pull me into his arms, and he lifted me at the same time as he swung off the bike.
He had my front pressed against him, my feet dangling, tips of my toes barely brushing the ground as he held me in the security of his arms. “Want you to know this is a safe place, Charleigh.”
I couldn’t speak around the lump lodged in my throat, so I nodded, my cheek brushing against the solid expanse of his chest.
“Good. Let’s get you inside.”
He set me on the ground, and he guided me forward by placing his hand against my lower back again. The scent of him invaded. His aura profound.
Leather and ink and wicked things.
It whispered around me like a drug.
Intoxicating.
Soothing and healing and terrifying.
We stepped inside and moved through a laundry room to a short hallway that led into the main area of the house.
“This is it,” he said as we stalled at an opening that led into the kitchen. It was French country style, the cabinets a teal blue and the floors old wood and rustic. It was quaint and charming and had Raven written all over it.
I couldn’t hide my smile. “I take it you weren’t the one making the decorating choices.”
He chuckled. “My sister gets her way ninety-nine percent of the time.”
Affection billowed. “She has that way about her, doesn’t she?”
“She won’t stop until she does.” Dark eyes swam, tracking over me where I had moved into the middle of the kitchen, a thunderstorm brewing. “Though I guess when my mind gets hooked on something, I don’t stop, either.”
“And what did you have in mind?” My teeth clamped down on my bottom lip as I played into his hand, wanting him to take me there.
Elevate me to a place I’d never been before.
Tease and play and explore.
I wanted to be made new.
Or maybe I just wanted to become who I was always meant to be. And maybe…maybe now I had a chance.
“You.” It was a greedy stroke from his tongue, and he crossed the space in a flash. A whorl of energy bashed against the walls in his wake.
He had me by the waist and propped on the high island in a flash.
The breath whooshed out of me, and my hands shot to his shoulders to keep myself steady while his nearly completely circled around my waist.
The span of them enormous.
That big, big body towered high, and he’d wedged himself between my legs.
“It’s you on my mind. You who has me hooked. You who has me wanting to do things I don’t do.”