Total pages in book: 132
Estimated words: 128742 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 644(@200wpm)___ 515(@250wpm)___ 429(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 128742 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 644(@200wpm)___ 515(@250wpm)___ 429(@300wpm)
“Kiss me while you come,” I whisper, my fingernails digging into his thigh as he fucks me harder.
With a groan of approval, he bends over to capture my mouth just as a shudder overtakes his body. He reaches his orgasm, pressed deep inside me. After a few deep exhales, he brushes one last kiss over my mouth and collapses beside me.
We lie there after he’s disposed of the condom, still catching our breath. Eyes closed, I try to catalog every sensation and keep them present in my memory. Nate pulls me to rest my head on his chest while he idly drags his fingers through my tousled hair.
“Are you all right?”
His gruff voice jolts me from my thoughts. “Of course,” I assure him. “Why wouldn’t I be?”
“You got quiet on me. Pensive.” He laughs, a bit uneasy. “Usually that means a woman is second-guessing herself and trying to figure out how to have the talk.”
“The talk?”
“What are we, what is this, that sort of thing.”
“Oh. Don’t worry. I wasn’t going to cross-examine you.”
“Excellent. Because I don’t think I can answer what this is yet. My head’s barely wrapped around the fact that I’m in your bed right now. Let’s see where it goes, yeah? Save the talk for another day.”
I can’t help but laugh. “Wow, you were really worried I was going to grill you, huh? It’s fine. I don’t expect any of that right now.”
“Are you sure?” There’s a lingering note of concern.
I rise on my elbow to grin at him. “Here, let me make it easy for you, Nate. We’re not exclusive, we’re not in a relationship, et cetera et cetera.”
“For what it’s worth, I don’t sleep around,” he tells me, and I believe him. “I barely have time to eat supper most days.”
Which is why he liked being with Yvonne, I realize, but I don’t say it out loud. I think it’s true, though. Yvonne is independent, busy with school. She was happy to let him come and go as he pleased. Hell, she didn’t even expect a single romantic gesture from him.
I’m not sure how long I’d be okay with an arrangement like that, but for now, Nate is right. I have no intention to rush anything, especially when my mind is still foggy from all the kisses I’ve shared with Jack. I think about my infuriating roommate almost as often as I think about Nate. Which is a total mindfuck.
“It’s all good,” I reassure him. “I’m not making any wedding scrapbooks yet. Let’s check in, say, in a few weeks and see where we are then. Sound good?”
“Sounds perfect.”
I lift an eyebrow. “But that means you can’t turn into a jealous maniac when I’m dating up a storm, going through men like mints. Nonexclusive Abbey is dangerous.”
“Uh-huh, I bet she is.”
I snuggle close to him again, breathing in the faint scent of spice and exhaust.
“What do you think you’ll do when your next term at uni ends?” he asks. “Go back to America?”
“I guess so. That’s the plan anyway. My program is only for the year.”
“Could you apply to stay?”
“Doubt it. It’s a competitive program.”
“Somewhere else abroad then?”
“I hadn’t thought about it.” I’ve been so preoccupied with Josephine and keeping up in my classes, I haven’t looked much beyond this semester.
“Travel suits you, I reckon,” he teases. “I have a hard time picturing you sitting still in Tennessee.”
“It has its charms. You’d like Nashville. Ton of places to catch live music.”
He lets out a breath. “I can’t wait to get out of London for a while. If I spend too much time in this city, it starts to do my head in.”
“If you had your way, nothing holding you back, where would you go?” I draw patterns across his chest and trace the lines of his abdomen.
“Everywhere.”
I smile against his shoulder. “That’s a lot of places.”
“When I was a teenager, I thought it was just my shit home life, right, that made me so determined to get out. I came to the city thinking I was escaping, but then I got here and that feeling didn’t go away.”
“What is it, you think? Something more than wanderlust and curiosity?”
Nate thinks it over for a beat. “Fear, if I’m honest. I’ve always had this terror that I’ll run out of time to see it all. That I’m wasting my life. Like I’m being chased.”
“I get that,” I admit. “It’s hard not to look at my dad and think, well, shit, I’m the same age he was when he was first touring the world to sellout crowds. Shaking hands with the prime minister of Japan or whatever. He once went to a rave with Eminem after some awards show and woke up in a whole other state. I wouldn’t know where to even begin on finding a rave, let alone attending one. I’m over here spending all night on the floor digging through property deeds and family letters.”