Total pages in book: 79
Estimated words: 80176 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 401(@200wpm)___ 321(@250wpm)___ 267(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 80176 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 401(@200wpm)___ 321(@250wpm)___ 267(@300wpm)
“Why weren’t you at the funeral?”
The first tear fell.
“He told me it hadn’t been decided when it would be held.”
Her breath hiccupped.
“And everyone looks at me like I’m some sort of a traitor now, since I didn’t go.”
I cupped her face with my hand and swept away the tear before it could make its track all the way down her face.
“That has nothing to do with your sister and everything to do with you hanging out with me in public,” I told her honestly. “If you’d take time to listen to what they have to say, you’d hear.”
She started to laugh.
In my face.
“I’ll give you that,” she agreed, wiping away another tear that spilled over. “But it wasn’t all of it. Mostly, they’re saying we’re good fits since we both have brother/sister problems.”
I snorted.
“My brother has always been standoffish when it came to me,” I told her. “He had a mom and dad who loved him. I had a mom, and a dad that loved another freakin’ kid. We all knew who my dad was, and we all knew who his choice was. To this day, there is still something between me and my brother, and it will always be there.”
“That sounds…awful,” she admitted. “How can people be so cruel? I thought you were supposed to love your kids?
“My dad met my mom, slept with her, while he was also ‘courting’ another woman,” I explained, stepping back and pulling her wet body with me.
When she came, I lifted her up and placed her down on the counter, then went for the towel that was at her side.
With slow, methodical movements, I started to dry her off, starting with her toes and finishing with her hair.
“Apparently, the minute he won the other woman, he stopped seeing my mom. Only, he left a little something behind—that being me.”
“I’m sorry, Evander.”
I shrugged. “Doesn’t bother me much anymore. Hurt like a motherfucker to see them when I was a kid, though.”
“I’m sure,” she said, then sighed. “I’m wallowing in self-pity.”
He grinned.
“I’m here to take you out.”
Her hand found my chest, and then smoothed down the length of my side until she came to my belt.
“I’d rather you just take my mind off of my worries.”
I leaned in and pressed my mouth to her forehead.
“You don’t want that.”
I was hanging on by a thread.
If I distracted myself with how hurt and broken she was, then I could control my baser instincts.
But when she started talking like that, I found myself unable to keep focused on what I’d come here to do—and that was to help her.
I couldn’t help her by fucking her.
At least, I didn’t think I could.
Kennedy, obviously, had other ideas.
This I found out moments later when she hooked one hand in the belt of my jeans and yanked me forward.
The move put my cock up against the length of her now exposed sex.
The towel that I’d spread out over her body was now shoved to the side, and the only thing covering her up was the length of wet hair that was curling around her nipples—which were now playing peek-a-boo.
“I said, take my mind off of it,” she repeated. Slowly this time.
Fuck!
Out of everything, though, it was the intensity of her eyes that had me leaning backwards and unbuckling my belt.
“This isn’t a good idea,” I told her bluntly.
She shook her head. “Don’t you know?”
“Know what?” I asked, pausing in my effort to loosen my belt.
“I don’t care what everyone else thinks. I only care what you think.”
Then she slammed her mouth down onto mine, making me temporarily forget what I was trying to do.
When she broke the kiss, her eyes were liquid pools of need.
“I care what everyone else thinks,” I told her. “I don’t want you hurt.”
She reached for the hem of my damp shirt and lifted it up and off my shoulders.
The move left the shirt inside out in her hands, and she shook it out, then started to shift so that it was underneath of her.
“What’s that for?”
She grinned.
“You’ve fucked me once, Evander,” she said, shifting her hips so the shirt lay flat beneath her. “I know that you might start off all nice and slow, but you finish hard.”
My dick hardened even further.
“And I don’t want the skin of my ass getting countertop burns when I don’t shift with your movements.”
The shirt was a good idea.
Especially when I reached for both of her ankles and pulled her ass clear to the edge.
“Very good idea,” I agreed.
Her smile was wicked.
“You’re wearing too many clothes,” she pointed out, lifting one eyebrow.
I winked.
“Am I?” I asked, circling one of her legs around my hips and pressing lightly for her to hold it there.
She did, and watched me as I brought my free hand up and trailed the pad of my thumb gently down the lips of her exposed sex.