Total pages in book: 83
Estimated words: 77793 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 389(@200wpm)___ 311(@250wpm)___ 259(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 77793 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 389(@200wpm)___ 311(@250wpm)___ 259(@300wpm)
“So this is like a twenty-minute fling, then?”
“I…I guess. Maybe.”
I sigh, and it’s a big one. “For fifteen minutes, will you be okay with being my favorite person in the world?”
She surprises me with a smile and a giggle. “Okay, for fifteen minutes, you can be my favorite person too. We’ll be each other’s favorite people, and then after, we can have all the regrets about this maybe being a bad decision that neither of us could stop, okay? Deal?”
That’s a deal I don’t want to take. I don’t want to make things more complicated, as Echo has stated, but she’s leaving, and I might never see her again. Even if I’m not willing to let her go or contemplate that as an option, it still might happen. If I kiss her now, will I regret it more than if I don’t kiss her now?
Yes. Yes, I will.
I’d be afraid to do this if Echo wasn’t smiling at me—her grin just a little lopsided and quirky. “I’m good, Orion. I’m good with this. I want this. It might be the last thing I should want, but fuck it, I do. Are you good with it if I jump on you and try and tackle you to the ground?”
“Gah.” That’s about all I can get out.
“Can I take your shirt off for you?” she asks.
“Gah.”
“Is that a yes?”
“Gah. I mean, yes.”
Her hands comply with her brain a lot faster than the rest of me catching up with this, and she has my shirt up and over my head in a maneuver that leaves my mouth dry and my boxers, well…not dry.
“Holy shit,” she breathes as her eyes scan my chest. “Maybe sixteen minutes. I can afford sixteen. Bad decisions are best not rushed when they look like the gods had a baby with a supernova, and the result was your abs. Holy shit, those are cut. You’re cut. Your pecs too. Oh my god.” Her hand shoots to her mouth, and she sighs in relief. “Oh, thank goodness. For a second there, I thought I was drooling.”
My dick is now furiously trying to punch its way out of my jeans. I’ve never been this hard in my life. Fuck the arm hair. I could do a dick stand right about now and walk across this treehouse on only my dick.
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone more beautiful,” Echo whispers as her eyes rake over me.
I can’t take it anymore. My hands close around her waist, bracketing her sweet curves. “That’s crazy talk because I know for a fact that you’ve seen yourself in the mirror.”
“Is that a cheesy pickup…oh!” She goes silent when I pop the button on her jeans and simultaneously drop my head to tug open the top few buttons of her blouse with my teeth. Her blouse tastes like flowers in the summer, and I know she’ll be so much sweeter below. I need her skin against my tongue and my tongue against her skin. I need her in my mouth. All of her. So much more. How many of that sixteen minutes do we have left?
“I’m kind of already sweating,” Echo admits. “Can you hurry up with my jeans? I seriously want your fingers to do so many more promising things to me.”
“Okay.” I tear open another button and kiss the hollow of her throat. Her neck tips back, and she moans.
“This is the most action I’ve had in over a year. You might not have remembered us getting married, but I did. Even before, I…I could have taken it or left it. Um, that sounds wrong. I mean, I…I just…hacking is so much more fun. Usually. But now…ahhhhh.” Her words get cut off with a moan as I get her jeans all the way open and sweep my hand inside to caress the silk of her panties.
I make an identical sound as my legs turn to liquid, and my dick becomes petrified iron.
I’m not the type of person who does flings. I mean, I guess in the past, it was the only option I really had, but even then…no. Okay, I was going to say we both knew what it was. A night of pleasure, that’s it. Now, this might not be a night of pleasure, but Echo knows what this is. She’s the one who sets the boundaries for whatever is happening right now.
I guess what I’m trying to say, and butchering it, is that I don’t want this to be a fling. I want Echo to stay. I want to get to know her this way. Wait, no, not just this way. All ways. I want her to be a part of the family.
Her hands run over my bare arms, exploring my skin, and when I brush my fingers over her satin-clad core, which is now warm and damp, she whimpers. “If you keep doing that, I’m going to go full-on lady beast.”