Total pages in book: 111
Estimated words: 105665 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 528(@200wpm)___ 423(@250wpm)___ 352(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 105665 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 528(@200wpm)___ 423(@250wpm)___ 352(@300wpm)
In the next breath, his fingers disappeared, and his mouth took their place. It sent a warm rush of emotion through her body, making right of so many wrongs. For the first time in twenty-four years, Jersey let herself fall—completely fall in love with the first person who ever showed her love. For her, love was no longer an action, an emotion, or a promise. Love was a person.
Ian was love.
He kissed her mouth, her cheeks, her neck. “Feel that, Jersey? Do you feel my love?”
“Yes …” She curled her fingers into his shirt, holding him close.
“Let’s go,” he whispered over her ear before taking her hand and pulling her toward the car.
He kept ahold of her hand as they backed out onto the main road again. A few miles down the road, Ian turned into a secluded drive nestled into the woods.
“Where are we?”
“My temporary house.” He pulled the car into the single garage stall and closed the door behind them. “The realtor is a friend. They’re having trouble moving it. The price is too high. So I’m renting it until either it sells or my house is finished. My recording studio is just a mile from here, so the location is good.”
Jersey climbed out and the light went out. “What happened?” She shut the door and stood still in the pitch-black, windowless garage.
“Light burned out. It was flickering earlier.”
“I’ll use my phone—”
Ian startled her, running his fingers down her bare arms, eliciting goose bumps. She couldn’t see anything, but she felt everything.
“Missing you has been a most excruciatingly painful full-time job,” Ian whispered, dragging his lips along her cheek.
“I missed you too … but don’t tell anyone.”
His lips turned into a smile against her mouth. “Your secret is safe with me.”
“Coop …”
“Yes?” His hands guided her shirt up her torso.
She lifted her arms as he pulled it over her head. Her hands searched for his stubbly face, cupping it as she lifted onto her toes to put her lips a breath away from his. She shivered when his fingertips feathered down her neck to her bare back. “I’ve spent my whole life waiting to love you.”
He paused for a few seconds.
Time stood still.
Darkness became their new light.
He kissed her—he loved her. His hands removed her bra. Hers pushed his shirt over his head.
Ian held her to him, his chest warm against her breasts. He kissed down her body, slowly peeling off her shorts and panties, his lips following the path of his hands.
So long ago, he touched every inch of her without ever laying a hand on her. Because Ian was love before Jersey knew what it meant to be loved.
She rested her hands on his shoulders to steady herself in the dark as he took his time exploring the curves of her body. When their mouths fused again, she unfastened his shorts. He slid them over his narrow hips along with his briefs, his lips never leaving hers.
He palmed the back of her thighs and lifted her up.
“Coop …” she breathed his name against his ear when he pushed into her.
They paused like a statue. Time stood still, like nothing would ever matter as much as that moment.
“Jersey?” Ian rested his forehead against her shoulder, his warm breath brushing along her chest.
“Yes?” Her breaths chased each other as she held tight to the moment, never wanting anything more than to feel so completely filled by him. Ian chased away the bad and filled it with good. He slayed demons, built dreams, and gave kidneys.
He was everything. He had always been everything.
“I love you,” he whispered. “All of you. So every part of you is as sacred to me as your lips. Do you get that?”
She closed her eyes as he brought her a tiny bit closer, filling her a tiny bit more. Then she remembered what Natasha said about sex being sacred. “I … I think so.”
“We’re going to go inside … so I can kiss all of you. Then I need you to promise to never let anyone touch you where my lips have been.” He held her to him, toeing off his shoes, taking slow steps toward a door she couldn’t see, kicking his feet out of his shorts and briefs.
Dim light brought new life to the moment as he opened the door and carried her through the shadows to the bedroom. He shut the door and pressed her back to it, thrusting into her over and over while their mouths moved together. They went from the door to the dresser, the dresser to the bed, the bed to the shower.
Every time his lips explored a new area of her body, he made her promise. And she did, writhing beneath his touch, drowning in his words—his commitment to give every breath to her—Jersey promised herself, her whole being, to Ian Cooper.