Total pages in book: 98
Estimated words: 92743 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 464(@200wpm)___ 371(@250wpm)___ 309(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 92743 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 464(@200wpm)___ 371(@250wpm)___ 309(@300wpm)
I arch a brow in response and she edges to the right, dragging a hand through her magnificent hair.
“I mean, it was obviously nice to meet you. Or…orgasmic, at least.” She winces and skitters a few steps closer to the stairs. “But I have to get home. I’ve been up for almost twenty-four hours. I should have been asleep a long time ago.”
I reach out, looping my fingers loosely around her wrist, surprised when she flinches in response. I release her immediately and lift my hand in surrender.
“If you’ve changed your mind about seeing me again, that’s fine,” I assure her. “I only want you in my bed if that’s where you want to be.”
“Thanks,” she says with a little shake of her head. “I just…I have to go. Good night, Weaver. And good luck with everything. Knowing the Tripps, you’re going to need it.”
She flees without a backward glance, before I can say a word.
But what would I have said if she’d given me more time? I’m not the kind to beg a woman to stay, no matter how much I enjoyed her company. I know better than to give my power away like that. Vulnerability, in my experience, only leads to disappointment. The few women I’ve let into my heart have all proven unworthy of my trust.
Or I’ve proven unworthy of theirs…
If Sully hadn’t decided to run, I would have given her more pleasure, there’s no doubt about that, but in the long run, one or both of us would have regretted our connection. She isn’t the kind of woman who’s easy to quit, and I’m not the kind of man who has anything to give a small-town girl looking for love.
After closing and locking the door leading down to the living quarters—I’ve had enough uninvited guests for one night—I slip back beneath the covers, but sleep is a long time coming. My cat burglar’s sweet and sexy smell lingers on my sheets, sending memories of the way she moved beneath me pulsing through my head. Her passion was innocent but powerful, intense. I can’t remember the last time I wanted to stay up all night with a woman, getting lost in her body.
I’m forty years old. As much as I enjoy sex, I thought I’d left my “fuck all night” days behind me.
But this girl, this woman, did something to me, something that keeps me awake nearly an hour before I finally take my dick in hand and jerk off to memories of her slick heat milking me as she came.
chapter 5
GERTIE
On a normal day off, I’d be in bed until at least nine, ten if I managed to ignore the birds squawking in the tree outside my bedroom window.
But today is not a normal day, and I’m up and dressed by seven, pounding down the stairs from my apartment above the garage. I swing into the kitchen of the main house to grab the raincoat I left in the closet when Gramps and I made chowder a few days ago, careful to circle around the creaky floorboards so I won’t wake him on my way out.
“Where are you off to in such a hurry?” he asks from the living room, making me jump half a foot into the air and press a hand to my chest.
“Shit, you scared me,” I say, spinning to face him.
He sits in his usual spot by the woodstove, a steaming mug in hand. If I’d been in my right mind, I would have smelled the coffee and known he was up, but I’m not in my right mind.
I haven’t been in my right mind since I realized I had sex with the worst man in the world.
All Tripps are bad, but Weaver Tripp?
He’s the worst.
He basically destroyed my father.
And he…may have had sex with my mother.
Ugh. The thought makes me want to gag. I press a hand to my stomach, willing it to settle until I can make it out the door. Gramps knows I never get sick. I only vomit when I’m really, really upset. Like when my cat died when I was four or when Elaina broke her wrist on the playground when we were seven, and I was the one who had to help her to the nurse with a bone poking through her skin.
Or like when I was eight, after my mom left and my dad ended up in the hospital…
My stomach was off for months after that nightmare of a morning. I woke up to silence in the house and neither of my parents’ cars in the drive. My dad occasionally stayed out all night and came dragging in late the next morning, but Mom was always there. I could count on her to have food on the table and forms signed for school, even if she wasn’t cuddly or “fun” like my father or Gramps. Even at a young age, I instinctively realized my mom didn’t relish being a mother, but she was solid, dependable.