Total pages in book: 93
Estimated words: 106909 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 535(@200wpm)___ 428(@250wpm)___ 356(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 106909 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 535(@200wpm)___ 428(@250wpm)___ 356(@300wpm)
He won. I admit it. My stubborn resolve was splattered across the heated frying pan and I was letting him win.
I swung around so fast that I think I startled him, and he fell back a step. I grabbed him on either side of his head and yanked him in—hard.
The kiss was unrelenting, harsh, and without mercy. Denied sexual need drove both of us into a wild frenzy. His arm wrapped around me and caged me against him, his cock pressing into my abdomen while his other hand grabbed my hair and tilted my head to give him better access to my mouth.
I moaned as he caged me into the counter. All I could think about was him inside me, the ache between my legs a throbbing pain-pleasure that had been deprived for years.
“Baby, you taste so fuckin’ good.” Ream pulled my head back farther and it hurt, but I didn’t care. I wanted it to hurt. I wanted Ream to take me right then. I’d figure out the other shit later, but for now I wanted him.
He kissed my neck, tongue swirling where he bit me. I winced then moaned.
“Ream.” I pressed my hand down between us feeling his pulsating cock that I wanted to free from its confines and push inside me. “Now.”
The smell of burning penetrated my nostrils.
“Fuck.” Ream pulled away then reached beside me and pressed the lever up on the toaster.
I was leaning back on the counter, my body betraying every single ounce of denial I had and Ream … Ream was looking as if he had complete control, not even breathing hard.
“That’s all you get. Next time, don’t throw out the bathing suit I buy you.” He nudged the tip of my nose with his finger then went and grabbed plates from the cupboard and proceeded to pile on the eggs and slices of bacon. “Get the door for me, beautiful.”
Shit. I was still standing completely stunned at what just happened, and he was at the screen door, holding both our plates without even a flush to his cheeks.
Holy shit. How the hell was I going to survive another night? Why was he so insistent that we not have sex? But I did know. He wanted to prove to me that we were more than just sex. That all the fighting was just us trying to find our way back to our beginning.
We ate out on the deck in crappy, orange striped folding chairs and a table that looked like it had permanent dirt embedded into it. I ate the eggs and avoided the bacon, although I was dying to eat it. There was something about the smell of bacon that made my mouth water, although I suspected my mouth was watering more from the frustrating male specimen sitting across from me.
“You a vegetarian now?” Ream nodded to the uneaten bacon.
“No. Well, not by choice.” I shifted my plate around and he took the hint and grabbed the three slices.
“What’s that mean?” He bit into the bacon and I watched, wishing it was me he was biting into.
Then I picked up my melted pride that was still splattered on the kitchen floor and tried to get some of my self-worth back by sitting up straight and meeting his intense, direct gaze. “I’m trying a new diet. It doesn’t allow meat for the first year.”
He tossed the half-eaten piece of bacon on his plate, his brows knitted low over his eyes. “You’re not going on a goddamn diet. You’re already way skinnier than when I last had you in my arms.”
“It’s not like I have a choice, Ream. It’s for my MS.”
He sighed and shifted the bacon around on his plate. “I know the diet. Talked to a few neurologists about it. How long have you been on it?”
“You talked to neurologists?”
“Baby, you think I just forgot about you?” Well, kind of yeah I had. “Lots of great doctors have ideas about treating MS, Kat. Some believe in this no fat thing, others don’t. It makes a lot of sense to me, but not if you’re losing weight. Now, how long have you been on it?”
“When?”
“When what?”
“When did you talk to neurologists?”
“When I was on tour. I set up appointments in the cities before we left.”
Oh my God. The disappearing all the time. He hadn’t been having sex with women, he’d been meeting with neurologists. I was speechless, emotions whirling through me, churning.
“How long?”
I jerked from my thoughts. “Umm, yeah, a few weeks maybe.”
He grunted. “We’ll figure something else out. See a nutritionist. You can’t keep doing it like you are. Fuck that.”
“Ream—”
He shoved his plate aside. “No arguments. You lose any more weight … this disease will take the rest of you. Not happening.”
I wasn’t used to anyone contesting what I did with my body. I mean, Matt tried to but he relented to my judgment. After getting shot, Matt became a little more persistent in asking me about my symptoms, but he didn’t interfere in how I managed day to day.
“That’s not your decision,” I said, quietly. And I really had to get out of here before my emotions took over completely. I could feel the walls crumbling like cracked plaster.
I picked up my plate and started for the door but turned back around at the sound of his chair legs scraping on the wood deck. He was standing right there, his expression dark and scary again. He grabbed my plate, tossed it on the table, and the loud clang echoed across the lake.
Whoa.
“I’ve researched this disease since the day you told me what the fuck was happening to you. I’m not a doctor, but I know when my girl is too skinny beneath my hands.” He cupped my chin and forced me to look him directly in the eyes. “You and I are doing something about this. We are working it out, and we fight this disease together.”
I pulled back. “Did they tell you what can happen to me? Do you realize that I may have trouble speaking, go blind, or end up in a wheelchair? Are you forgetting those parts? Because that is the reality of this disease, Ream.”