Total pages in book: 97
Estimated words: 92636 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 463(@200wpm)___ 371(@250wpm)___ 309(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 92636 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 463(@200wpm)___ 371(@250wpm)___ 309(@300wpm)
He patted the seat beside him. “Join me? I waited for you,” he said, lifting the top of the pizza box.
She stepped closer, glanced inside the box, and grinned. “Half pepperoni, half cheese.”
“I wasn’t sure what you liked.”
“Both. Can I get us some drinks?”
“There’s Coke and beer in the fridge.”
She turned and walked to the kitchen, returning with a Budweiser in each hand.
“Good choice.” Another thing he liked about Cara. No pretense, no fussiness. She liked a beer as much as the next guy, he thought with a laugh.
“What?” she asked as she sat down next to him, crisscrossing her legs.
Damn. She’d put her panties back on, Mike thought, realizing he’d been hoping she’d be commando beneath the shirt.
“Hey, cut that out.” She rearranged her position to sit more ladylike, her legs dangling from the couch and crossed primly at the ankles.
He rolled his eyes. “Get comfortable. Sit back the way you were,” he said, wanting his visual back. Whether or not he could see anything, he didn’t want her to act shy and prissy around him.
Instead of listening, she reached for the beer bottles she’d already opened and handed him one. He took a long pull and set it down on the table. Then he stood, reaching for the waistband on his sweats.
“What are you doing?” she asked, almost spitting out the beer in her mouth in an effort to swallow and stop him at the same time.
“Taking off my pants.”
“For God’s sake, why?” Her cheeks turned pink in an adorable blush.
“I figured if I got more comfortable, then you would too.”
“Fine!” She bent her knees and crossed her legs once more, this time her shirt riding up high enough to show him the small triangle covering her and a nice expanse of pale skin on either side. “Now cut it out and sit down. I’m not eating naked.”
He laughed and flopped back onto the couch before digging in and handing them each a slice of pizza.
“Who’s winning?” she asked.
“Knicks were,” he said, but he’d long since stopped caring about what was on the screen. He tried to remember another woman who’d distracted him from sports. And couldn’t.
They ate in occasional silence, talking in between, comfortable in a way he really enjoyed. He didn’t even mind the fact that they were in his small apartment, a place he usually reserved for private time away from the job and any undercover assignment he’d been on.
“How are things going at Havensbridge? How’s the girl you were worried about?” Mike asked her.
Cara blinked in surprise. “You remember that?”
“It was important to you. So yeah, I remember.”
Pleasure flashed across her face, her rosy glow reminding him of when she’d come apart around him in bed. He shifted, his erection growing harder, and he wasn’t ready for her to notice. Soon, but just not yet.
“She’s fragile,” Cara said of Daniella. “And lonely. She even admitted she’s picked up the phone a few times to call her ex, but she didn’t.”
The sadness and worry in Cara’s voice pricked at Mike’s heart. “All you can do is trust she’ll do what’s best for her.”
“You can’t trust people to do that,” Cara said, glancing down, and they both knew she was referring to her mother.
Mike didn’t reply. Nothing he could say would reassure her. Sometimes life sucked, and you had to make the best of it and go on. They finished eating in silence.
Cara crumpled her napkin and leaned back against the sofa with a loud sigh. “I am so going to have to work this off tomorrow.”
His gaze traveled from her still-crossed legs to her full breasts, watching as her nipples hardened beneath his hungry stare, before he met her gaze.
“Why not work it off tonight instead?” he asked.
At his suggestion, her eyes darkened to a deep blue color. “How about dessert instead?” she asked coyly.
Before he could reply, she’d unfolded her legs and stood. “Lose the sweats,” she said, hands perched on her hips as she gave him an order.
This was a new Cara. She usually let him call the shots, but now she was in charge, and damn, it was hot.
His lips twitched as he tried not to grin. “I thought you didn’t want to eat naked.”
“What I want to eat now, I can’t enjoy unless you’re naked.” She impatiently tapped her bare foot against the rug. “Well? You’re wasting time. Lose. The. Pants.”
Mike’s breath escaped with a whoosh of air. All the blood in his body traveled south immediately.
He rose and dropped his sweats to the floor. Dazed by the loss of blood to his head, he easily fell onto the couch when she pushed his shoulders, and Cara lowered herself to the floor beside him. She edged between his thighs. Then she grasped his erection, wrapping her smaller hand around his aching shaft. Slowly, she drew her palm up and down, up and down, mimicking sex, pulling him in deeper. And when she covered the head with her thumb, rubbing the slickness over the top, sensation shot straight to his balls.