Total pages in book: 47
Estimated words: 45459 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 227(@200wpm)___ 182(@250wpm)___ 152(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 45459 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 227(@200wpm)___ 182(@250wpm)___ 152(@300wpm)
“I don’t want to save her either,” he replies. “She’s your family. I just want everything to be okay.”
“She was on drugs. Cillian picked her up, and he basically admitted to dealing drugs. He said that’s why he was here. Then Jane disappears with him, and she just so happens to be from the same part of the West Coast as us. And she got all suspicious when I brought up her fiancé.”
I stop, realizing he’s smiling warmly down at me.
“What?” I ask.
“I just like watching you work. Keep going.”
“Well, what if the timing had something to do with Cillian being here? What if it’s not a coincidence?”
“So we’re not living inside a Dickens novel?”
I grab his shirt and pull myself toward him. This sudden rush of intimacy is like a jolt of pure pleasure to the brain. When our lips touch, I do forget, even about Mom. Maybe that makes me a bad daughter, but it’s the truth.
All I can think about is kissing him, my hands gliding down his arms, clinging to his strength. I squeeze passionately. No, possessively. I squeeze so he has to know I’m claiming him as much as he’s claiming me, every moment, just by us being together.
He groans and moves his hands from my hips around to my ass.
“Not here,” he growls, breaking off the kiss.
We shouldn’t, I try to make myself say. Not until Mom gives her blessing… Not until I know…
But I do know what sort of man he is. Jane’s the liar, not him. She has to be. My body is pulsing with the need to be closer to him without clothes separating us. Maybe some nerves are whispering deep down, like a scared little girl’s voice in a closet as the bully puts a pig’s ears and nose on her. Perhaps just a tiny amount.
Mostly, I’m ready to put that person behind me, that version of me. I feel brand new with Max, my future husband and the love of my life.
Max shakes all over. I can feel the passion in how his hands shift against my ass. It sends warm shivers between my thighs, teasing at my sex, my core feeling warm against my panties. Suddenly, there’s so much friction down there, an ache that demands attention.
Max looks around and smirks. “Come on. I know somewhere we can go.”
He leads me by the hand toward the back of the lecture hall, then reaches into his pocket for a set of keys. Unlocking it, he winces, fists clenched, then lets out a low laugh.
“What’s funny?” I ask.
“Didn’t know if the alarm would go off.”
“You’re risking a lot for me, Professor.”
He groans, looping his arm around my waist and pulling me against him. We kiss in the doorway, his touch sinking deeper and with more possession into my hips, his tongue owning mine as he swirls it around my mouth.
I grab onto his back, tugging at his clothes. I don’t even mean to do it. It’s like the hunger inside of me guides my movements. It’s the urgency deep in my belly, like… This is nuts, but it’s as if my womb is telling me what to do. The future is beckoning us.
“You’re a horny, sexy-as-fuck, beautiful, curvy, perfect virgin,” he growls. “Every single part of you, Ellie. I love you. I love you so damn much.”
I gasp, pressing a hand against his chest, feeling his heartbeat slamming. “R-really?”
“I love you,” he snarls. “I wasn’t going to say it until your Mom gave her blessing, but I can’t let you think I don’t. I loved you the first moment I saw you. I loved you before knowing we could tear our lives apart by being together. I. Love. You.”
“I love you too,” I say, my vision getting blurry. He kisses the tears from my cheeks. My ecstatic mind turns gentle for the time being.
“There’s something else I could say now. Something I need to say. A question I need to ask you. I want to do it, Ellie. So badly.”
I press my lips against his. We melt into the kiss. We both know what question he means. It’s the one that comes with wedding bells, children’s laughter, and warm sunsets on the back porch.
“Don’t,” I whisper. “We love each other. That’s enough for now.”
“But just know,” he says roughly, “I’m ready.”
“So am I.”
He guides me down the hallway, dark except for slices of moonlight coming in through the windows set high on the wall. It feels eerie walking down here at night. The shapes are the same, but the dark changes them. With Max’s arm around me, there’s no fear, no anxiety, just heat.
We walk into the lecture hall. It’s almost completely dark, but then Max walks to the edge of the room and pulls on the blinds. These windows are set high within the walls too, but there are more of them, and the room’s bigger. Moonlight spills in, shining in his hair, picking up the hints of silver. He returns to me, brushing hair from my face.