Total pages in book: 137
Estimated words: 138683 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 693(@200wpm)___ 555(@250wpm)___ 462(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 138683 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 693(@200wpm)___ 555(@250wpm)___ 462(@300wpm)
My fingertips went back to scratching through his beard, my words soft rasps of affection that I couldn’t keep contained. “I see a warm glow that wants to bleed out, but it’s shuttered in pain. I see this goodness that got twisted in some kind of guilt that holds you hostage.”
A low grunt left his mouth, but he didn’t move. He just stood there, swaying with me, the two of us caught in a moment of understanding.
But I thought it might be more than that, the energy that whispered and lured and pulled between us.
Hungry eyes searched me in the shadows, and I could feel the intensity steadily building between us with each second that passed.
“What are you thinking right now?” he finally demanded, words a rugged caress over my face.
And crap, I should lie, keep up with this charade, but the gusty confession left me on a plea. “I was wondering what it would be like if it were real. If this wasn’t faked. If you kissed me because you want me, the same way I want you.”
Oh, man, I’d really done it then. Pushed him over a line he didn’t want crossed. Darkness blazed through his eyes in a way I’d never seen it do before.
Fury and ferocity.
He reeled back by three inches.
It tore my hand from his face and created a chasm of volatility that roiled between us. One that was going to suck me to the bottom of it.
His expression was set in fierce restraint.
His eyes pinched in desperation.
His jaw clenched in disgust.
I went to grab him by the shirt so I could hold on to him. Tell him I was joking, that I didn’t mean it.
Convince him I was just being that goofy Tessa who no one took seriously and hope he didn’t get that I was begging him not to go.
I started to toss out a thousand lies when he snapped.
His big hand flew out so fast I couldn’t process the movement. He had me by the back of the neck and was pulling me forward with so much force my feet nearly slipped out from under me.
Or maybe I was just flying when his mouth crushed against mine.
My entire body lit in a show of fireworks.
Snap. Crackle. Boom.
Oh, yes.
I couldn’t even stop the moan that rolled up my throat as a volatile concoction of relief and need and desire went sailing through my system.
My hands drove into his shirt as I struggled to keep up with the shift.
With this perfect fantasy that I’d been dying to experience.
It wasn’t gentle.
It was a plundering.
Decimation.
My complete ruining.
His mouth moved over mine in an obliterating push and pull.
A gasp ripped up my throat when his tongue stroked through my lips to dominate the kiss.
It was all kinds of demanding.
Possessive.
I liked it. God, I liked it so much.
My hands roved, needy in their search, palms rushing the hard planes of his chest, up and over his shoulders and diving into his hair.
Bliss.
A torrential downpour of bliss was what I felt.
A grumbly moan rolled off his tongue and spilled into our kiss.
“Tiny Tease, wrecking my mind,” he mumbled as his hand skidded down my side, taking greedy handfuls of my flesh as he went.
I yelped when he grabbed me by the bottom and tugged me against the delicious expanse of his hulking body.
Flames roared. An inferno that combusted in my belly.
A full-fledged fire.
I whimpered. Milo moaned.
“Is this what you wanted to know, Little Dove?” he warned at my mouth as he continued the plundering. “Did you want to know what it’d be like if I took you? Owned you?”
“Yes.” It was complete surrender.
My feet were suddenly no longer touching the ground, and on instinct, I wrapped my legs around his waist when he hoisted me up.
“You need to feel it, Tessa?” He used his hand that was kneading into my bottom to grind me against his massive erection.
Desire erupted.
A needy throb at the juncture between my thighs.
Holy fuckballs.
Salem was right.
This bad boy would split me in two.
I was so here for it. For all of it. For everything he had to offer.
“I’ve always wanted you.” The admission gushed in a torrent of need. “Show me what it’s like, Milo. Please, show me.”
A growl rumbled in his chest, and he dove back in. Every stroke of his tongue was possession. Every touch of our hands frantic.
Disorienting.
Perfecting.
So much.
So good.
His kiss consumed, and I was in a frenzy as I struggled to touch him everywhere I could, wanting more, but not sure I could handle all that he was.
But, oh, was I ready to try.
My fingernails raked desperately at his shoulders and rushed down his back, searching for a way to get inside. “Milo. Do you feel this, too? Did you feel it for all those months?”
The question incited him farther, his groan pained.