Total pages in book: 107
Estimated words: 104305 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 522(@200wpm)___ 417(@250wpm)___ 348(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 104305 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 522(@200wpm)___ 417(@250wpm)___ 348(@300wpm)
“Another?”
Yes. I wanted another kiss.
I nodded.
I breathed a little easier when he moved away from me to grab another Sea Dog from the fridge. Twisting off the cap, he came back to me, but he didn’t stop until we were once again toe to toe.
On purpose. Because he knew.
Instead of offering me the beer, he held it snuggly against his chest, making me reach for it.
“Why are you here, Chase?” Not only was his question husky this time, it was weighed down with more unsaid questions than the one he actually asked.
I wrapped my hand around the cold bottle, but could only feel his warm fingers gripping it under mine. The back of my fingers brushed against the heat of his chest through the thin cotton.
I cleared my throat. “I told you.”
“What aren’t you telling me?”
Too much that I wasn’t willing to share.
When I pulled on the bottle, trying to take it from him, he kept it pinned to his chest and came with it. Without even meaning to, I hauled him into me.
Until we were so close, our breaths merged.
“Why are you here, Chase?” he whispered, his Adam’s apple slowly rolling up his throat, then rolling back down.
“I don’t know,” I whispered back. I knew why, I just didn’t want to admit it. I was afraid to allow myself to have what I really wanted from Rett. What he offered willingly. What I could willingly accept. “It was a mistake.”
“We all make mistakes.”
I knew that all too well.
However, some mistakes you couldn’t recover from. I hoped this wasn’t one of them since I already had enough for a lifetime.
“Why are you here, Chase?”
“How many times are you going to ask me that?” I attempted to make my question come off as annoyed. I failed. Instead, it sounded slightly desperate.
“As many times as necessary until I get the truth.”
“I gave you the truth.”
“You gave me a convenient excuse. But deep down that’s not why you came here.”
Why was he so damn frustrating? Truthfully, I was doing it to myself since I came to him, not the other way around this time. “How do you know?”
“Even though you’re trying your damnedest to hide it, I can see it in your eyes as plain as day.”
Shit. I broke our eye contact. “You’re imagining it.”
“Bullshit. I recognize it because I want the same as you.”
“I just want to be left alone.”
“But here you are, in my apartment. Late at night. Using a very thin excuse to be here.”
“I shouldn’t have come.” Truth.
“But you did, so now what?”
“I should leave.” Also truth.
“Before you get what you came for?”
I downed the second bottle of Sea Dog in two gulps.
Rett shook his head and grabbed another beer out of the fridge, twisted off the cap, tossed it on the counter with the rest of them and then handed me my third beer.
I didn’t hesitate to take it from him.
I was trying to fortify my walls with it. But, of course, that was just another failure, since they were slowly beginning to lower.
He tipped his head toward my third beer. “You drink that as fast as the other two and I’m not letting you go anywhere for a while.”
This man was frustrating in more ways than one.
Keeping my eyes locked with his, I raised the bottle, put it to my lips, opened my throat and downed the whole thing in one swallow.
His mouth slowly curled into a grin, then he nodded.
I nodded, too, and set the empty bottle down next to the other dead soldiers.
I shot out my hand, grabbed his T-shirt and yanked him toward me, hoping the thin cotton didn’t tear and knock us both off balance.
It didn’t but it did slam Rett into me. Before he could catch his breath from the collision, I dipped my head and dropped my mouth to his. Not kissing. Not yet.
Simply breathing him in.
Working up the courage to do what I wanted to do to the man pulled against me. Chest to chest. Toe to toe. Mouth to mouth.
And now…
Erection to erection.
“I said I’d never kiss you again. You’re not going to knock me out again this time, are you?” he whispered against my lips.
“No, because this time, I’m kissing you since this is the only way to shut you up.”
“Well, it’s not the only way, but—”
I knew the other ways, but we’d start with another kiss. One to make up for the last disaster. Thanks to my hang-ups.
With one hand, I grabbed him behind his elbow and with the other, I dug my fingers into the back of his neck, crushing our mouths together, along with everything else.
The second his mouth opened with a groan, his tongue tangled with mine.
There was not a damn thing gentle about our kiss. It was raw. Rough. Purely sexual. It wasn’t sweet or intimate, nor did it give off romantic forever vibes.