Total pages in book: 89
Estimated words: 83699 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 418(@200wpm)___ 335(@250wpm)___ 279(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 83699 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 418(@200wpm)___ 335(@250wpm)___ 279(@300wpm)
She was right. He understood his past so much better now, how the estrangement with his family had led him into not calling her. And how her past led her into walking out the door and never texting him again. They both had pasts they had to deal with. But deep in his gut and wrapped around his heart, he knew neither of them would let anything come between them again.
Pulling her close, he tugged on the zipper of her skirt. “Then let’s not waste another moment. Ever.”
He kissed her as her skirt fell to the floor, while she unbuckled his belt, unzipped him. He tasted her while he toed off his shoes and she kicked off her high heels.
Only then did he step back. “You have the most amazing taste in lingerie.” She always had—scraps of silk and lace that made his heart beat faster and his boxer briefs grow tight around him.
“I do so love how tight these are.” As she slipped her fingers under the waistband and bent to peel them away, he felt the rush of her breath on his erection.
“Ahh. Now I remember being naughty.” Her lips engulfed him, shooting pleasure to his extremities and heat to his core.
“I always loved the perfection of your mouth on me.” His words were guttural, almost dragged out of him. And he groaned.
Curling her fingers around him, she pumped in time with her lips on his crown.
Despite what they’d done this morning, despite those two magnificent releases, he was so ready, so close. He had to pull her up, and smiling, he wagged a finger at her. “Oh no. When I come, I want to be deep inside you.”
“Do you have another condom?” she asked in the sweetest tone with the deepest caramel melting in her eyes.
“Oh yeah,” he drawled.
“Well, I’m on the pill. And I’ve had very good doctor’s reports.” With her lips against his, she whispered, “So don’t use it.”
“My reports are all good too.” The thought of being skin to skin made him rock hard.
When she added, “I want to feel all of you this time. Every single—” She wrapped her hand around him. “—beautiful inch of you.”
The slow dance ended there—he damn near tore her sexy lingerie from her body. In another moment, he had her spread out on the bed like the most delicious feast ever laid before a starving man.
And feast he did. Touching and teasing, licking and sucking, until she cried out with the first of her pleasures. There were so many more to come.
Pulling on his hair, then grabbing his shoulders, she tugged him up. “Now, Ransom, now, please.”
He reared up to fill her the way she begged him to, and her body clamped down on him with the throes of her climax.
Every inch of her was sweet to him. He’d never forgotten a moment, a touch, a whisper, a taste.
He knew how to make it the best for her. Pumping slowly, her body spasming around him, he didn’t let her come down. He stroked her with his erection, just on the inside, in short, lingering caresses. Until her fingernails dug into his arms and her lips dropped his name and her eyes squeezed shut as if she’d gone to another place where there was just him inside her, just pleasure shooting through her, just the aching need between her legs.
When her limbs trembled, it was time, and he touched her sweet pearl, sliding his fingers around it, faster, then harder. Even if she hadn’t cried out, he would have felt her climax in the tight grip of her body around him, the squeeze and release. He slammed home deep inside her.
And Ava screamed.
He’d always loved that scream, loved how good he’d always made her feel. Taking her hard and high and fast, her pleasure went on endlessly until she dragged his climax from deep within him.
He shouted in hoarse sounds, unable even to say her name, unable to remember his own.
In those long, beautiful moments, the only thing he knew was how sweetly, how perfectly, how desperately he loved her… and always would.
* * *
Ava lay in Ransom’s arms after the most incredible, out-of-this-world lovemaking she’d ever known. It was even better than fifteen years ago, as though in getting older and learning more about themselves, they’d somehow opened up to this greater joy.
“I’m not the same woman I was at twenty-one,” she admitted, running her fingers gently over his chest. “Or maybe even thirty.”
He stroked a hand through her hair. “I’m not the same man either. All I had going for me then was my desire for success. I didn’t consider anything else. I knew you were good for me, that I wanted you with me, but even for you, I wasn’t willing to lose my chance.”
The words would have hurt only hours before, but they were real. And she could admit now that the same was true for her. “I wouldn’t have given up my education or my dreams for you either. I just didn’t understand that neither of us had to give up anything at all, if only we’d compromised. We both still had so much to learn that I’m not sure we could have made it work then. Not just because of the argument or because you asked me to go with you and I got offended. Eventually, something would’ve happened, something would have soured us, because even if people love each other, they can’t work things out if they refuse to even consider the other person’s side.”