Total pages in book: 158
Estimated words: 144832 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 724(@200wpm)___ 579(@250wpm)___ 483(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 144832 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 724(@200wpm)___ 579(@250wpm)___ 483(@300wpm)
They managed to walk side by side, with her tucked beneath his shoulder for most of the way, until they neared the house, and then he took the lead. She tucked her hand into his back pocket. She’d done that once or twice before, and Taviano liked it. Eloisa would lose her mind if she ever saw Nicoletta do something like that.
He knew that his relationship with Nicoletta would be very different from his brothers’ relationships with their spouses. He might be dominant—the Ferraros were born that way, and being riders only brought out that trait more—but he needed a warrior woman, a partner. He had known he wanted a woman who would work beside him. He hadn’t thought that until he met Nicoletta—until she opened her eyes on the plane heading back to Chicago and he looked into all that rage and confusion. That fight. Those eyes held the same emotions his held every time he looked in the mirror.
He opened the kitchen door and stepped back to allow her into the house first. The dishes were still on the table right where he’d left them when he’d gone after her. Eloisa was gone. Thankfully, Henry had taken her away in the car, so Taviano didn’t have to worry about her riding the shadows with an injury. She no longer rode the shadows to bring justice to those who deserved it. She had taken the role of a greeter, but she still used the shadows to move around when she wanted to secretly get from one place to another fast.
Nicoletta immediately cleared the table and helped him clean the kitchen. “I would have thought you would have an entire staff working for you.”
“They clean,” he admitted. “But not my dishes. I’m one person. When I’m here, I like to be alone. I cook, and I do my own dishes. I have a couple of people who will come in after, and a regular cleaning crew while I’m gone, but otherwise, I just want to be left alone.”
“I like that,” Nicoletta said.
“Good.” He shot her a grin. “Because when we’re at the stage where you’re comfortable having sex, I’m fucking you in every room, on every table, over every couch, on the rug in front of every fireplace and on the roof as well. We don’t want to be stumbling over staff while we’re doing that.”
Color swept up her neck and into her face. She arched an eyebrow at him. “All those places? Really?”
“And the bed. We have a lot of beds to break in. There’s a swing chair out on the porch as well. And a porch railing.”
She burst out laughing, just as he’d hoped she would. “You have sex on the brain.”
“I’ve come here a lot in the last three years, tesoro. I spent a lot of time fantasizing about the two of us.” It took self-control not to drop his hand to his cock and show her just what went on when he was fantasizing. “Did you? About me?”
She nodded, the blush starting all over again. “Yes. All the time. Especially in the bathtub. Once, you almost caught me. You came into my bedroom just as I was finishing up.”
“Finishing up?” he echoed. His heart accelerated. He remembered that night so vividly. He had come into her bedroom through the window. He’d heard the splashes of water in the tub. Moans. So soft. She sounded frustrated. Near tears. He’d stood just outside the door, one hand on the doorknob, knowing how inappropriate it would be, how wrong of him, but it was clear she was sexually frustrated and in need. He wanted to be the one to send her over the edge. To help her get where she needed to go. Instead, he’d done the right thing and backed off.
“I didn’t know what I was doing. I still don’t. I think I’m so afraid of feeling anything because it was all so wrong. Everything was so wrong.”
He hated the defeat in her voice.
“Nothing is wrong now. Everything we do will be right,” he promised. “We’ll try a few things to see if you like them. Nothing scary.”
She laughed unexpectedly. “It’s all going to be scary.”
“Isn’t that half the fun? I’m not scary, so it’s just what we try. You can relax and only worry about whether or not it’s too good.”
She snapped a dish towel at him. “How can something be too good?”
He grinned at her. “Ask me that question after the family leaves.”
The smile faded from her face. “What?”
“You heard me. I’ve decided I’m going to start with just laying you down on the bed, spreading you out and devouring you. Eating you like candy. I bet you taste like honey and lavender. You always smell like that.”
The blush was back. “Taviano.” There was cautious excitement in her voice.