Total pages in book: 82
Estimated words: 77490 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 387(@200wpm)___ 310(@250wpm)___ 258(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 77490 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 387(@200wpm)___ 310(@250wpm)___ 258(@300wpm)
“Now, about that kiss,” he says, sending shivers up my back. “I’ve wanted to do this since I met you.”
“You were working when we met. You’d have gotten fired.”
He leans in, pressing his lips to mine for just a second before pulling back. “Would’ve been worth it.”
I know enough about Gray to know that he’s not finished. He wouldn’t have bothered setting me atop the bar for a kiss that short.
From this position, my head is ever so slightly higher than his, and it’s an odd feeling to look down at such a tall man. He presses his lips together and curls them in as if he’s tasting me there. All the while, his eyes bounce from my eyes down to my mouth, and I realize I’m holding my breath as he brings us together again.
Oh yeah. That first kiss was just a tiny appetizer. An amuse-bouche to whet the appetite. Now we’re getting to the good stuff.
His hands slide around to my back, one of them gliding up to the base of my neck, where he holds me steady as our mouths come together.
His lips are soft and lush, and there’s some indefinable flavor there, a faint saltiness that makes me crave more and more. He presses in again, and I feel like I’m being pulled under a big wave, and drowning in this kiss is the most pleasurable thing I’ve ever felt.
I become aware that my fingers are twisting in his hair, all on their own, and I order them to stop. I’d momentarily forgotten about Erik, but I remember that he could very well be watching.
It seems rude to carry on with a lengthy kiss right in front of him, but I’m powerless to stop. Not because I couldn’t make Gray stop, but because I can’t make myself want to stop. My lust-fogged brain tells me that I can apologize later.
An eternity passes, or maybe just a few more seconds, and then Gray straightens, a satisfied grin on his lips before his tongue licks over the lower one, and something inside me burns with an insatiable hunger. I’m hollowed out.
He lifts me off of the counter and sets me on the ground, which now seems off kilter. I turn and go reaching for my drink just to give me something to hold on to.
I can’t help but compare Gray’s kiss to the others I’ve had recently, but I can’t pick a favorite. They’ve all been different but equally wonderful, the way my favorite foods are.
Sometimes I’m in the mood for a particular food and not another, but I’m certain I’ll always be in the mood for kissing all three of the men I’m dating, and I’m not sure I’ll ever be able to get enough.
Out of all the sinning I’ve been doing—the drinking, the gambling, the lying—kissing Gray, Erik, and Brax is the one I’ve become addicted to.
AVA
When my mom invites me to come for dinner the following week, she gives me three days’ notice, and I can’t possibly say no.
I’m afraid I’m going to feel guilty sitting in my parents’ dining room knowing that I’ve been doing so many things they’d disapprove of, but I’ll feel guiltier still if I avoid seeing them, and if I make an excuse again, my mom will get suspicious. Prior to my recent dates, my social calendar was fairly sparse.
When I arrive, my brother is already there, sitting in the living room talking to Dad. I find Mom in the kitchen with Jessica, Aaron’s fiancée, and I jump in to help them, as I always do.
“Oh, hi, dear. How are you?” My mom sounds distracted, but every burner on the stove is covered with a pot or pan, so that’s probably why.
“What is all this?” I lift the lid on one pot to find new potatoes covered in butter and parsley. Just as I’m taking a sniff, the doorbell chimes.
Mom straightens her apron with one hand as she tends to a pan of chicken cutlets with the other. “Can you please get that, Ava?”
“Are you expecting someone?”
Still preoccupied, she doesn’t answer, so I do as she requested. The living room is closer to the front door than the kitchen is, but my mom and I both know that my dad and brother are unlikely to get up.
I open the door and find a familiar-looking man standing there. It takes a beat for me to remember that I’ve seen him at church; I don’t know his name.
“Hi?”
“Ava? Hi, I’m John.” He holds out his hand, so I shake it.
John appears to be around my brother’s age, so I assume that’s why he’s here. He must be a church-approved friend, which instantly makes me think of Gray, who no longer meets my brother’s standards.
My mother appears behind me. “John, so glad you could make it. Come in.”