Total pages in book: 66
Estimated words: 62783 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 314(@200wpm)___ 251(@250wpm)___ 209(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 62783 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 314(@200wpm)___ 251(@250wpm)___ 209(@300wpm)
My mouth was on hers in an instant, spanning the distance between us until nothing separated us but clothes. I shifted my thigh between her legs, cupping her face in my hands. Her lips were soft and insistent as we crashed together, a decade’s worth of tension unraveling and ramping up again in the span of a breath.
Fuck, she felt good against me, all smooth curves and warmth. I tipped her head back, and she parted for me, letting me sweep my tongue inside her mouth, claiming her, exploring her, relearning what made her arch against me and what made her gasp. She fisted my shirt, drawing me closer as she kissed me back, giving and taking, taking and giving.
This was fire.
This was joy.
This was my girl.
The one who made me fall and never recover. The one who taught me to live and take risks and chase my dreams. The one who was easy to laugh with, the one who was easy to love.
Love? Fuck no, I wasn’t going down that road.
But this? I could do this all damn night. She wanted to push me, challenge me, have me help her remember what it was like between us?
I’d do my best to make sure she never forgot me again.
CHAPTER 5
Anne
Jim’s kiss was just as good as I remembered it.
Dominate and compassionate.
Claiming and consuming.
I gripped his shirt, clinging to him, my mind whirling as he curled his tongue against the roof of my mouth. Warm chills burst across my skin, heat coiling tight in my core. He slid one hand from my cheek over my neck and around to the back of it, holding me there as he licked into my mouth, a perfect demonstration of what he’d do if he ever got between my legs. My entire body went tight and loose at the thought, at the surrender in the idea.
I wanted more.
I wanted him.
I kissed him back hungrily, giving him everything in return. What started off as a fun game was quickly turning into a frenzy I didn’t know how to stop, and I wasn’t entirely sure I wanted to.
His other hand dropped, wrapping around my lower back and urging me closer, the motion dragging me against his massive thigh tucked between my legs. The friction made a tiny whimper escape my lips, and he pulled back, looking at me, his eyes flaring.
“Make that sound again,” he demanded, repeating the move only with a little more force this time.
I couldn’t stop the half-gasp, half-moan that escaped my lips, and I barely had a chance to think before his mouth was on me again, almost like he wanted to devour the sound. My heart beat wildly against my chest, crying out with a need for more, more, more.
“James,” I said against his lips, remember how crazy it drove him when I called him that during our make-out sessions of the past.
But this was now, and we no longer had the constraints we did then. I was desperate for him, starved for him. I wanted to go to his place or mine or anywhere we could keep going. I never wanted this to end.
He drew back again, his lips parting—
“Jim?” a male voice called from just outside the restaurant’s door which was a few feet away. “That you over there? What are you doing?”
Jim took a step away from me, putting enough distance between us that a cold rush of air washed over my overheated skin.
“Ridge,” Jim said, clearing his throat when the man came into view.
He looked like a bounty hunter come to collect our souls. Okay, maybe that was a bit over dramatic but the guy was tall, muscled, covered in tats, and glaring at me like I was the damn devil.
“What are you doing here?” Jim asked, trying like hell to sound casual…but why? Was he embarrassed about kissing me? I mean, sure, we probably shouldn’t have lost control in public like that but we were adults.
“Food,” Ridge grumbled, jerking a thumb toward the restaurant door. “What are you doing?” he asked again.
“Just dinner,” he said, almost like he was trying to assure his friend nothing else was going on.
Rejection and embarrassment flooded my body, threatening to have me curl in on myself.
How silly of me to think he felt what I did in that kiss. He really was just playing a game, one I started, and now he was practically holding his hands up for his friend like he was ashamed of being caught with me.
Well, I’d had enough of that shit in my life. More times than I could count. I just never thought it would be from him. Especially after how amazing the night had been.
I shook my head. “Thanks for dinner,” I said to Jim in the best, sweetest southern drawl I could muster. I didn’t bother addressing his friend because he hadn’t decided I was important enough to introduce.