Total pages in book: 73
Estimated words: 71768 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 359(@200wpm)___ 287(@250wpm)___ 239(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 71768 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 359(@200wpm)___ 287(@250wpm)___ 239(@300wpm)
I slapped her hands away. “You get to touch them all the time. It’s my turn.”
She laughed. “Yes, because that’s what big-chested women do, we just sit around all day and touch our boobs.”
“I like that fantasy,” I growled, and my dick showed me it concurred by straining toward her. “And I wouldn’t judge you if you did. You’re stunning.”
She swallowed slowly and looked away as if she didn’t want to look me in the eyes.
I thumbed the bright-pink bra and grinned. “Look at me.”
She lifted her chin. “Better?”
“How am I looking at you right now? Describe it.”
She chewed her lower lip. Making a little red mark on the middle of her lower lip before she sighed. “Can’t we just have sex and call it good?”
“Why?” I leaned in. “Are you scared?”
She gave me a slow nod. “What if this doesn’t work, Rip? What if we have sex and then I’m horrible or you start… I don’t know, doing math problems out loud because that’s your kink, and then we still have to take care of the kids and live together?”
I forced a blank expression on my face. “How’d you know?”
Her entire face drained of color. “That’s it? That’s your move?”
“Math should always be included in moves.” I grinned. “But no, I just wanted to see your face.”
That at least had her smiling. “Hmmm, I sense another game in our future.”
“Oh?” I kissed the top of her head. “What sort of game?”
“We do this, neither of us freaks out, keep your sexy math to yourself, and you show me what you meant when you bought the baby oil.” She held out her hand. “Deal?”
Now that the wall between us had crumbled, all I could think was, How did I miss this?
How did I miss how cute she was?
How serious she was in this moment with just a bra and leggings on, her bare feet dangling near the floor as I carried her to the bed.
“Deal.” I grabbed her hand and squeezed. “But you have to answer my question too… how do I look at you?”
“Well.” Her eyes darted toward my mouth. “You used to almost sneer when I’d walk into the room. Remember, we did almost kill each other planning Monica and Banks’s surprise party.”
The memory was painful.
Because it felt like that was what had triggered their deaths.
I hung my head. “I was jealous.”
“Jealous?”
“You’ve always been this free, beautiful thing, and I was always jealous that I couldn’t let myself be like that. I was irritated that you didn’t seem to care about responsibility, and yet Monica and Brooks trusted you with raising their children. And I was always the too-serious one, the one that tried to keep everything one way, only to have you bulldoze your way into a situation and have a better, more exciting idea. Sometimes I blamed you for taking my family from me. You know how close Monica and I were, and then you just… became a part of our family, seamlessly, easily. Everyone loves you, you know. So I made myself focus on things I knew would put walls between us, and you know what you did?”
A tear slid down her cheek. “What?”
I swiped it away with my thumb. “You forced your friendship on me like a homeless cat that decides it’s found its forever home.”
She gasped. “You compared me to a homeless cat? You sure you’re going to get laid tonight?”
“Yeah, I could have done better than that. It’s just—you’re just—how am I looking at you right now?” I asked for the third time.
Two more tears slid down her cheeks as she reached for my face and cupped my cheeks with her hands. “Like I’m yours.”
“For two seconds I could have sworn you were going to say ‘lobster.’”
“That too.” She sniffled. “Even when I wasn’t yours—I was yours, Rip.”
I have no clue what the hell she was going to say next because I was kissing her, parting her lips with my tongue, while she grabbed my shirt and tugged it open, sending buttons flying all over the room.
I moaned inside her mouth when her hands moved to the buttons of my pants, I kicked them down and pressed her back against the mattress, leaning over her, almost petrified to stop kissing her, fearful of missing her even though she was right there.
Needing more even though it was physically impossible. Energy pulsed between us, around us, igniting each touch of our mouths to something almost holy.
She pulled back, mouth swollen. “What do you see when I look at you?”
I reached for the waistband of her leggings and slowly rolled them down her thighs, tugging them completely off as I answered. “Love. Acceptance… with a side of annoyance that I’m pretty sure I’ll always see.”
She threw her head back and laughed, then grabbed my face and pulled me down for another kiss as I unclasped her bra, freeing those perfect breasts. Releasing her lips, I drew back, holding her gaze with mine until I had to look away. I dropped my eyes to her chest and stared in wonder. I reached out. A blast of heat surged through my body as I weighed her breasts with my hands; they spilled over my palms, and a shudder of desire engulfed my body. She shivered as her tongue darted out to wet her lower lip. Body throbbing, I laved the soft skin around her nipples, then sucked one into my mouth and released it with a pop, watching as her chest rose and fell in perfect chaotic cadence with my own breathing, my own heartbeat.