Total pages in book: 117
Estimated words: 113142 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 566(@200wpm)___ 453(@250wpm)___ 377(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 113142 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 566(@200wpm)___ 453(@250wpm)___ 377(@300wpm)
I was waiting for her when she walked out of the hospital, the sky overcast and drizzling. Her head was down, her shoulders hunched against the weather when I called out to her. “Nightingale.”
She looked up, her face transforming, as she flung herself into my open arms. I held her tight, lifting her feet off the ground. Her face was buried in my neck, and I felt the wetness of her tears.
“Hey, what’s this?” I asked quietly. “I’m fine. You know that.”
“I missed you so much.”
I kissed her head, inhaling her comforting scent. “I missed you. Can I take you home? Do you need anything from your place?”
She tilted her head back. “I stayed at the loft a few times. I have some things there.”
“I’d like it if you stayed all the time.”
She cupped my face. “You look so tired.”
“I drove all night to get to you.”
“Adam,” she whispered.
I crushed her to me, burying my face into her neck. “I couldn’t wait to get back to you. I need to take you home to our bed. I want to fall asleep in your arms. Wake up beside you. I need that—I need you. Please tell me I can have it. Tell me everyone else can fuck off and I can have you today.”
“Yes.”
“They’ll come pick up the rental later. Will you follow me home?”
Her voice was like music to my ears. “I’ll follow you anywhere.”
My need was so great we barely got in the door, and I had her in my arms. We made it to the bed, discarding our clothes as we went. She stiffened as my fingers slipped below her waistband, tugging on the material to get her pants off. I needed to be buried inside her, deep inside her, and I needed it now. I frowned when I felt the edges of a bandage, and I gently pulled down the fabric. A bandage covered the area below her hip bone.
“You’re hurt?” I traced the edge of the bandage. “What happened, baby?”
“I’m not hurt.”
I looked up at her quizzically.
“You came home early. I was going to surprise you. I got a tattoo.”
My eyes widened. “You got a tattoo?” I repeated.
She nodded. “I thought the bandage would be off and you’d see it…”
I shook my head. “No. This is good—let me take it off.”
I peeled back the bandage, revealing her ink. Low on her hip, where only I would ever see it, was a small camera etched out over a swirl design. As I traced the design with my fingers, I realized my initials were woven into the swirls, over and again. She had marked herself with my name and the love I had of photography.
“Ally,” I breathed out.
“Do you like it?”
Bending low, I nuzzled the tender skin. “Yes.”
“I was too scared to get it on my chest. I was so worried it would hurt too much and I wouldn’t be able to finish it.”
“No, I like it here. Only I’ll see it. It’s mine.” I met her gaze. “You’re mine.”
“I am,” she whispered.
“Who did it?”
“I found a business card on your desk. I called the guy and he said he did all your tattoos, so I went there.”
I nodded. “Rod is great—his artwork of all my favorite legends is incredible. He worked on the designs for weeks. I’m glad you found his card.”
“I told him what I wanted, and he drew it up and did it.” She tapped my cheek. “He said he’d been working on a design for you, but he wouldn’t say what it was.”
I lowered my mouth to hers. “Trust me, Nightingale. You’ll like it. When it’s done, there’ll be no doubt who I belong to as well.”
I tugged her to the mattress, kissing her deeply. Then, with a grin, I rolled over so she was straddling me. My cock slid along her heat, aching to be joined with her. “You need to be on top. We won’t rub the tattoo, and I get to watch you move with my mark on you.”
With a low moan, she slid down, taking me inside. She stilled, our eyes locking at the intensity of our connection. It was there every single time, a living, breathing thing that surrounded us.
“Part of me is missing when I’m away from you,” I confessed.
“I long for you, Adam. I’m lost without you.”
“Show me, baby. Show me how much.”
I groaned as she started to move, my eyes never leaving the tattoo.
It was the sexiest thing I’d ever seen.
I gripped her hips, guiding her over me, my thumb never far away from the ink she now wore. The need I felt for her was acute, alive and burning within me. Ally was feeling it as well. There was nothing slow or gentle about her today. Bowing back, she grabbed my thighs, her breasts jutting out and heaving with her deep inhalations. Her wild hair shimmered in the light, a fiery explosion that drifted across my skin like silk. She moaned and bucked, slamming herself down, her heat engulfing me.