Total pages in book: 91
Estimated words: 87904 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 440(@200wpm)___ 352(@250wpm)___ 293(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 87904 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 440(@200wpm)___ 352(@250wpm)___ 293(@300wpm)
The bed sank and shifted as he got in next to me, tucking under the covers.
“I’m not going anywhere,” he whispered, kissing my hair. My heart felt like it was curling up in a little glowing ball right next to Red, and like he would protect it. Like he would protect me.
As I drifted to sleep I realized that everything—every single fucking thing that I’d been chasing for the last however many years—couldn’t compare to this.
I was in a tiny town that I never thought I’d be able to tolerate.
I was fucking sober, other than my intoxicating post-orgasm haze.
And I was in bed with a man I thought I’d never see again in my life.
This was better than any high I’d ever felt, and even as I was slipping quickly into dreamland, it felt more real, too. I knew Red wasn’t mine forever, but right now, I could pretend. For one small moment I let myself believe that I could have a life this good, and that I was the kind of person who deserved something that felt so much like love.
13
Red
I woke up early. Light was peeking through the cracks in the blinds, and for a moment I didn’t know where I was.
And then I remembered, bit by bit: finding Liam outside. The shower. The all-consuming need to make him feel as good as he possibly could. The memories of last night washed over me, warming my whole body before I’d even opened my eyes.
But when I turned to the side, expecting to find him snoozing like a log nearby, I blinked a few times and saw that the other side of the bed was empty.
I yawned as I walked down the short hallway, the floor cold under my bare feet.
“Hell really has frozen over,” I said as I saw him, hunched over his laptop at the kitchen table.
He looked at me, his eyes looking a little glazed over. He was wearing nothing other than a pair of neon pink boxer briefs with a kiss print pattern all over them, and a baby blue fuzzy robe hanging open on top.
I already felt my cock rise seeing him like that. The outfit looked ridiculous, but I wanted to slide my hands underneath that robe and find all of the warmth inside.
“What?” he asked, his eyes immediately fixating on my cock, which was now getting even harder.
“I’ve never seen you awake before ten in the morning,” I said.
“Oh,” he said. “Right. Yes. A lot of weird shit happens now that I’m sober. Sometimes I sleep in ‘til two in the afternoon, other times I can’t keep my eyes closed past six in the morning. Also, you’re still naked.”
I looked down. Fuck. I was fully hard now.
“I am, aren’t I?” I said.
He licked his lips. “And I owe you, big time, after last night,” he said.
I sighed. “I want that more than anything in the world right now. But I actually do have to go home.”
“Big day ahead?”
“I’ve got to get back to the dogs, and then later I’m going to my mom’s for dinner. It’s a two-hour drive.”
His eyes snapped away from my cock. “Sorry. I’ve been in front of this computer for two hours. I saw a real live cock and I started salivating.”
“Christ,” I said, palming my erection. “You have no idea how hot some of the things you say are.”
He shrugged. “Just being honest. I like the way your cock hangs. Just a little to the right.”
I groaned.
“I’m sorry. I’m getting... carried away,” he said, scrubbing his palms over his face. He really did look exhausted.
“You can get carried away all you want,” I said. “But you clearly need some coffee, and you also need to tell me what’s been so important on that computer.”
“Well, the Hardy Productions website kind of blew up,” he said, staring shellshocked at the screen as I headed over to the kitchen and poured some grounds into the coffee maker.
“Blew up? Shit, did it crash?”
“Not yet,” he said. “But it could soon. I already had so many people pre-sign up over the last few weeks, but memberships spiked hard last night while we were… busy.”
“So what does that mean?”
He came into the kitchen, looking at me with wide eyes. “It means people can’t fucking get enough of you,” he said.
“So why do you look like a soldier preparing to enter battle? Isn’t this a really good thing?”
Liam scratched his head, watching the coffee percolate into the pot. “You don’t understand. People are asking over and over again in the comments for your name. They want more from you. A lot more.”
I clapped my hands once. “Bring it on. What’s the harm in that? I told you, even if people found out who I was, it’s not exactly going to harm my livelihood. I think the people of Red’s Tavern would get a kick out of it.”