Total pages in book: 158
Estimated words: 154037 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 770(@200wpm)___ 616(@250wpm)___ 513(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 154037 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 770(@200wpm)___ 616(@250wpm)___ 513(@300wpm)
She wanted him to push her onto her back and peel her out of her clothes.
Take her in a way she’d never been taken.
But Otto always maintained the distance. Kept an invisible barrier between them.
She wanted to push through it. Climb over it or under it. Whatever it took to get to him.
But there was an obstacle she had to face first. This guilt that soured in her conscience. The secret she’d been keeping that she wasn’t sure she could keep any longer.
She was worried about Haddie. About how reckless she was being.
But the betrayal locked on her tongue. Unable to form the words that she knew would drive a blade between her and her best friend.
She couldn’t do it. She couldn’t.
Haddie trusted her, and she couldn’t break the bond that they had formed.
FORTY-EIGHT
RAVEN
I glanced around, all covert-like before I tapped a message on my phone.
Me
This is a 9-1-1. I’m in dire need of my bestie.
I mean, I needed to tell someone, and she was the only one I could really trust, and really, she was the only one I wanted to tell. The one who just got me in every way.
And I really, really needed to squeal about this.
Her response was almost instant.
Charleigh
Are you in trouble?
My fingers flew across the screen.
Me
If you mean am I in trouble because of a six-foot-five hunk of a man, then absolutely yes.
Charleigh
Oh crap. You’re definitely in big, big trouble.
Me
Oh, it’s big, all right.
I could almost hear her splutter from across the miles.
Charleigh
I did not need the vision.
Me
Karma, baby ;)
Charleigh
You’re cruel…and also lucky River isn’t standing over my shoulder.
Me
Like I don’t trust you to keep all our conversations in confidence.
Charleigh
True. But this one is…delicate.
I took in a deep breath.
Me
Which is why I need to talk to you. Meet for lunch?
Charleigh
Absolutely. Where?
Me
Sunrise to Sunset Café across from Moonflower. It’s delish. Noon o’ five.
Her lunch was always during the noon hour, and I’d just close up shop for a little bit so I could meet with her.
Charleigh
It’s a date.
Me
See you soon!
I felt the presence wash over me from behind. So powerful. An inundating wave.
I shifted to look over my shoulder from where I stood in the kitchen to find Otto slowly coming down the stairs from his room.
Fresh from a shower. Shorn hair damp and a clean tee stretched across his massive chest. Jeans snug and barely able to contain everything that he was underneath.
The man was a riot to my senses.
Cataclysmic.
He drove his big fingers through his hair, pushing it back, the tweak of a grin scampering over his mouth as he lumbered closer. His boots were heavy on the floor as he edged my way.
I was struck with a fresh dose of his aura.
Encircling.
Invading.
He didn’t hesitate to pull me into his arms and press his nose into my hair. He breathed out what sounded like relief.
My knees went weak.
Is this what it felt like to swoon?
Yes, yes it had to be, because I felt lightheaded and my heart careened and my stomach was nothing but a toil of tumbling butterfly wings.
“Way the sight of you knocks me sideways. Way I can’t think about anything else when you’re standing there like that. Wearing one of these sexy as fuck dresses that you know damned well drive me out of my mind. Can’t fuckin’ get enough.” Otto dragged his lips down the side of my neck, peppering kisses along the sensitive flesh as he went.
It knocked a whimper loose, and my head tipped to the side to grant him better access. Somehow, I managed to force myself to say, “You need to stop right there before you get carried away or else you’re going to make me late.”
“Thought you said I could have this delicious body any time I wanted it?” His words were nothing but bait.
Those butterflies spun. “Well, it’s also said good things come to those who wait.”
He grunted, and I could feel the force of his grin against the side of my neck. “So, you’re saying you want me to spend the day conjuring up all the dirty things I’m going to do to you once I get you home?”
A shiver ripped down my spine. A big, big hand followed it, riding all the way down until he was gripping me by a butt cheek and tugging me against the hard, packed planes of his merciless body.
And that’s what I wanted.
No mercy.
I wanted him to take me until I couldn’t handle it any longer.
It was honestly a wonder that I was even walking today, the mark of him scored so deep inside me that I felt like I’d been cut in two and sewn back together.
Body achy and legs weak.
“Yes, that’s exactly what I am saying to you.” I shifted so it was me who was whispering in his ear. “I want you to dream about me all day while you watch me work. I want you to be thinking the whole time about the way I’m going to be wet for you, needy for you to get back inside me.”