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)
I’d never wanted to cross a room more than I did right then.
Had never wanted to give in so badly.
Had never wanted to steal the goodness. Feed on it until it filled my empty soul.
Somehow, I found the willpower to force myself back out the door, and I slammed it shut behind me at the same second as she cried out, an orgasm tearing so violently through her that I swore I could feel it reverberate through the door and ripple through me.
I chugged for the nonexistent air as I forced my ass back to the couch, still fucking staggering and lumbering my way across the floor, wondering if I was truly hallucinating.
Wouldn’t be surprising since I had just downed half a bottle of Jack.
But I could still feel it. The energy she emitted. The pleasure that seeped beneath the door and crawled across the floor like a vapor tracking me.
“Fuck.” I flopped onto the couch, trying to catch my damned breath. To make sense of what the fuck had just gone down. My cock so fucking hard there was nothing I could do but free myself from my jeans and jack myself right on the couch.
I came hard and fast and with a groan, and I cleaned myself up with my tee that I ripped over my head.
“You fuckin’ sick bastard,” I muttered as I tossed it to the floor, still disoriented, head spinning with dizziness, heart hammering with need.
I fumbled into my pocket and pulled out my phone, eyes squinting as I tapped out an apology there was no way I could issue to her face.
Me
So fuckin’ sorry, Raven. Didn’t mean to barge in. Thought you were having a nightmare, and you needed me.
I faceplanted onto the couch. I squeezed my eyes closed, and I was right there, on the cusp of passing out, when my phone buzzed in my hand.
I barely shifted so I could peek at it through the night, the words blurred in the haze of my mind.
Raven
I did need you.
TWENTY-FIVE
OTTO
I woke to the sunlight blazing through the windows and groggy as fuck. That and the scent of coffee riding on the air and the patter of bare feet.
That was all it took for it all to come back to me in a barrage of visions flash-firing through my mind, and my heart fucking seized as my mind spiraled back to last night.
Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.
I sat up on the couch, facing away from the kitchen as I scrubbed both palms over my face in an attempt to squash the anxiety that rolled through me. Throat thick and head pounding like a bitch as I sat there trying to figure out what the hell the protocol was after I’d walked in on her practicing the type of self-care I’d been idiot enough to tease her about when she’d first started staying here.
Turmoil swamped me as I sat there, itching like a fiend.
Raven’s soft voice hit me from behind. “Please don’t feel uncomfortable around me, Otto. Don’t tiptoe or treat me differently. That would kill me.”
I stood, slowly turning around to face her, not really prepared to see her in the morning light after the way I’d seen her last night.
So goddamn beautiful that looking at her felt like a kick to the gut. Body hidden beneath another one of those dresses. But somehow, I managed an easy grin when I told her, “It’s already forgotten, darlin’.”
She flinched like that wasn’t the response she’d been hoping for, though she pinned on a smile as she gestured to the coffee maker. “Coffee’s ready. I’m going to finish getting ready and I need to hurry to Moonflower. I’ll see you later tonight?”
“Yeah. I’ll be here. My turn to make dinner.”
Not that I wouldn’t be keeping an eye outside of Moonflower, though we’d scaled off, deciding that the incident with her window had been random.
That time, her smile was genuine. “That sounds nice.”
I blew out some of the strain and murmured, “Good,” hoping that by the time I saw her tonight, I’d have gotten myself together.
That I’d truly forget it like I’d promised.
Because standing there right then? I was afraid nothing was ever going to be the same.
“It’s almost ready,” I told her when she came down from the bedroom.
Raven inhaled, easiness on her face when she sighed and murmured, “Smells good.”
“We should eat outside tonight. It’s really gorgeous out.”
Easiness rippled between us, thank God. Maybe the incident hadn’t been forgotten, but at least it’d been reined, and the elephant was no longer loose and tearing through the room.
“Sounds great,” she said.
I opened a bottle of wine and poured two glasses, and she was all grins as she came padding barefoot to my side and picked one up. “Ugh, you know exactly what I need, don’t you, Otto Hudson?”
My stomach tightened as I thought of what she really needed, but I ignored it as I clinked my glass to hers and said, “Just taking care of my favorite girl.”