Total pages in book: 114
Estimated words: 107710 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 539(@200wpm)___ 431(@250wpm)___ 359(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 107710 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 539(@200wpm)___ 431(@250wpm)___ 359(@300wpm)
That sounded dangerously close to a vow of faithfulness—and she really shouldn’t have been relieved or gratified to hear it. Not in this setting. Alone in his shower, where they were the only ones to witness it. That made the exchange real. Not a farce. Furthermore, she shouldn’t be lifting up onto her toes and sealing their mouths together, kissing him as if to reward him, those fingers simulating sex between her thighs. Picking up the pace along with their kiss until she could no longer concentrate on both and her head fell back on her shoulders, a gasp of his name tripping over her lips as the orgasm crested—
“August, Jesus. Yes. Yes.”
“Good girl. I’ve got you.”
Got her? Right. Because her knees had buckled, as predicted, and she didn’t even have the room to be miffed or embarrassed about the bracing left arm he’d circled around her back to keep her upright. She was too busy shaking through the most intense orgasm in recent memory. And he knew how to get her through it. Knew to stop advancing and hold firm, wedging his right palm tight to her pulsing flesh and twisting, groaning against her mouth like a satisfied beast as if he were the one getting relief instead of Natalie.
So hot. His being so turned on by her pleasure was so stupidly hot.
And unexpected.
This whole encounter—and August himself—was turning out to be unexpected.
As soon as Natalie’s climax started to cool, her open mouth on his shoulder became scarily intimate. The lazy coasting of his lips over her temple and into her hair was decidedly . . . affectionate?
Whoa. What had just taken place here? Getting physical with August was not part of the plan. They were supposed to be in a fake relationship.
But their wet, tangled limbs felt the furthest thing from fake.
They were getting married so she could secure her trust fund. So he could get a bank loan and put it toward a second attempt to run this fledgling winery. They were doing this for money. What did it mean if they sealed their union while in an actual relationship? Did that make the marriage real? Legitimate?
A true love match between her and August Cates.
That was the most insane possibility she’d ever heard.
For one, she had to get back to New York. Her life was on pause until she picked up the broken pieces of what she’d built. Two, they would end up murdering each other.
And three, she was fresh from being booted by her fiancé without warning, literally left out on the curb like yesterday’s trash. The idea of opening herself up to this man as a follow-up? This man who made a sport out of pinpointing her flaws? No. She might as well hand him her diary and a megaphone.
All right, they were physically attracted to each other. No tiptoeing around that fact.
She’d gotten it out of her system, right?
Yes . . .
Yes.
Totally.
Unfortunately, August was still hard against her belly, his mouth moving dangerously close to hers again. His eyes clouded with need. If he kissed her, she’d sink down again and forget the commonsense pep talk she’d just given herself. There could be no having a crush on her phony husband. That would only lead to entanglements. Ones that could potentially keep her in St. Helena, where she would never, ever feel like more than an inept and unwanted teenager.
She needed to get the lust out of August’s system, too, though, didn’t she?
Otherwise the itch scratching would be one-sided. The rebound would be left . . . unbound.
He’d have something to hold over her.
Going up on her toes, she slanted their mouths together, her fingertips skating down his stomach—and once again, he trapped her wrist at the very last second. “You don’t have as much of a poker face as you think you do,” he rasped against her mouth. “I’d rather leave my cock hard than let you stroke it just to return the favor.”
A finger of panic swept through her middle. Partly because this man seriously didn’t let her get away with anything, which made her feel naked in more ways than one. And partly because . . . there was a genuine urgency inside her to give him the same pleasure he’d provided for her. “Isn’t returning favors how sex works?”
He shook his head. “That’s not how it’s going to work with us.”
“Us?” That panic was going off like fireworks now. She’d really muddied the waters here. Especially considering that traitorous little pop of satisfaction she got over the word “us.” You need to stop. “This is a marriage in name only, my dude.”
August visibly judged her steadiness before removing his arm from around her waist, slapping that newly freed hand onto the tile above her head. “Guess you weren’t thinking about that when you climbed into my shower in nothing but panties.”