Total pages in book: 235
Estimated words: 224334 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1122(@200wpm)___ 897(@250wpm)___ 748(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 224334 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1122(@200wpm)___ 897(@250wpm)___ 748(@300wpm)
Her lips form a straight, guilty line. “I asked him.”
“There are rules, Ava.” I get close to her face, nibbling her lip, letting it slide through my teeth and pop out. “Did he give you an out?”
A frown. “No.”
“The list of his offenses goes on and on. He’s broken a lot of rules. He’s got to go.”
“I don’t remember him,” she says. “He wasn’t at the anniversary party.”
“No, he was on duty.”
“Duty?”
“He’s a cop.”
“What?” She chokes over the word.
“He’s a copper.”
“You threatened to kill a cop?”
“I was crazy mad.” Understatement of the fucking century. When John and I spoke about meeting with Steve, I felt quietly torn, since he’d helped determine Turner had been harassing me. His talk of scratching backs has taken a whole new meaning. He’s a cunt. End of. Back to Ava. I consider her for a moment as she watches me play with her hair. “I’ve been thinking,” I say.
“What about?”
“Well, about a lot of things. But the first thing is that I need to talk to Patrick about Van Der Haus.”
Ava’s face screws up. Then is quickly uncreased. “It’s Monday,” she shrieks, moving, like what? She’s going to work? She can hardly move, for God’s sake, as proven with the accompanying yelp.
“Do you honestly think I’m letting you go anywhere?” It doesn’t take much force to get her to lie still again. “Listen, that’s not the only thing I’ve been thinking about.” How do I put this? How do I explain that I’m fully aware of my . . . quirks, while also pointing out hers. Ava’s right. We need to communicate more with words.
Sometimes.
“What?” She looks so nervous.
“I can’t ever be without you.”
“I know that.”
“But it’s not because I’m worried about reverting back to my old ways. I love you because you give me purpose. You’ve filled a massive hole with your beautiful face and your spirit, and while I might be making your life a little more difficult with my challenging ways, I want to throw that right back at you.”
I expect her to swoon, given I was rather eloquent. She doesn’t. She chuckles. I’m offended. “I am not challenging, Jesse Ward.” She’s deluded. I could give her endless examples of her challenging ways, and she must know I’m about to because her hand covers my mouth to stop me from speaking. “You just said that I’ve filled a massive hole with my spirit—”
“And your beautiful face.”
She looks momentarily flattered. “Part of that spirit is my incessant need to challenge your challenging ways,” she goes on. I try not to roll my eyes. Fail. “You’ll never get rid of that tiny part of me that rebels against you and you wouldn’t want to. That’s what makes me different from all the women of The Manor who’ve licked your boots for far too long.” They never licked my boots. They licked everything, but never my boots. “I’ve given myself to you completely. Every part of me is yours. No one will ever take me away from you. Not ever. And I know part of your issue is keeping me as far away from what the other women in your life represent.”
“There have been no other women in my life,” I mumble, outraged. Fucks, yes. Flings, yes. But nothing substantial enough to class as another woman. Not even my ex-wife.
“But I need to know something.”
Oh shit.
“You want to keep me as far away from the women of The Manor,” she says, looking almost embarrassed. “But what about the sex?”
Her question and her disposition make me smile, but my amusement is short-lived. Ava gasps and then quickly looks disgusted. What did I do? “You don’t like me drinking because you think I’m going to do what you used to do when you were drunk,” she blurts in a rush. “You think I’m going to want to fuck everything in sight.”
“Will you stop fucking swearing?” I fall to my back, annoyed. Because she has me pinned. A little. I scowl when she appears on my thighs. And also because it fucking hurts my back to lie on it.
“It is, isn’t it?” she presses. “That’s the reason.”
Again, I’m wondering how to put this. “It’s not just that, Ava. You’re vulnerable when you’re drunk.”
“But it is part of the reason, isn’t it?”
“Yes, I guess so.”
“Okay, what about the sex?” She’s all coy now. It’s adorable.
“I already told you this. I can’t get close enough to you.”
“Sleepy sex achieves that.” And now she’s aloof. Give me a break. She loves me having control in the bedroom. She loves my moves. It’s why she persistently defies my reasonable requests.
“Yes, it does,” I agree. “But we have an incredible chemistry. I’ve never felt it before.”
Happy Ava. It’s my favorite, along with Insatiable Ava and Acceptable Ava. “What feelings?”
She wants more words, and I’m thrilled to give them to her. “It’s pure bliss, baby,” I start, stroking her thighs, feeling her weak, battered body respond. “Total gratification.” I hitch a brow, watching as she breathes through the contact, her eyes back to the usual, brilliant sparkle. “Absolute, complete earth-shifting, universe-shaking love.”