Total pages in book: 117
Estimated words: 109318 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 547(@200wpm)___ 437(@250wpm)___ 364(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 109318 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 547(@200wpm)___ 437(@250wpm)___ 364(@300wpm)
When his forearm wrapped around her hips and drew her closer, slowly, and she felt his physical reaction to holding her so intimately, she admitted to herself that going slow might have been ambitious. With Beat finding the courage to confide in her, the night had become them against the world. She’d never felt more connected to another person in her life . . . and she couldn’t help wanting to get even closer.
Chapter Twenty-Six
It was by the grace of God that Beat didn’t roll Melody onto her back and devour her.
This woman was his refuge, the fulfillment of his lust, his heart. So important. And his body just wanted to show her that. His mouth wanted to communicate it to her in ways he couldn’t. Christ, not yet. He’d just dropped a ton of bricks onto her head by coming clean about the blackmail and he’d done it right on the heels of her asking to go slow.
Slowly into . . . what?
A relationship? What a hilarious word for this bond between them.
Melody Gallard knew the floor plan of his soul. This transcended a mere relationship.
Still, going slowly made a hell of a lot of sense. They’d taken a tandem dive into the deep end without learning how to swim together first. She had enough grace to allow him a second chance and he didn’t want to squander it. Keeping his hands to himself, however, was like asking him to stop his heart from beating.
Impossible.
He buried his mouth in her snow-dampened hair, pressing his chest to her spine so she could feel the way his heart pounded, heavy and fast. In response, she took his hand from where it was molding her hip, guiding it between her tits and flattening his palm there, because this generous, perfect person wanted him to know her heart raced just as fast. And fuck, she rolled her ass in his lap at the same time, making him see double.
“You make me feel so good to be hard,” he groaned into the back of her neck. “That’s how I know . . . I wasn’t doing this right until you. I wasn’t just enjoying it, I was giving myself an excuse not to trust anybody. But I can’t hold back my enjoyment of you, Mel . . . because it’s impossible. I don’t want to keep anything from you ever again, inside of bed or out.”
“Good,” she whispered unsteadily. “I need all of you.”
Those words washed over him like a baptism. God, he’d never felt more grateful and alive and hungry. So hungry for this woman that his palm skated downward from between her tits, traveling over her stomach, stopping just beneath her belly button. “Tell me what you mean when you say all of me, Mel.”
“I want you to confide in me. Be honest with me, no exceptions.”
“I can. I will,” he breathed against the nape of her neck. “What about with my body? Can I touch you everywhere?”
“Yes.”
He flipped up the hem of her skirt and slowly, roughly gripped her pussy. “You want me to fuck you until I come inside of this?”
She moaned, her legs squeezing around his clutching hand. “Please.”
“I need to hear the words.” His middle and ring finger massaged her through the dampening cotton of her panties. “I need to know I’ve got permission for what I’m going to do between your thighs tonight.”
“You have permission.”
“Mel.”
“Fuck me until you come,” she whispered. “Inside of me.”
It almost ended then and there, his vision expanding in a rush, his balls quickening until they felt like fucking concrete. “Damn,” he grated. “I’m going to have to keep your mouth occupied before it finishes me. We’re only getting started.”
She looked back at him over her shoulder, face flushing to a deeper shade of rose every time he stroked her, her panties growing more sodden by the second. “What did you have in mind?”
“Give me that mouth,” he growled, snaring her lips in a kiss. They lingered in the hot suction for long moments, his fingers sneaking underneath the waistband of her panties, so he could slick his middle finger down the center of her smooth, sexy flesh, finding that pearl and teasing it swollen. Their tongues wound together, again and again, until he was on the verge of unzipping his pants, pulling down her panties, and taking them off.
Too fast. Slow down.
Melody was the only woman on the planet who could overwhelm him, but tonight was important. He’d been given a second chance and needed to do this right. That meant slow, diligent care of her body.
Melody had other ideas.
They were breaking for oxygen when she sat up on the edge of the couch, stripping her turtleneck off—without warning, but much to his delight—followed by her bra. And suddenly, Melody was left in nothing but a short skirt and stockings. That was enough to stop the breath in his lungs, because Jesus, there wasn’t a more beautiful sight on the planet. But when she reached for the button of his pants while scooting down the couch to kneel between the V of his thighs, Beat learned what it was really like to forget to breathe.