Total pages in book: 33
Estimated words: 31279 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 156(@200wpm)___ 125(@250wpm)___ 104(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 31279 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 156(@200wpm)___ 125(@250wpm)___ 104(@300wpm)
She shifts, and her knee grazes mine as she snuggles closer. She glances up through her lashes with a question in them. “Why are you stopping?” Her voice is like the hush between rainstorms.
“To make sure you want this.” Ariel needs to know there’s no turning back once she becomes mine.
She grins, but there’s an edge to it, like the first time you take a hand off the rail at the deep end. “More than anything in this world. I’ve never—” She bites her lip. “Never done this before. None of it.”
My body reacts—hardens, pulses, wants—but my brain throws a flag on the play: slow down. Too bad my cock declines the penalty. “I want you more than I want my next breath.” I run my finger along the edge of her collarbone, watching as the vein pounding at the base of her throat jumps.
She shakes her head. “I want you too.” Her hand finds mine, tentative, then firmer. “I’m just… not sure how to start.”
I take the cue and shift closer. “Don’t worry. I’ll teach you, my little water nymph.”
Ariel slips her arms around my neck. I feel her trembling, not with fear but anticipation. I steady her by wrapping both arms around her waist. Her skin is cool and impossibly soft, almost slick, as if she’s just stepped out of the lake. Her shampoo teases my nostrils, along with the faint, mineral tang of something clean and deep. Her lips crash into mine, hungry and fucking desperate. She tastes like salt-slick skin after a long day under the sun, and there’s a bite to her, a sharpness that makes my cock twitch like a goddamn divining rod pointing straight to sin.
She’s tentative at first. But she’s a fast learner. I let her take the lead for a minute because watching her discover what she wants is my new favorite hobby. Her lips part, shy but hungry, and she kisses me like she’s searching for answers in my mouth. I open for her, teasing her with my tongue, and when she moans, holy shit, my cock throbs so hard I’m scared it’s going to rip through my jeans.
I feel the steady pulse of her need as she melts into me, soft as a dream. Every time I touch her, she shivers and leans in harder, like she’s trying to crawl under my skin. Well, she can. I’ll let her. I want every goddamn inch of her against me.
Cupping her jaw, I drag my thumb along her cheekbone, and fuck, her skin is electric under my hand. “You want more, little one?” My voice comes out rougher than I meant, all gravel and need.
Her eyes flutter. She nods, but I want her to say it.
“Tell me.”
“I want more, Everett. I want you,” she whispers.
The words hit me like a sucker punch to the solar plexus. My cock is so hard now that it hurts. Doesn’t matter. She gets everything she wants.
Dropping my mouth to hers, I take control, tongue deepening the kiss until we’re both panting. Her hands tangle in my hair, yanking me closer, and I groan when she grinds against my thigh. It’s sexier than anything I’ve ever experienced.
I ease her onto her back, careful but hungry, spreading her gorgeous hair across the pillows. Her breath hitches when my fingers brush her thigh in a whisper of contact, and she trembles like a leaf in a storm. Virgin. The word pulses through me, hot and possessive.
“I’m the only man who’ll ever touch you like this.” My voice is rough, already wrecked just thinking about ruining her.
I don’t wait for a response. My palm drags up her inner thigh, slow and filthy, nails scraping just hard enough to make her gasp. Her legs twitch and try to close, but I wedge my knee between them, keeping them open.
Her skin is burning. Her pulse flutters under my fingertips as I inch higher, teasing the damp heat at the apex of her thighs. The fabric there is already soaked. Goddamm, she’s dripping for me, and she doesn’t even know what she wants yet. I graze her little button, and she jumps like a live wire.
“Oh, my stars, what was that?” She pulls back and stares at me with shock and awe shining in her blue eyes.
I breathe the words against her throat, feeling her pulse flutter wildly beneath my lips. “Your little clitoris knows its master.” A visible shiver cascades down her spine, raising goosebumps across her alabaster skin.
“My what-oris?” She blinks several times, long copper lashes fanning against flushed cheeks.
The confusion in her ocean-blue eyes makes me feel like a fish out of water, gasping and floundering.
“You’ve never touched yourself?” I press on the little pink nub, feeling its stiffness beneath my fingertip.
Her pupils dilate instantly, black pools swallowing the azure of her irises until only thin rings of color remain. Her chest heaves with shallow, rapid breaths. “I-I’ve lived a very sheltered life. We didn’t discuss”—her gaze darts away as crimson blooms across her cheekbones and down her neck—“this.”