Total pages in book: 103
Estimated words: 96970 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 485(@200wpm)___ 388(@250wpm)___ 323(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 96970 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 485(@200wpm)___ 388(@250wpm)___ 323(@300wpm)
I launched into one of my favorite topics: the LGBTQ history of the Timber building. We ended up talking for a long time until I happened to mention Mattie’s upcoming wedding.
“You don’t sound excited for her,” Kincaid said. “Is the guy a dud?”
“No, god no. We like him a lot. I just… I haven’t left Timber for that long before, and I know it’s going to be hard.”
Kincaid lifted an eyebrow. “You a little controlling, Marian? Is that it?”
“Says the guy who commanded me to choke on his cock an hour ago,” I said, nudging him in the gut with my toes.
His laughter made all of my shoulder muscles loosen, and I found myself relaxing even further into his sofa.
“Hey, some of the most controlling people like to give it up in bed. It can be freeing.” His eyebrows bounced. “Want me to free you, Firebug?”
He ran his hand up the leg of my pants, his warm palm massaging my calf enough to make my cock perk up.
“Honestly, I want to very badly, but I’m about two blinks away from becoming one with your sofa,” I murmured. “My dick says yes, please, while my eyes say g’night. So I should probably go now before I fall asleep at the wheel.”
“You’re not going anywhere this late while you’re sleepy. Let’s go.”
He pushed my feet off his lap and stood, reaching for my hand and pulling me up beside him. Then he half-carried me to bed.
Once we were snuggled together in the cold sheets, I thought of something. Kincaid had always low-key panicked about me driving at night.
“Did your parents die in a car accident?” I asked in a soft voice.
He paused for a moment. “No. House fire.”
I felt a wave of prickly numbness wash over me, leaving me dizzy. “Judd.” What else was there to say? “Judd.” This time, it came out high-pitched and emotional.
His arms tightened around me. “It was a long time ago, Alex.”
I shifted up so I could bury my face in his neck. “I’m so fucking sorry,” I said, feeling and hearing the thickness in my throat. “Were you…” I couldn’t even say the words.
“In the house? Yeah. Obviously, I got out. They didn’t.” He touched the scars on his arm, and I realized they weren’t from his job. It was the other way around. He had the job because he’d been through something terrible. Unimaginable.
“No,” I breathed. “Oh, god. Baby, no. I’m so fucking sorry,” I said again. Tears came unbidden, and I let them fall. It was kind of silly and certainly unexpected, but all I could picture was a scared boy all alone in a fire and then all alone in the world. If only my family had known, they would have taken him in. They would have moved heaven and earth to give him a home. A family.
Kincaid’s hands moved up and down my back as if I were the one who needed consoling. “It’s okay. I promise.”
“It’s not. It’s not okay. It’s so fucking unfair.” My voice was ragged with frustration and tears. “And please stop comforting me when you’re the one who experienced the loss. I just… I wish I could have been there to take it all away from you somehow.”
He pressed a kiss into my hair, and when he spoke, I could hear the smile in his voice. “Shh. You would have been an egg. And eggs aren’t much help in a fire.”
I lifted my head and kissed him desperately, eager to give him all the care now that I couldn’t have given him then. He let out a soft laugh and then a groan of pleasure. His hands moved along my back and down to my ass and back up into my hair. Like he couldn’t get enough of me.
Like he was happy just kissing me.
I fell asleep that night feeling spent. But also knowing there was no way this was just physical anymore. Not for me.
And I suspected not for Judd Kincaid either.
Because I might be an almost-virgin, but even I knew hookups didn’t hold you while you cried.
20
KINCAID
IndexEcho: Just showered after four days away from fresh water. You can’t imagine how disgusting I was.
DrunkenPoet: That sounds like an invitation. Hold on, imagining you in the shower now. BRB.
_____________________
Alex Marian was a good man. It had been two days since his late-night tears, and I still couldn’t get over how upset he’d been when I’d told him about my parents. It had taken me a little while to get past my prejudice against Alex from the mistaken identity situation in Amsterdam, but this was the perfect example of how wrong I’d been about him.
Lieutenant Pope popped her head in my office. “There’s a call for non-emergency fire response to a potential hazmat situation on Randolph and Gallatin.”
I quirked my head at her. It was unusual for my crew to involve me in a call like that.