Total pages in book: 86
Estimated words: 80834 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 404(@200wpm)___ 323(@250wpm)___ 269(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 80834 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 404(@200wpm)___ 323(@250wpm)___ 269(@300wpm)
We pass under a maple tree, leaves raining down around us, and I want to say something clever and witty, but all I can think about is his hands on my waist, running through my hair, or anywhere they want to be.
I risk a glance at the alpha male, and those patrician features are set. He’s focused, like he’s about to make the biggest decision of his life. I want to make it for him, but I don’t because I know this has to be on him. Jack’s reached a turning point … and it’s up to him to make a choice.
I smile sweetly as we stroll deeper into Lakewood Park. It’s filled with verdant greenery this time of year, with towering trees, waist-high shrubs, and lots of darkened, private spots.
“Penny for your thoughts?” I ask hesitantly.
The handsome man stops, turning to face me. “Maybe. But I’m trying to be mysterious, so a penny wouldn’t be enough.” There’s something behind the joke, though—an intensity in his blue eyes that makes my nipples harden as my insides go soft. This man calls to everything feminine within my soul, and I absolutely love it.
We keep walking, the path bending around a low hedge, opening into a small grove of oaks that hides us from the main drag. Here, the air is cooler, the only sound the dull roar of highway in the distance and a few birds that apparently didn’t get the memo about urban sprawl. There’s a bench, but Jack doesn’t head for it. Instead, he stops in the shade, hands in his pockets, looking at me with a conflicted expression. I can sense how much he wants me, and how he’s forcing himself to maintain distance. Yet I also know that he’s on-edge, and just a moment from losing control.
“What is it, Jack?” I ask in a soft voice.
He looks tormented.
“You sure about this, Eliza?”
“About what?” I ask, tilting my head.
He snorts. “You know damn well what.”
There’s a flash of the old cockiness—this is the man who landed a C-130 with one engine out, the guy who talks shit about city council but would give you his jacket in a blizzard. I love that about him. I want to see if I can break him.
“Maybe I do,” I say, “but maybe I want to hear you say it. It’s important that the words come from you because … well, it just is.”
Jack’s jaw ticks, and he takes a step closer. He’s so much bigger than me, but I’m not afraid. If anything, it makes me feel powerful to know I have this gorgeous alpha male spinning in his head.
“I shouldn’t be here,” he says, voice low. “Your dad—Gerald—he’s like a brother. If he knew what I was thinking—what I want to do with you—”
“What do you want to do with me?” I ask, my voice so soft it’s almost lost in the wind.
His eyes go dark. “Everything. And nothing. Both at once.”
I reach for his hand. He hesitates, but lets me take it. His palm is rough and warm, fingers long and strong. I press our joined hands to my chest, right over my racing heart.
“I want you to do all those naughty things, Uncle Jack,” I say. “And I’m not going to apologize for the wanting either.”
He shakes his head, and for a second I think he’ll walk away. Instead, he takes my face with both hands—big hands, broad and sure—and kisses me like he’s drowning and I’m the last pocket of air on earth.
The world narrows to his mouth and the taste of coffee and spearmint, the feel of his stubble scraping my chin. He kisses like he’s fighting for control, but the harder he tries, the sloppier it gets, until we’re both ravenous, lips crushed together and he claims my plush pout.
He breaks away, panting. “Fuck, Eliza.”
“Mmm,” I tease. “I like it.”
He slides his hands down to my waist, pulling me flush against him. I can feel the hardness pressed to my belly, and for a moment, I want to undo every button on his shirt and mark up his tanned skin until he can’t forget me.
“Do you want to keep going?” he asks, like a final checkpoint.
I answer by rising on tiptoe and biting his earlobe, just hard enough to make him grunt. “Yes, please, Uncle Jack. I’d like that.”
He growls in the back of his throat, the sound rumbling straight into my bones. Then the world disappears as Jack drags me from the path and into a copse of trees. There are bushes everywhere, hiding us, but I don’t care if anyone sees. All that matters is his hands on my hips, my arms around his neck, the heat building between us with every stolen breath.
He lifts me like I weigh nothing, pinning me gently to the trunk of an oak. Our mouths crash together, hungry and desperate. His thigh presses between mine, and I grind down, shameless, chasing the friction. He shoves the sleeve of my dress aside, exposing my bare shoulder, and covers it with kisses, soft and rough at the same time. Holy cow, I had no idea that my shoulder was an erogenous zone, but my head falls back as I sigh with pleasure.