Total pages in book: 162
Estimated words: 153946 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 770(@200wpm)___ 616(@250wpm)___ 513(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 153946 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 770(@200wpm)___ 616(@250wpm)___ 513(@300wpm)
I’d been stupidly surprised that she already had one. It was a different kind—mine was meant for insertion, while hers was designed to basically suck on her clit—but when I made some noise about returning it, she’d clutched it to her chest. “No takebacks! I need this since you’re playing hard to get.”
I’d had no idea how much I would enjoy watching her with both of them, or how hard it would be to leave her with them for the cold comfort of a shower and my hand.
Phone sex was another first for me. I’d called to say goodnight after she’d spent one evening writing, and she was already in bed. She’d jokingly asked what I was wearing, and before I knew it, I was describing all the things I wanted to do to her body while we both got ourselves off. I never thought I’d be into that, but the sound of her cries in my ear that night was something I’d remember on my deathbed.
We’d avoided each other for years, but she was making up for it now. Every time I reached for her, she was reaching right back. Turning me on. Making me laugh. Making me think. Making me want to go back in time and give myself a beatdown for all the time I’d wasted staying away from her.
Before the dinner and tequila, I’d thought tonight would be the night. I knew things had changed, but her delectable body was wrapped around me like she belonged there, and it was getting harder to remember she was tired, tipsy and understandably sad. In that frame of mind, I’d be a convenient distraction tonight and a regret in the morning. We both deserved better than that.
My erection had its own thoughts about delaying things yet again, and I shifted to give myself some breathing room, causing her to stir.
“Don’t go,” she murmured.
I closed my eyes and inhaled slowly at the request. “You need to get to bed, Gus.”
“Come with me.”
I swore silently. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
“I’m not ready to be alone yet.”
Hell. “I’ll stay until you fall asleep.”
She didn’t waste any time getting up, and I let her pull me to my feet, unwilling to tell her no despite my previous decision. I seized her shoulders and pointed her toward her bedroom, then took Merlin out for one last quick walk. After I’d turned off the television and the lights, I walked down the hall to join her.
Her bathroom door was closed.
I stood there uncertainly, taking in her unmade bed with its blue sheets and multicolored quilt and remembering the last time we’d spent the night together. It didn’t matter that this bed had enough room for both of us—sleeping beside her without touching her the way I needed to would still be torture.
Desperate for a distraction, I studied the fairy lights on the wall above her headboard, and the other wall, where a frame filled with snapshots dangled from what looked like fishing line. Pictures of mountains and oceans and skylines I’d never seen in person.
Places she’d been that I hadn’t, or places she still wanted to go?
I let myself imagine how it would feel to get out of my comfort zone and leave this zip code for more than a weekend race in New Orleans or Chicago. There was no reason I couldn’t travel. Business was good enough that the garage could survive me disappearing for a few weeks here or there. I’d always imagined doing it, but I’d never made it happen.
Was it because I was set in my ways, or because I didn’t trust myself not to get the bug like my father? That selfish, shiftless bug that had been fine with abandoning the people who relied on him in exchange for instant gratification and the freedom to not give a shit.
“Your turn.”
She was framed in a soft halo of light with her hair down, wearing feminine boxer shorts and a shirt that hung off one shoulder with the words Pobody’s Nerfect stretched over her full, unbound breasts.
I couldn’t be more fucked if she’d come out stark naked.
Heading blindly into the bathroom, I closed the door behind me with a solid thud.
Not tonight.
I ran my hands under the cold tap and splashed the back of my neck, then took off my shirt and hung it on the door hook next to her bra.
Give me strength.
“Only until she falls asleep.”
After that I’d get up, walk back to the apartment, get into my own bed and take myself in hand until the urgency passed.
It had to pass eventually.
The lights were off when I joined her again, but it wasn’t pitch dark. I could see the garden lights through her window. My door. This was her view?
“Wade?” She was lying on her side facing the center of the bed, her back to the window.