Total pages in book: 117
Estimated words: 108362 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 542(@200wpm)___ 433(@250wpm)___ 361(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 108362 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 542(@200wpm)___ 433(@250wpm)___ 361(@300wpm)
Once we were both sufficiently dry, Jace crawled up my body, kissing his way up my thighs, then my stomach before stopping at my breasts. His eyes flicked up, holding mine captive as he scraped his teeth across my nipple. I fisted the sheets, breathing heavily as my back arched off the bed.
“Yes,” he rumbled.
Jace buried his face between my legs. He didn’t come up for air until I was shaking and trembling against him. He beamed at me, like he’d never been happier and could spend the rest of his life making me come.
Jace lay flat on his back, his head against the pillow before lifting me on top of him. Both of us completely naked, he held me, and I snuggled into his chest. Before long, I was pressing my mouth to his skin, trailing my lips along his sternum to his neck. In a matter of seconds, we were kissing again, and I gasped when I felt him harden against my stomach. On instinct, I lifted myself astride him, slowly sinking down on his thick length and savouring his low grunt of pleasure, his eyes eating me up as he gazed at me from below. He trailed his hand up my stomach, cupping one breast then the other.
“Wife,” he rasped, his palm moving to the left side of my chest, right where my heart was pounding. “This is my favourite rhythm.”
“It beats only for you. Only ever for you, Jace,” I said past a moan.
His hand remained in place, the other going to my hip, gripping hard as he encouraged me to move faster. I let go, became a wild thing as I drove our bodies to release. When I finally dropped on top of him, sweating, breathless, and sated, I pressed my ear to his chest. I closed my eyes and listened to his heart beating in time with mine because that was my favourite rhythm, too.
***
Jace and I found our groove over the next few weeks, our daily lives a perfect dance where we seemed to sink easily into a mutual routine. We managed to grab private moments when Zara was at school or after she went to bed at night, but our daughter was smart. She was beginning to ask questions like, “Is Daddy living with us for good now?” and “Can we stay here instead of going back to our house? All three of us?” and “Why was Daddy in your bedroom this morning?”
Okay, so that last one was our fault. We’d been getting sloppy, but honestly, I was hopelessly in love with Jace. More importantly, I was sure about him now. I believed he wouldn’t let us down again, and for that reason, it was time for us to tell Zara. Jace and I had discussed it at length, and we were both in agreement about telling her we were back together.
She’d just gotten home from school, and I made her a snack of crackers with soft cheese and some pear slices. We both sat down in front of her, and Zara glanced up, midway through a bite of cracker.
“Am I in trouble?”
Jace and I shared a grin. “You’re not in trouble, sweetheart. Me and your dad have something important we want to tell you.”
“Is it that we’re living here now? Because I’d be happy with that.”
Jace chuckled while I shook my head in amusement. Zara was seriously in love with the apartment, mainly because her bedroom was much larger than the one at home and had its own bathroom, not to mention French doors that led out onto the roof terrace. She’d said it was a room fit for a princess, and I couldn’t disagree.
“No, that’s not it,” Jace replied affectionately. “It’s about me and your mam.”
Her eyebrows shot up as she glanced between us. “Oh?”
I reached across the table, taking her hands into mine. “We’re getting back together, sweetheart. Would you like that?”
When she didn’t respond right away, I began to worry. Then her eyes started to crinkle, her lip quivering, and I really started to worry. Oh, no, she wasn’t happy. Jace rounded the table and took her into his arms. “What’s wrong, angel? Are you upset?”
Tears started to roll down her cheeks, and she shook her head, still not saying a word. Zara loved spending time together as a family, so it stumped me that this news would upset her so much, but then I remembered her fourth birthday party. It was her first big party where we’d invited other kids, and I’d found her hiding under the table, hugging her knees to her chest and crying. I’d asked her what was wrong, and she’d told me she was just so happy it was her birthday and that everyone had brought her presents. I’d realised there and then that she’d been overstimulated, and the tears had been happy ones. She just hadn’t had the tools to process what she felt.