Total pages in book: 17
Estimated words: 16707 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 84(@200wpm)___ 67(@250wpm)___ 56(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 16707 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 84(@200wpm)___ 67(@250wpm)___ 56(@300wpm)
Based on what Peter has told me, Adrian hasn’t had anyone special in so long, which is understandable. Between Thomas and his business, he probably hardly had time for himself, let alone date. Maybe it’s been a while since he’s seen a naked woman in the flesh. Too bad that woman happens to be me.
There’s no way Adrian will ever look at me like that. That was just a one-time thing. It could have been any woman, and he would have reacted the same way.
After changing into a pair of pajamas—flannel pants and long sleeves for good measure—I gingerly walk downstairs and stand behind the sofa. Adrian is sitting with a beer bottle perched on his lap, his eyes trained on the television.
HGTV. Huh. That makes sense since he builds homes for a living. But I never would have guessed he enjoyed reality TV.
Wringing my hands together, I clear my throat. “Adrian? Listen. I’m sorry—”
He twists at the waist to face me, his forehead furrowed. “No, Noelle. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have barged into your room like that. I thought something happened, and you were injured or something.” Adrian purses his lips. “Not that it’s a valid reason, but I’m sorry. I acted on instinct because that’s what I usually do when I hear Tomtom yelp.”
Warmth spreads on my cheeks, and while I’ve been looking forward to this job and living under the same roof as my longtime crush, I don’t want him to feel weird in his own house. “Did I just make things uncomfortable for you? I can totally just leave and—”
“No!” He stands abruptly, the bottle dropping to the carpeted floor with a thud. “You’re staying … well, unless you don’t want to anymore.”
The intensity of his response shocks me. When he stands to his full height while I’m barefoot, I have to tip my head back to look him in the eye. He was always handsome to me when I was a teenager, but from the eyes of a grown woman, Adrian is a walking daydream. Unlike before, he’s now rough around the edges, but that only adds to his allure.
The more I look at him, the more I feel tendrils of warmth weaving through my legs up, up, up to the apex between my thighs. My God, he’s only become hotter, and I’m supposed to live with him and pretend he doesn’t affect me the way he does.
My body throbs with raw need as his gaze drops very briefly to my chest. For the record, I did not plan to seduce him. It’s just that I don’t wear a bra ever. Outside, I wear pasties, but once I’m inside my house, I don’t bother. I like to set the girls free, and bras are suffocating to me.
Unfortunately, that’s where Adrian zeroes in, and he sucks in a sharp breath, pinching the bridge of his nose. He lifts his gaze to the ceiling and scrubs his face furiously.
That’s when I notice, for the second time tonight, the tent in his pants. So I guess I wasn’t imagining it earlier, huh? He sees me watching his crotch but doesn’t move to cover it.
“I-I’m sorry, Noelle. It’s been a while.” His voice is low, with something that sounds like … sadness?
I still don’t take my eyes off the tent. “How long?”
He spins on his heel. His back is to me, and I can’t help but admire the thick muscles of his shoulders and arms stretching the fabric.
“Five years.”
Wait, what? “Five? You haven’t been with anyone for five years?”
He looks at me over his shoulder. “Being a full-time father and businessman kept me busy.”
I may be overstepping a bit, but the need to know overrides logic. Actually, his proximity makes me lose my mind. “Thomas’s mother?”
Adrian turns back to me and shrugs those broad shoulders. “She bailed out on him when he was eight weeks old.”
My heart breaks for both him and Thomas. “I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be. It was the best thing she ever did.”
“Why?”
“She said she could never stay in one place.”
Even for her own child? Wow. “She doesn’t get in touch with you?”
“No.”
“And you never have…?”
His face reddens, and he looks away. “No. So I’m sorry. If you feel uncomfortable or unsafe around me, I understand.”
I’m shaking my head even before he finishes the sentence. “I don’t.”
“It’s fine, Noelle. Really. I’ll tell Peter I found someone else. You don’t have to be here if you don’t want to.”
I hear him just fine, but I tune him out because all I can focus right now is the way his pants mold around his cock. And what a big, lengthy cock that is. I pulse with need, my head foggy with desire. I don’t care about anything but the need to make him relieve the terrible, empty ache within me.
I need Adrian to see me as a woman worthy of his attention, affection, and more. I’m not that doe-eyed kid anymore. I’ve worked on myself so that one day, when we meet again, he’ll look at me differently.