Total pages in book: 78
Estimated words: 76934 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 385(@200wpm)___ 308(@250wpm)___ 256(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 76934 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 385(@200wpm)___ 308(@250wpm)___ 256(@300wpm)
She flopped back with a laugh as I scrambled to gather my clothes and jump into them.
I was still pulling on my jacket as I walked out of her room when the front door opened.
And there was Liam.
I reached back to slam the door.
But the guilt must have been all over my face because Liam let out a soundless laugh and shook his head at me.
“I think maybe you’re gonna need to wait a little bit before you show Alara that art project,” Liam said, his voice exaggeratedly loud so it carried through the closed door.
I heard the bedsprings creaking as, I imagined, Alara got up to get herself dressed again.
“Why?” Charlotte, perfectly ignorant of the adult thoughts going on around her, asked.
“She’s, uh, just… getting up from a nap,” I said.
Liam walked past me toward his room. “That’s what we’re calling it, huh?” he said under his breath.
“Shut it,” I replied in the same tone.
“Did I hear something about art I need to see?” Alara asked as she emerged from the bedroom.
I looked around the apartment, watching Char enthusiastically showing off her project to a rapt Alara, then Liam crossing the apartment with an eager Tuna.
And something about it all just felt… right.
Alara glanced over, almost as if hearing, and shot me a small smile. Like she felt it too.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Alara
The mattress depressed as Christopher slid in behind me, his body curling around me, legs cocking under mine, his arm draping over my hip, and his face nuzzling into my neck.
“Hey,” he murmured.
“Hey.”
“Were you sleeping?”
“Not yet.”
“Why not?”
“I’m used to being more active. It’s hard to be tired when I spend most of my day in bed or on the couch with my leg up.”
“But the longer you stay off it, the faster you can get back on it.”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah. Don’t come to me with your logic when I want to bitch.”
His silent chuckle shook through me as he leaned to press a kiss to my neck.
Heat bloomed, a slowly simmering fire that I sank into, not feeling the need to act on it. Not yet.
“You’re just in here because your back hurts from sleeping on the couch.”
“Says who?”
“That stiff gait you have every morning.”
“Noticed that, huh? Thought I was hiding it well.”
“Sorry, old man, your grunting and wincing give you right away.”
“This bed isn’t much better,” he admitted. “Bought the mattress without ever trying it out. It’s too soft.”
“Sometimes it feels like it’s grabbing onto me when I try to roll over,” I agreed. “I think if you made the mistake of rolling onto your stomach in your sleep, you might actually suffocate.”
“So, we’re in agreement about needing a firmer mattress the next time around.”
“And a bedroom with room for two whole nightstands. There’s no room for your phone, watch, and glass of water with my books.”
“A private bathroom,” he added, dreaming with me.
“With no one banging on it,” I agreed.
“Or steaming it up so bad the walls are dripping when you try to go in behind them to shower.”
“And a less creepy laundry room.”
“A bigger kitchen.”
“And lots of room for bookshelves. I don’t have a big collection yet. But I have a feeling Charlotte is going to have me with a collection rivaling her own eventually. Plus, I want to watch you build them.”
“Wouldn’t even help me, huh?”
“If by help, you mean watch your forearms do that twitching thing while you turn the screwdriver or tap in the nails, then yes.”
“That’s all it takes, huh?”
“I mean, I wouldn’t object to you being an alien with a specially placed nub, either…”
His teeth bit into my shoulder.
“Think I do a good enough job without one,” he said as his hand pressed between my thighs.
My head leaned back into him as I sucked in a deep breath while his fingers pressed in and started to stroke me through my shorts and panties.
“I think I need a refresher,” I told him.
It had only been a day.
The night before, we’d both been beat from running around, sex, emotional conversations, and then a long game of Scrabble that ended in cheating accusations from Charlotte when Liam won.
Then life had pulled him away most of the day today, leaving me alone in the apartment to fiddle with some cleaning, read some chapters, and do a lot of daydreaming about what our life could be like a few months, or a year, from then.
A new apartment.
Cozy nights at home with the kids.
Someone to curl into at night and talk about my day.
But despite it only being a day, my body was aching for more, for him.
It wasn’t long before Christopher grew tired of the barriers, his hand slipping beneath to tease me without them.
His thumb circled. His fingers slipped inside to thrust.
I rocked back against his cock as it hardened and pressed against me.
“Chris, please,” I pleaded quietly.