Total pages in book: 130
Estimated words: 125852 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 629(@200wpm)___ 503(@250wpm)___ 420(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 125852 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 629(@200wpm)___ 503(@250wpm)___ 420(@300wpm)
He shakes his head. “You’re annoying.”
“And yet you missed me.”
He looks over, now sitting up beside me. “Yeah,” he says quietly. “I did.”
A sudden shyness washes over me, and I look away, fighting a grin as I focus on the TV, pretending I don’t hear his throaty chuckle that follows.
Brady grabs some snacks from his bag and sets them between us. I pick at the crackers a bit, leaving the Skittles to him.
After a while, he moves them aside, his arm coming to settle on the pile of pillows at our backs, and I lean into his side, curling my legs up.
He’s got the blankets tugged up to his hips, so I grab a handful of the down comforter and tuck it under my chin to get even more comfortable.
His hand comes up, and he touches the back of it to my forehead, checking to see if I’m warm. He doesn’t say anything, but his lips slide across the same spot a moment later, and I smile to myself.
Guess the fever has finally broken.
My neck starts to hurt after a while and I stretch, turning onto my back, noticing his feet are hanging off the bed with all the pillows we’ve got stacked.
I sit up, and he pushes onto his elbow, looking at me in concern.
“Come on, let’s scoot up so you don’t feel like the big bad wolf lying in Grandma’s bed.”
He smiles, sitting up, and we toss several pillows to the floor.
He scoots back first, his eyes closing with a sigh as soon as he’s settled.
I knew he was getting tired. I dig around in the blankets, searching for the remote.
“Woman. Get up here.”
“I can’t find the remote.” I flip the edge of the blanket up, looking around near his feet.
“Leave it. The next movie will play automatically.”
“I was going to turn it down so you can sleep—ah!” I cut off with a squeal when he flies up, his arm coming around me and hauling me into his chest.
He shifts slightly so he can tuck me beside him. The movement has his hand slipping along my fluffy robe. It slides through the fold where it’s tied closed, and we both freeze when a gasp leaves me.
His hand is massive, fingers reaching my ribs, the edge of his thumb frozen in the place it landed—right beneath my nipple.
“Cameron,” he rasps, and my toes seem to curl.
“Y—” I swallow and try again. “Yeah?”
“Are you naked under this?”
“Yeah…”
Neither of us moves, and we sure as hell don’t speak.
But then Brady’s forehead falls to the side of my head, his lips right above my ear. His breath is so warm as it fans over my neck that goose bumps erupt, tickling along my flesh as they spread all over.
“Can—” he begins but says nothing else.
I can’t find any words, unsure of what’s happening here but too curious to move.
Slowly, his thumb skates higher, the textured pad a featherlike touch against the bottom curve of my nipple.
My cheeks flame when it starts to pebble from the tiny bit of attention.
His swallow echoes in my ears, and my pulse thumps in response. His thumb stretches a little higher, and he finds what he was looking for.
His muscles clench under me, fingers along my ribs twitching.
“Barbell,” he murmurs, more to himself than me. He explores the jewelry further, his thumb no longer on my breast, but I feel the slight movement of the piercing. “And…spikes?”
I chew on my inner lip, nodding.
A throaty sound leaves him, and this time, his touch is more sure, more deliberate as he presses at the little spike, his thumb dragging across my hardened nipple to the other side.
A low, pulsing need flares in my core, and my heart beats a little faster.
It’s confusing. It’s invigorating.
“Are they… Do they stay this way?” He glides his finger along the underside of my nipple.
Hard. Do they stay hard, that’s what he’s asking. My neck burns in embarrassment, because no, no, they do not.
He made them hard.
But I mean, so does the cold, so it’s not that big of a deal. Right?
He nods against my head, a soft hum in his throat that tells me I’m wrong.
He likes that he’s made them stand to attention.
He lifts his head then, and I can feel his eyes burning into my cheek, but I don’t look away from the TV. No idea what’s on it, but that’s where my eyes remain glued.
His hand leaves my skin, and my chest hollows, willing it back.
And then he flicks my nipple ring.
My entire body spasms, my gasp mixed with a strangled moan loud in the room.
Brady stays perfectly still for a moment before slowly pulling his hand out of my robe.
He grips my hips and shifts me until I’m facing the wall away from him and lies down, pressing at my upper arm for me to do the same.