Total pages in book: 140
Estimated words: 137144 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 686(@200wpm)___ 549(@250wpm)___ 457(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 137144 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 686(@200wpm)___ 549(@250wpm)___ 457(@300wpm)
He cupped the side of her face. “I don’t think I would be considered a hero by normal standards, but I do want to be your hero. Your protector, your man.”
“I want that too. Sometimes I worry that when we go back to reality, this will just all fracture apart. It’s like a forced proximity trope in a romantic movie, don’t you think? There’s a snow storm, so they’re forced to share a house. He’s bossy and grouchy, she’s happy and sweet, and somehow they find themselves falling in love. But when the snow disappears, it all falls apart.”
“I’m grouchy?” he asked.
“Well, not grouchy exactly.”
“How does it work out in the end, though? I mean, if it’s a romantic movie, don’t they always have happy-ever-afters?” he asked.
“Have you watched many romantic movies?” she asked.
“Well, I do have two sisters and an older brother who would indulge them in anything. So if they wanted to pick a romantic movie for family movie night, then that’s what happened, and we all had to suffer through it.”
“I would have loved an older brother like yours.”
His face softened. “You deserved to have someone take care of you. I’m so sorry you didn’t have that, baby.”
“It wasn’t your fault.”
“No, it was your bitch of a mother and your father for doing nothing either.”
She nodded.
“And what we feel has nothing to do with us being forced together. Remember this is what I want.”
“And you always get your way.”
“Most of the time. And I’m not going to apologize for what I want. Or for getting it.”
No, she didn’t expect that he would.
“Come here and kiss me,” he commanded.
“What?” she asked, startled.
“Come and kiss me, baby.”
She slid over, closed her eyes and waited. But he didn’t make a move, and she opened her eyes to stare at him.
“Is something wrong?”
“No,” he replied. “I’m just waiting for you to kiss me.”
Wait, he really expected her to kiss him?
“You want me to do it?” she asked.
He grinned. “Well, I wasn’t asking anyone else to do it.”
How was it possible for her to blush so much?
“Oh, but I don’t really know what I’m doing. I mean, I guess I could give it a shot. It’s not like I haven’t kissed people before, but I have never really initiated—”
He placed a finger over her lips, and she stopped talking. “Rule one for in the bedroom,” he told her. “Never talk about anyone else that you’ve kissed or done anything with. Not unless you need to use them as an example of something you don’t want done. Okay?”
Okay. She actually thought that was a pretty fair rule. She wouldn’t like to hear about him kissing other women either.
“Rule two. We always have to be honest with each other in and out of the bedroom.”
She nodded. She liked that rule as well, although sometimes it was hard to tell him things.
“There may be things I can’t tell you, but I will always tell you the truth.”
“Okay.”
“If there’s something I do that you don’t like, you’ve got to tell me.”
“I’ll try,” she said.
“Good girl.”
Lord, she liked being his good girl. “And you’ll tell me if there’s something I do that you don’t like?”
His eyes danced with amusement. “I doubt there could be anything you’d do that I wouldn’t want.”
“Oh, so you really did like that knee to the balls, did you?” she teased.
“Brat,” he told her, tickling her under the arms until she cried out with laughter. And then he slid her over top of him, so her legs were straddling his hips and her hands were pressed to his chest. She stared down at him, feeling breathless.
Could she kiss him? He said that there was very little she could do that he wouldn’t like. And really, how could she muck up a kiss?
Well, she guessed if anyone could, it would be her, but she was going to give it a try.
Bending down, she brushed her lips against his. How did his lips feel so warm and soft?
Did he like that? She leaned up to stare down at him. He was smiling up at her.
“Do it again,” he told her.
She waggled a finger at him. “This is my turn to kiss you, so you don’t get to control it.”
He raised his eyebrows. “We are getting bossy, aren’t we?”
“You must be rubbing off on me.”
“Heaven forbid. Although I wouldn’t mind rubbing something off.”
That last part was muttered, and it took her a moment to realize what he meant. Was he in pain from being hard? Should she offer to take care of that for him?
Did she want to do that? She wasn’t sure. Not because she didn’t want to touch him, but she didn’t really have a clue what she was doing.
“Hey, why do you look so worried?” he asked.
“Is it painful? Do you want me to help you with that?”