Total pages in book: 130
Estimated words: 131651 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 658(@200wpm)___ 527(@250wpm)___ 439(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 131651 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 658(@200wpm)___ 527(@250wpm)___ 439(@300wpm)
Going, going, gone!
I moan as my body convulses again.
Holden kisses me harder, greedily drinking my pleasure like wine.
It’s not long before he loses himself, too, pushing inside me with a final grunt.
He empties himself with a force that whites my vision.
Rapture. So good it’s blinding, and we’re both lost to that beautiful heat as his seed hurls inside me.
When I’m coming down again, I thread my fingers through his sweat-slicked hair, feeling his chest rise and fall as he half lies on me.
Drained in the best way. Like the man took a needle to my ballooning stress and popped it with one sexy strike.
Now we bask in the afterglow.
A warm, delicious glow that caresses my skin like a balmy ocean current. Strangely gentle after he almost fucked me through the kitchen table.
He raises his head, eyes drunk, and finds my gaze. “You okay, Clee?”
“Never better.”
He grunts again, this time in amusement, and lifts me up.
Still holding me like before, but softer now, he carries me to the shower. There, he sets me down and switches on the water, waiting until it’s hot before we step inside.
I kiss him with the same reverence he just gave me.
His scruffy cheeks, his forehead, his nose, his mouth.
It doesn’t take long before his cock springs up, and he pins me against the wall, slowly reclaiming what’s his.
He fucks me as he washes me, lathering soap down my back, clean and filthy and contradictory.
Just the way it should be.
My heart sings louder than my flesh.
If I ever doubted Holden Verity before, he would have banished it all in this moment. The care he shows, making sure every part of me is clean.
We don’t speak.
In the silence, I wash him, too, letting the soap suds stream down the drain. I massage shampoo into his hair and drag the sponge down his body. We give each other all the attention we’ve been neglecting for the past few days.
When we’re finally clean—and running out of hot water—he wraps me in a fluffy towel and we head to the bedroom.
Finally, finally.
It feels like we’ve lost a whole year since we shared a bed together. When we lie down facing each other, he finally speaks.
“Don’t think I’ve ever had sex like that.”
“Not even with me?” I tease.
He shakes his head. “It was different. You’re different, Clee. Don’t know how to explain it.”
“No, I know what you mean.” And I do.
That wasn’t just sex. It was an eruption.
An event horizon that pulls you in and reshapes every conflicted feeling you ever had.
It was consuming.
It was love.
But I don’t know if either of us are ready to say it again out loud.
My throat goes dry.
“So, uh… I’m sorry I told you to leave back at the museum,” I say, needing to get it out there now. “I was hurt, and I wanted to prove I could do it by myself, but—”
“No.” He captures my hand, bringing it to his mouth and kissing every single one of my fingers. His eyes are heavy on mine. “You were so brave today, woman. So fucking brave.”
“I walked into a trap. That’s hardly brave.” I snort. “I didn’t feel brave either. I felt like I was about to pee myself.”
“Clocking a dangerous wanted merc in the face was a genius move. He never saw it coming, and it bought us all time.”
“Yeah, barely. But thanks for coming back.” I twine my fingers with his. “Without you, who knows. You saved my life,” I grind out.
“Clee.” His words are thick now, desolate eyes blooming with emotion. “I’ll always come back for you. Never, never worry about that. No matter what happened before, if you need me, I’ll come.”
“So we’re doing this? Talking about the future?” I move in closer, eliminating the space between us on the pillow.
“Are you going to tell me you’re pissed that I broke the egg after all?”
“No, Holden.” I hesitate. “I want to go back to Maine with you. I’ll ditch the place in Boston and figure out the rest later. I just want to live with you. You and your cute old house and Kit.”
“What are you saying?” His throat bobs as he swallows.
“Do I need to say it in another language?” I kiss the tip of his nose. “I want to be a part of your life, Holden Verity. I want to be your girlfriend, if you’ll let me. And I know maybe it’s a little fast and sudden, but—”
He doesn’t let me finish.
He just picks me up by the waist and swings me on top of him, wrapping his arms around my back and pressing me tight. I feel his drumming heart and his breath in my ear.
“Thought I’d lost you forever with my stupidity,” he says.
“You came to your senses. I don’t want to be lost. I want you.”
“Fuck,” he says raggedly, easing his hold so he can kiss me.