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)
Oh, this is bad.
Sure, he can be cold and rude and awful. But tonight, he’s so warm and peaceful. Today, he’s been real.
His body heat soaks through the bed into me. Or else I’m imagining it does.
It’s been an emotional rocket ride of a day, going from making up over breakfast to our little not-date at The Met, and now this.
Waking up beside him with a pathetic hangover.
I’m not sure if it’s the hangover or the temperature in here, but I shiver in the chill night air.
Do I dare?
I shift closer.
Somehow, being next to him, touching him, feels like curling up beside a roaring fire. Everything I need right now.
He doesn’t stir as I rest my head on his shoulder so gently.
The craziest part of today was how the museum trip felt like a date. Better than any date I’ve had in years, hands down.
Bad, bad thoughts.
I didn’t realize how horny I was, I guess.
I’ve been too busy and tired for a no-frills hookup for months.
Apparently, that makes me susceptible to intrusive sexy thoughts about him.
Bonkers.
Holden Verity, who’s too old, too frigid, and not remotely interested. I think he’d rather immolate himself than kiss me.
We’ve had a rough time over the years, and now that I’m grown, it’s harder. Talking to him like a grown man instead of a pesky extension of Gramps’ authority, that’s new, too.
We’re still practically strangers—two opposites sharing a life out of convenience, just like this bed.
But with his wall of a body next to mine, it’s balmy enough to go back to sleep, if I can just ignore how hot and bothered I am.
Man.
Let me enjoy the paradox.
Let me bask in his closeness and warmth for a little while longer. Before I flop to the other side of the bed and try to stop fantasizing about what it might be like if we were two very different people.
If Holden woke up right now, felt me, and pulled me into those seething arms…
If he claimed my lips.
If he growled in my ear and pushed my legs apart.
Please.
Please humor me, Mr. Verity, for just a little while longer.
10
CURSED BLESSING (HOLDEN)
Faint light spills through the blinds, stabbing my eyes, and when I peel them open—
What the fuck?
I wake up with little Cleo in my arms. Her body turned to mine, her face tilted on my shoulder, breathing softly against my jaw.
A small lit apple-scented cherry bomb, and she’s still damnably soft and sexy, even when she’s knocked out with her mouth open like the heavy sleeper she is.
This was not what I planned when I settled on sharing this bed.
Hell, I just wanted to save us from back spasms.
Fucking fool, you should’ve known.
Now, here we are. Curled up like newlyweds, throbbing all over, while a hard-on for days presses against her bare thigh.
That wipes the grog from my eyes near instantly.
I’m so fucking hard it’s painful.
Still, I try to adjust, to save myself from plummeting into hell.
In the confusion of body parts and tangled sheets, my hand slides up her ass.
Shit!
Of course, it’s lushly round, begging to be mauled. A ripe peach I’ve tried to bleach from my mind.
She moans and stirs, pushing closer. Her leg nudges my erection like the invasive animal it is.
Fuck me.
Lust knifes through me, stronger than a fever, worse than any sickness I’ve had for a good, long time.
When she sighs and turns her face up to mine, I lose it.
I fucking give in to the animal need to brush my lips over hers.
Just the smallest taste.
Just a morsel because I’m only human and I can only stand so much. Her lips are full and soft under mine, and fuck, she tastes so good. I—
No.
No, goddammit, I can’t do this.
I’m up like a dart, not caring if it wakes her. This is no time to be gentle.
I sprint for the bathroom like a chicken on fire. I barely waste a second, stopping to strip off my shorts, before I step under the freezing spray.
Where the hell is my mind?
Nile and me. Principal and protector. Predator and prey.
Doesn’t matter how close she tumbles in her sleep or how hard that makes me when my senses are switched off and I’m just responding to basic physical stimuli.
I release a hard breath through clenched teeth.
It’s morning wood, probably.
I’m just a guy.
Nothing to do with her or her hot little thigh pressed into my dick like we’re human magnets.
Every man in decent health gets it, whether or not they’re sharing a bed with a gorgeous woman.
Yeah, I don’t believe this crap either.
I was sharing a bed with her, for fuck’s sake.
Groaning, I bang my head against the tiled wall and close my eyes. I let the cold spray wash over me until I can’t feel anything.
The chill makes my knees ache, and eventually my cock deflates, but vile thoughts keep chattering in my skull.