Total pages in book: 58
Estimated words: 57121 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 286(@200wpm)___ 228(@250wpm)___ 190(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 57121 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 286(@200wpm)___ 228(@250wpm)___ 190(@300wpm)
I roar when I see that, emptying in rhythmic waves. I come inside of her, deep, and long. We’re caught in the haze for what feels like hours.
Then she turns, sitting on the steps, her legs open, my release leaking out of her. There’s something so savagely hot about that, I can feel myself growing hard again.
I reach over and smear my come all over her folds, feeling hypnotized.
She takes my wrist with both her hands, gently guiding it away, but she’s shivering like it takes a big effort.
She’s got a dizzy smile on her face as she fastens her bathrobe. She raises her eyebrow, nodding at me. I pull up my pants and buckle my belt.
“What now?” she asks.
I chuckle. “I thought this was the part where you kick my ass out.”
“I got carried away,” she murmurs. “With the texting and the…” She hesitates.
“The thinking?” I ask. “The obsessing? The needing?”
She rolls her eyes, but I can tell I’ve struck the truth.
“So?” I say. “Are you getting ready to kick?”
Another smile. It feels like a victory. But then, from upstairs, a metal song starts to play loudly. She turns and bolts up the stairs.
“Lia?” I say, following her. What's got her so rattled? Whatever it is, I immediately want to help her. “What’s wrong?”
She ignores me, rushing into the bedroom and slamming the door. I wait outside, my hands in my pockets, as she talks anxiously on the phone. I walk further down the hallway. I don’t want to eavesdrop on her.
After a few minutes, she walks out with an angry, sad look on her face. It’s a conflicted expression that sums her up: this beautiful, messy, perfect person.
“What is it?” I ask.
“My mother,” she murmurs. “I haven’t been to her place in a few days. She’s not doing too good.”
“Why haven’t you been?” I ask, then quickly add, “You have every right not to go. You understand that, right?”
“She’s my mom.”
“Yes, she is,” I say. “And you do a good job at being there for her. But sometimes, you need someone to be there for you too.”
She lifts her hand as if to gesture at the stairs. I think she’s trying to work up the courage to say, Okay, we’ve had our fun, you can go. But she can’t bring herself to do it.
I step forward and gently bring her into my arms. She fights it for a moment, but ultimately collapses against me as if this is just what she needs. She wraps her arms around me and clings to my side.
“It’s so hard sometimes,” she says, words muffled slightly as she presses against me. “I’ve got my own stuff going on, and then I have to go there, and it’s like there’s this big weight on me. And then I feel so awful.” She moves back, letting me support her, so she can look up at me. “I told myself I wouldn’t lean on you.”
“I’m here for you to lean on,” I say gruffly. “I know I’m not perfect, but hell, I can help with this.”
“By fucking me on the stairs?”
I smirk, kissing her on the cheek. “If that’s what you need. Or I can just listen to you. Or I can come with you.”
“To Mom’s?” she asks, shocked.
Truthfully, I didn’t put much thought into what I said. But if that’s what she needs.
“I can come for support,” I tell her.
“That’s just going to make things more complicated.”
But her tone says otherwise. She sounds intrigued, like she wants somebody there to deflect some of the energy.
“How would I even introduce you?” she asks a moment later.
“As your knight in a shining kimono,” I tell her with a grin.
She laughs, a full-bellied laugh, her head tilting back. Then she covers her mouth like she feels guilty about it.
“I know you’re supposed to be mad at me. I know I’m a twisted man in many respects. But I’m not evil, Lia. Let me be here for you.”
“I could say you’re a colleague,” she murmurs. “I’m giving you a ride from the hospital. Your car is broken.”
“Sure,” I say. “That works.”
“I’ve been putting it off,” she says. “I know it’s wrong bu—”
“It’s not wrong,” I cut in fiercely. “You’ve got every right to take some time for yourself.”
She places her hand on my chest. “Why do you have to make it so hard to hate you?”
“Search this city, Lia, and you’ll find many people who disagree with that.”
“Maybe I just see a side of you no one else does.”
I smile. “I can’t argue with that.”
She stands on her tiptoes and presses her lips against mine, then says breathily, “Tomorrow? I finish at four. I’ll tell her I’ll come by then. But Maksim, sex doesn’t solve all our problems.”
I give her ass a squeeze, smirking at the excited look on her face. “Just some of them, eh?”