Total pages in book: 123
Estimated words: 117177 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 586(@200wpm)___ 469(@250wpm)___ 391(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 117177 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 586(@200wpm)___ 469(@250wpm)___ 391(@300wpm)
But it was me.
Messy hair, makeup-less, au naturel me.
And Chris wanted me.
Not the people-pleasing version that thought she needed to be perfect for others, but just me.
Hallie Goodman.
In all my glory.
And if he didn’t, if this version of me wasn’t enough, then that was his problem.
Not mine.
I pulled my hand back from the face wash. A full face was not how I started my mornings when I was alone. My first priority was always coffee. Nodding to myself in the mirror, my eyes glimmered with pride. I’d come a long way. It felt good.
Just as I turned to leave the bathroom, the door opened and Chris stood in the doorway.
Naked.
My gaze drifted down his hard stomach to between his legs, and saliva filled my mouth.
“You’re awake.” His voice drew my eyes back to his. He studied me with a heated look in his eyes I knew well.
“Apparently you are too.”
Chris grinned sexily. My skin flushed as he moved into the room and grasped my hips in his hands, moving me backward until I bumped into the counter.
“What are you doing?”
Without a word, he picked me up like I weighed nothing and settled my bare ass on my bathroom countertop.
His gaze roamed my face. “Making you late for work.”
“Oh, okay.” My breathing grew shallow, feeling him hard between my thighs. Our kiss was hungry, heart-wrenching, and arousing.
“You’re so beautiful.” He broke the kiss to murmur against my throat, his lips trailing down it. I smiled giddily to myself. Beautiful. With him I truly felt it. “Christ, I can’t get enough of you.” He wrapped his mouth around my nipple through the fabric of his T-shirt, growling as I cried out at the sensation.
His hand slipped between my legs, and I arched my hips into his touch. As I came from his masterful fingers, Chris took the opportunity to don protection, and seconds later he was inside me, right where I needed him.
It was fast, furious, and the kind of passionate sex I’d heard about but never really allowed myself to dream could happen for me. Suddenly the future really did fill me with true excitement and anticipation. Everything with Chris was different from any romantic relationship I’d ever had, and it made me hopeful and optimistic and ready for anything with him at my side.
The thought was as thrilling as it was terrifying because I’d never wanted a relationship to last as much as I wanted this one to last.
THIRTY
Chris
The last week with Hallie seemed almost dreamlike. It was as though we were lost in our own little world. I’d stayed at her apartment most nights at her bequest. Weirdly, with Hallie this didn’t seem too fast, too much, or too anything except overwhelming. In a good way. In a fantastic way.
After a phone call with Aunt Richelle to let her know Hallie and I were together, she, of course, wanted us back at the Hamptons at some point. She was the only one who knew beyond Hallie’s friend at work, Althea. We’d agreed I wouldn’t post any of the photos I took of Hallie on my Instagram, though she took some shots of me around the city that I posted in between reposts of my photographs from space. It helped keep my followers engaged, especially since I’d decided to go ahead with trying to publish my book. I’d need my followers’ support. But I did not want strangers knowing about me and Hallie before our families. Besides, I wasn’t really a guy who wanted everybody knowing his personal business. And I didn’t want people in Hallie’s business either.
Hallie’s parents still hadn’t been in touch, and I could wring their goddamn necks. It was my purpose in life to keep her distracted from the fact that her parents were insensitive, selfish morons. We’d spent yesterday hanging out in the city, enjoying the weather in Central Park and the fact that Hallie didn’t have an event she needed to be at until the next day.
While Hallie was at a Sunday brunch engagement party for work most of the day, I’d spent mine ignoring three calls from my father, working out, and then agonizing over every word in the sample chapters I’d decided to send to Scott Rose. The decision was cemented when Hallie offered to read a few chapters and surprised me with her honesty about what she loved and what she thought needed work. I loved that she felt comfortable enough to be real with me. And her confidence in me also gave me the push I needed to send Scott the work.
Well, I would send it tomorrow once I was sure it was as good as I could get it for now.
My buzzer rang and I filled with anticipation, shut my laptop, took off my reading glasses, and leaped over my couch. I hurried to the door. “Yeah?”