Total pages in book: 100
Estimated words: 91212 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 456(@200wpm)___ 365(@250wpm)___ 304(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 91212 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 456(@200wpm)___ 365(@250wpm)___ 304(@300wpm)
We used the same soap and shampoo last night, but somehow his scent is different, intoxicatingly so.
His fingers flex on my lower back when I shift a little. It's insane to me how just being near him wakes up so many different parts of me. My life is a complete mess right now, but lying with him in this bed makes it all feel like a distant thing as if it happened to an alternate version of me.
The woman in bed with Eddie Yarrow right now isn't the same woman who lost a dear friend yesterday in such a brutal way. She isn't the one who lost her brother, because even though he's very much alive, he's not the man she loved. Sadie is gone. William won't be happy about her life choice.
Yet, in his arms, none of it matters.
He's a good man, doing good in the world, and despite the fact that he didn't come from a family running a fortune five hundred business or isn't connected to the upper echelon of society or other political families, his life has had meaning, possibly more so than any man running for office. He has endangered his life to help others. He's put his money where his mouth is so to speak, and that's more than most politicians can say.
I don't know when I decided that despite what William thinks, I choose Eddie. I want to be a part of his life. I want to grow with him. He's what I choose, and although he made it sound like he has nothing to offer me, I know better. He cares for me. He'll risk his life for me. He doesn't care how that looks to the outside world, and that means the world to me. He isn't saving face or wondering what the sound bite or optics look like. He just wants me. It's literally that simple, and I want to live in the simplicity of that with him. I want privacy from the public. I don't want to have to worry about what others think or if they're judging me for living my life.
I wonder if this is how Sadie felt. If this is what she fought for and just went about it the wrong way. A dull ache settles inside of me with thoughts of my sister. She deserved so much better, and although I can tell myself not to have regrets where she's concerned, I know it'll take more than just the thoughts to ease the pain from my mistakes.
"I can smell your brain working," he whispers, pressing his lips to the top of my head.
I look up at him. "Think you can silence those thoughts for a little while?"
His hand is warm when he reaches down and cups my jaw. "You're hurting."
"Be gentle then," I whisper, angling my head up so he can press a kiss to my lips.
He keeps his eyes locked on me as he traces a finger down my body, swirling his attention over the tip of one breast before moving lower.
I shift a little, doing my best to hide the pain I feel because I know he'll stop if he thinks he's hurting me.
My mouth drops open, eyes threatening to close when he sweeps that finger over my clit. I roll my hips, seeking more attention, my body aching in a different way now that he's touching me there.
"Please," I beg when he seems quite content to just trace the rim of my opening rather than dip his finger inside of me.
I lift my leg, hanging it over his hip so he has better access but instead of pressing inside of me with his finger, he lines up the tip of his cock and sinks inside of me.
My stomach twists with need at the sound that rumbles from his chest, it's a pleasured pain sort of noise, and it makes me feel like a goddess.
"Every day," he whispers, mouth only an inch from mine. "Need this every day."
He rolls his hips, slowly sinking inside of me before pulling back only to do it again and again and again.
His tongue swipes across my lower lip, seeking entrance, and I give it, unable and unwilling to deny this man anything.
"I understand now," he pants. "I was such a fool."
"Please," I beg again, wanting everything he has to offer.
His hips pause, his body joined fully with mine as he urges my face up so we're mere inches apart and looking into the other's eyes.
"I waited my entire life for you, Cora. I'm certain it was always meant to be you."
Tears leak from my eyes as I take in his words because I feel exactly the same way.
"I won't ever let you go," he whispers. "There isn't a thing in this world that would make me walk away from you."