Total pages in book: 109
Estimated words: 106065 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 530(@200wpm)___ 424(@250wpm)___ 354(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 106065 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 530(@200wpm)___ 424(@250wpm)___ 354(@300wpm)
“You don’t have to ask. Of course you can.” He didn’t want to pull away. I sensed it in how he brushed his knuckles over my cheek, how his lips lingered near the corner of my mouth. “Are you feeling overwhelmed?”
By what? By him? Nuh-uh.
I knew what he meant, though. We’d discussed me being able to go to my Little space when I was overwhelmed.
“Yes and no,” I admitted. I reached out and put a hand on his thigh. “Too much social interaction makes my head cloudy and spinny, but mostly, I’m greedy. I wanna be little with you.”
He drew a breath and shifted his hand to cup my jaw, then my neck. “Would you say you’ve reached your limit for those interactions?”
I’d reached my limit for his teasing kisses and the ghosting touch of his fingers. I craved more. So much more.
“I’m getting there, I guess.” I leaned in a little and kissed his scruffy jaw. “I usually discover it when it’s too late.”
He hummed and returned his hand to my cheek, his thumb stroking my skin.
Did he even know how seductive he was?
I swallowed dryly.
“If it’s okay with you, I’d like to keep you close till it’s time to go home,” he murmured. “I want to learn your limits and be there when you’ve had too much.”
Christ, I had to kiss him. He had to kiss me.
“Yes, please. I wanna follow your rules and be a good boy for you.”
I felt the lust radiating from him, the war he was losing against himself, the self-restraint caving under his desires.
“We’ll set the rules together.” He pressed a firm kiss to my jaw. “Fuck, how I want you, little one.”
I shuddered violently and surrendered so fucking hard and fast that it made my head spin. The second my lips touched his, he kissed me back and wrapped his arms around my shoulders. It gave us a sliver of privacy with our kiss hidden in his embrace.
“Fucking really, Sloan?” Greer grated out, killing most of the lust. “I was sitting here rooting for you.”
Our smiles were automatic, but we didn’t stop kissing, even as the white-hot urgency drained out of us.
It was a kiss to take the edge off. He kissed me unhurriedly, teasing his tongue around mine in seductive strokes, all while there was a sense of finality to each brush of our lips. A promise of more to come later.
“You must be strong to take a leap of faith, Master,” Archie offered. His smugness was right there in his voice.
“You can shove that poetry where the sun don’t shine,” Greer grumbled.
I giggled into the kiss, and Sloan smirked lazily and pecked me softly.
I sighed, full of contentment and bliss.
Somewhere in the back of my head, an annoying voice told me I didn’t know what the fuck I was doing. It was too soon to get involved with someone else, and that notion bugged me. It couldn’t be helped. I was so goddamn drawn to these men. And Sloan was…fuck. The entire Daddy vibe about him was like putting cooling gel on a burn. The antidote to Marcus’s infection.
Sloan gathered me in a tight hug and rested his chin at the top of my head. So I felt him turn toward Greer.
“I don’t know if Corey makes me weak or strong, or where this is headed, but right now…” He trailed off.
I allowed the bliss to flow through me again, and I closed my eyes and savored the break from every worry in the world. I was totally cocooned in his arms. He smelled so good too. All masculine warmth and spices.
Unfortunately, that was the moment Reese hollered out for everyone to pay attention.
Sloan loosened his hold and peered down at me. “You need to eat more.” He kissed my nose.
I smiled as if I’d just had a million orgasms. “So do you.”
“Mm.” Maybe he couldn’t help himself. He dropped lower and kissed me softly, a few stolen seconds, before we had to return to reality.
Although, reality was looking pretty darn good right now.
Colt, Lucian, and Penelope had joined Reese at the front, near the entrance of the terrace, and Macklin was on his way over too.
Everyone looked so tired, so it was a welcomed comic relief to see Colt standing there with his plate. He didn’t stop eating just because he was about to address a crowd.
I leaned against Sloan’s side a little, wanting closeness, and bit into a piece of chicken.
He responded by rubbing a hand up and down my back.
“We have a lot of ground to cover today, so I’m just gonna dive in,” Reese stated. Gone was his signature smirk, replaced by exhaustion and lines in his forehead. His hair was extra messy too. “Most of y’all were there on Friday when the fire started. We know way too little about the whys and hows, but I do have two pieces of good news. One, the house is standing, and only the bottom floor was directly affected by the fire. Then, of course, damage by smoke and water throughout. Two, we managed to pull a shit-ton of strings, and the investigation has already begun and is expected to last for a couple weeks, at least.” He paused to unfold a printout in his hand. “River and I spoke to the investigator after his initial visit this morning, and it’s too soon to say anything other than nothing has been ruled out yet. Everyone who was present will have to be prepared for questions from the investigators. They’re especially interested in talking to those who were near the bar in the club area. But yeah, everyone will get a call—and before you leave here today, I’mma need your consent to hand over your phone numbers. We want to be as cooperative as possible on this.”