Total pages in book: 68
Estimated words: 64765 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 324(@200wpm)___ 259(@250wpm)___ 216(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 64765 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 324(@200wpm)___ 259(@250wpm)___ 216(@300wpm)
She shook her head without lifting it. “Not going back. I wasn’t anyway. Not even before the fire. You don’t know that yet. Neither does he.”
He did now.
That was interesting. And unfair. Fiona was too tired to filter her thoughts. He guided her gently down until her back was on the bed.
Her hair fanned out on the pillow, inviting his touch. The waves were a silky chestnut with a hint of cinnamon. Had he ever seen Fiona without dye in her hair? When he asked about it the other day, she’d shrugged it off. “Even hair needs a clean slate once in a while.”
He’d worried that meant she was planning to stay in California, which was the vibe he’d been getting before she left. He’d also thought she’d only come back to make sure Wyatt was on the mend. But now she said she was staying.
What changed?
She tipped her head back with a breathy sigh and looked at him. Her gray-green eyes, framed by heavy lids and thick lashes, looked darker than usual. “Kiss me goodnight?”
Oh, how he wanted to. Hovering over her on the bed, with Fiona in nothing but her blue bikini panties and white tank, Thoreau had never been so tempted to take what he needed.
It had been too long since that night she’d given in to him after calling things off with Wyatt. That night he’d taken her right here in this bed. Again and again, until they were both hoarse from shouting. Until they were too weak to make it to the kitchen to refuel. Until he knew every inch of her body as well as he’d known her moods and the expressions on her face.
His parents hadn’t raised him to take something that belonged to someone else, but that’s exactly what he’d done. Fiona would argue with that, tell him she made her own decisions, and she’d be right. But at the time, he was pretty sure Wyatt wouldn’t see it that way. And Thoreau had to own that.
It didn’t matter that she’d said she’d broken things off. She’d done it before, but she’d never been able to stay away from Wyatt for long. So Thoreau had gone in with his eyes open, knowing that what was between Fiona and her fireman wasn’t going away anytime soon.
What made it harder was that he couldn’t even hate the guy. In fact, he was having the opposite problem.
The few times Wyatt had relaxed enough around him to be himself, Thoreau had seen that there was a lot more going on beneath the handsome, blond, irreverent surface than the Finn wanted people to know. And the unguarded way he looked at Fiona when he thought no one was watching told him what he felt for her was so much more than casual attraction.
Thoreau had had a front row seat to the Wyatt and Fiona show. That first flirting. The back-and-forth, push-and-pull of their attraction and Wyatt’s persistence. He couldn’t deny how much the man cared about her. If he didn’t, Thoreau wouldn’t hesitate to keep her up a little bit longer and show her how much he’d missed having her beneath him.
She smiled, reaching up to trace the small scar under his chin most people couldn’t see. “What are you thinking about?”
He lowered his head to kiss her neck. Her cheek. Light. Keep it light. “I’m thinking you need to go to sleep, Fi. And I have to check on something at work. If I kiss you the way you want me to, both of us might forget that.”
She leaned into his caresses, humming like a purring kitten and causing his cock to jerk in response. “You’re probably right.”
“I usually am.”
She laughed, turning her head to kiss the forearm beside her. “Fine, genius. I’m sleeping. Thank you for the soup and the comfy bed.”
He winced as he made himself leave her side, his erection straining against the now-snug fabric of his slacks. “This is your room, Fiona. Your home, whenever you want it. I’ve told you that.”
She nodded, slipping into sleep a second later as if she’d turned off a light. He had no idea how she did that, but he’d seen it before. She wouldn’t be waking up anytime soon.
He stood there watching her longer than he should have. Thinking about everything that had happened in the last few months. Her leaving. The fire. The next steps he needed to take.
It wasn’t Thoreau’s nature to not go after what he wanted. And he wanted this. Taking care of Fiona and having her with him. Loving her.
After all these years, he knew her well enough to realize that, as insightful and loving as she could be, her personal issues with commitment and trust were more than just a lifestyle choice. She wasn’t so much a free spirit as she was a runner. It was why he hadn’t been insulted when she left his bed in a barely-disguised panic after spending the night with him. Why he hadn’t responded to Wyatt’s glares or unspoken challenges when he discovered she’d confessed the truth to him before she left for California that first time.