Total pages in book: 23
Estimated words: 21501 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 108(@200wpm)___ 86(@250wpm)___ 72(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 21501 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 108(@200wpm)___ 86(@250wpm)___ 72(@300wpm)
Suddenly, my foot catches on a book on the floor. I nearly tumble forward, but two solid hands catch me around the waist, keeping me upright. I realize just how hard I’m breathing as Mason’s hands loosen, floating near my hips, the front of his body flush against the back of mine. I can feel him—all of him—against me, and I forget how to move.
“Liberty,” he says, voice almost a whisper, his lips brushing against my ear as he leans into me from behind. “You were dreaming about me.”
I bristle. How would he even know? How—
“You said my name,” he says in response to my scowl. “What was I doing to you in that dream to make you say my name like that?”
With his hands on my hips, he turns me around in a single movement. We’re so close that his face hovers just above mine, and I can see the green in his eyes up close. I drop my gaze, thinking it’ll be better to look at his lips, but this is a mistake. Big mistake. This close, it would be so easy to close the distance. I look back up, meeting his eyes as he leans in even closer.
Oh, God. I think he’s going to—
“You’re not supposed to kiss me,” I whisper.
He smiles, leaning ever closer. “Why not?”
“It’s in the contract,” I squeak.
He runs a hand down my back, making me shiver. “The contract you just referred to as bullshit.”
“It’s definitely not,” I say. “I… I just wasn’t thinking. Brain fog. Too much studying. It’s definitely real though.”
I’m rambling. I’m rambling and he’s so, so close to me. If I angled my hips, I could feel him again…
“How long is this contract for anyway? Are you staying on until Velvet goes to college? Can I send her to boarding school? Tomorrow?”
I swallow. “It’s a three-month contract.”
“Hmm,” he murmurs, lips brushing along my jaw. “So what happens if I breach the contract and kiss you anyway? Will you fire me?” His hand slides up my back, so lightly, matching the feel of his lips as they move to my ear. I don’t know how much longer I can stand being this close to him.
“I can’t fire you,” I gasp. “You’re the boss.”
He exhales against my ear, breath tickling the soft skin. “Quite the conundrum you’ve got yourself in,” he says. “You sure you don’t want me to kiss you? I think you do.”
Now his lips move to my neck, and it takes everything inside of me not to moan. He’s pressing delicate kisses to my collarbone as I shiver in his arms.
“Tell me what you were dreaming about, Liberty,” he murmurs against my skin. “Tell me what you were saying ‘yes, Mason’ to.”
I groan, low in my throat. Adventure, right? I wanted a life with a bit of adventure. Excitement. When his tongue runs along my collarbone, I don’t have a single shred of resolve left.
“I was dreaming about you kissing me,” I admit, saying the words as quickly as possible so that I can’t take them back.
“Is that an invitation?” he questions, pressing his lips along my jaw. I think he’s going to kiss me, actually kiss me, but he doesn’t. He just keeps nuzzling my jaw. Waiting on me to confirm. Making me say the words.
“Yes,” I murmur, the word sounding like a groan even to me. “Kiss me, kiss me, please.”
He does. His lips press against mine, gentle for the span of a heartbeat and then rougher when I press back. His hands move to my ass, and he lifts me up so that I can wrap my legs around him as he presses me back against one of the bookshelves. All the while, his lips move with furious intensity against mine, his tongue flicking out to tease and taste me. I melt against him, reveling in the feel of his body against mine, in how close he is. I feel the spines of the books against my back as one of his hands moves to cup one of my breasts, squeezing through the soft fabric of my sweater.
I need more of him. I tangle my hands in his hair, urging him to kiss me harder, to let me have more of him. As he holds me with one hand against the shelf, I grind against him, moaning with need at the feel of his hard stomach, wishing he’d move me just a little lower so that I could feel the length of him against me.
He is more than intoxicating. In his arms, and with his mouth on mine, I am falling completely into the abyss of need. I could lose myself right here, in this library, to him.
I could lose my job.
Fuck.
Fuck.
I pull back, immediately hating how it feels to no longer be kissing him. His eyes flutter open, and I see the same naked want in his gaze that he must see in mine. Both of us breathe hard, and it takes me a moment to find my words.