Total pages in book: 46
Estimated words: 43118 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 216(@200wpm)___ 172(@250wpm)___ 144(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 43118 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 216(@200wpm)___ 172(@250wpm)___ 144(@300wpm)
I’ve always been more focused on the present and the future. It’s other peoples’ pasts I get tangled up in.
“Just one generation, then,” she declares. “Well, that’s not too bad. You look good for your age, by the way.”
“Thank you,” I say, grinning. Then I hesitate. I have to make sure. “That doesn’t bother you?”
“That you look good?”
I roll my eyes at her when she glances up.
She giggles. “I don’t mind that you’re older than me,” she says, giving me the answer I want.
“Good,” I say, and go back to chewing my grilled cheese. It’s settled.
My screen blinks, and I react, sitting forward to read through the emails.
“Did you get something?” she asks immediately, sitting up straighter in her chair, though she can’t stop watching the video screen to come and see for herself.
Which is a good thing because what I’ve just seen in a single glance at these emails sends my heart plummeting to my feet.
“No, it needs resetting,” I say, lying to her because I need to figure out how I’m going to protect her.
I just hope that this doesn’t come back to bite me in the ass. If she finds out I hid it from her, I have a feeling she won’t take it very well.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Jenna
“Nothing,” I say, at last, sitting back with a sigh. “I suppose there’s no point in watching any longer.”
“No, I wouldn’t say so,” Hunter agrees, rubbing his mouth with a frown. “That’s a shame. And I keep hitting failures here, so I might as well leave the program running on its own for a while and see if it can get somewhere.”
“What should we do in the meantime, then?” I ask. My big task is done, so I’m ready to do whatever else is needed to help.
“I can think of something,” Hunter says, with a wolfish smile curving his lips, and my heart skips a beat.
“Now?” I ask, my voice dropping to barely more than a whisper.
“If you still want to,” he says, tilting his head at me. He must have misinterpreted my hesitation as unwillingness to go through with it. Then he shakes his head quickly.
“No, we’re supposed to wait until tonight. Forget I said anything. I’m sorry.”
Actually, I just needed to process the huge wave of excitement that just came over me.
I’m not supposed to trust him right now. I try to remind myself that I think he lied to me earlier. Something is going on here, something I don’t understand.
But do I need to understand?
Do I need to get to the truth right now? Or is it more important that I follow my feelings?
Because my feelings still really, really want me to go to bed with him.
And I don’t want to miss this chance for it to be special like he said – my first time.
I shoot up from my seat. “I’m ready,” I declare, making him laugh out loud.
He stands as well, leaning forward and closing the lid of his laptop as he moves toward me. He cups my face in his hands over the top of his desk and kisses me so deeply that it makes my head spin.
By the time I’ve blinked and come back to myself, Hunter has walked around the desk and right up close to me just to take me in his hands in that same way again.
He kisses me until my knees are weak until I have to clutch at the front of his suit jacket to hold myself upright. The room spins around me like in those romance movies where the camera whirls around and around the kissing couple.
“Are you sure?” he asks, his voice little more than a breath. “It’s okay to change your mind, at any time. I want you so badly, Jenna, but I’ll wait if you aren’t ready.”
“I’m ready,” I assure him in the same breathy tone because the sound of him telling me he wants me like that would have brought me to my knees if his arm hadn’t snaked around my waist to hold me up.
There’s no room for doubt anymore. There is only desire.
He kisses me deeply again then. His tongue intertwines with mine and then wrestling, becoming hungrier and more forceful, making me see stars against my closed eyelids.
His mouth breaks contact with mine only to trail across my jaw and onto my neck, continuing the same hunger and passion as he kisses my bare skin and over my collarbone.
When he stops kissing me, I want to whine in shock – but a second later, I realize why he had to stop.
Today I dressed in a cute dress again that falls only to my knees. I also wore a cardigan for warmth under my coat which is now on the back of my chair.
I chose my clothes carefully, thinking about not just comfort and warmth but also what would give him the best access to me, what would look the best when he undressed me tonight. I knew this was coming, after all, and I wanted to be ready.