Total pages in book: 92
Estimated words: 86020 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 430(@200wpm)___ 344(@250wpm)___ 287(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 86020 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 430(@200wpm)___ 344(@250wpm)___ 287(@300wpm)
“Put your legs over my shoulders,” he urged her.
She opened for him, locking her ankles behind him. He touched her then, one finger sliding down her center until she quivered with desire. And she whispered, “You naughty, naughty man.”
He looked at her steadily. “I’m the man you want me to be. You gave me heart. You gave me back my soul, though I was afraid I’d lost it years ago. You made me who I am.”
She reached down to hold his face in her hands, loving the sexy look of him between her legs and the emotion in his eyes. “You’ve always been the man I want you to be. The man I admire. The man I love.”
He looked at her with so much love in his eyes, love she’d never expected to see, love she could never again live without. “All I want right now is to make you feel good.”
“Just make me feel, Dane. That’s all I want. Just to feel what you do to me.”
Then he took her with his mouth.
It had been so good that first night, so unforgettable, then even more glorious when she’d come to him in the manor house.
But it had never been like this. His lips, his tongue, his fingers did crazy things to her, things she’d never have imagined. Her body climbed, higher, higher, until she felt as if she could touch the sky, as if she could feel heaven, as if her body were no longer tethered to the earth, but tethered to him. She climbed to a beautiful somewhere only Dane could take her to.
He closed his hands on her bottom, holding her tight against him, and the pleasure was more than she could bear. She cried out, clamping her fingers in his hair, twisting the silky locks, unmindful of the pain she might cause him. But he never stopped. He didn’t let her go, didn’t let her come down, didn’t even let her breathe. Until the climax slammed into her like a rogue wave, tumbling her head over heels, the sensation so powerful she thought she might have lost consciousness.
Then Dane climbed her body, holding her as she trembled with aftershocks. He lay between her legs, hot, hard, ready.
She trapped his face between her hands and whispered, “I love you. I want all of you. Now.” She raised her legs to his waist, and he lifted slightly so she could wrap her hand around him, guiding him inside.
He entered her then, giving her all that he was. “This is what I’ve always wanted.” He held her gaze. “You. Me. Together just like this. Forever.”
He moved gently inside her, taking the gift she offered him and giving her the gift of himself. Pulling him down, she kissed him, her lips on his as he filled her up with everything she’d missed for twelve long years.
He was strong, powerful, yet he took her with a gentleness that only love could bring. Clamping her legs around him, she begged, “Take me. Please. I need you to make me all yours.”
Going up on his elbows, his hands framing her face, he gave her more than she could ever have dreamed of.
As he whispered, “I love you,” they went over the cliff edge together. Always together and never apart again.
* * *
He’d never known another woman like her. He’d loved her from the moment he first saw her. And he would never let her go again.
As she lay soft and sweet in his arms, he murmured into her hair, “You know, I was always rooting for you in your relationships. I never wanted you to be sad and alone. You’re my best friend, and I always wanted your happiness.” He kissed her forehead. “But I always secretly hoped those relationships would fail.”
She leaned up to meet his lips. “Me too. I wanted you to be happy, but I never wanted you to fall for any of those women.”
His gaze traced every feature of her face, from her forehead, to her lush lashes, to her sweet lips. “You know the reason why I could never truly get into a relationship?”
She smiled. “Because you loved me the whole time, just the way I always loved you.”
Truer words had never been spoken.
“Absolutely, Lady Brilliant.” He kissed the tip of her nose.
“Ooh. Lady Brilliant. I love it.” She raised an eyebrow. “Does that mean your real title is Lord Brilliant?”
“If the shoe fits.” Then he rolled her beneath him and showed her just how brilliant they were together.
And, like the stars, the night was endless.
Epilogue
Two months later
The Maverick and Harrington clans filled Dane’s home theater. He dimmed the lights for a crystal-clear screen, his gaze roaming the assembly. Next to Fernsby, Susan sat with Bob in the front row. He thought they might be holding hands.
His heart did a two-step as Cammie slipped her hand into his and laced their fingers, the two-step turning into a waltz. He didn’t want to get ridiculously romantic about it, but his heart waltzed like Belle and the Beast in Cammie’s favorite movie.