Total pages in book: 96
Estimated words: 95080 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 475(@200wpm)___ 380(@250wpm)___ 317(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 95080 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 475(@200wpm)___ 380(@250wpm)___ 317(@300wpm)
“Tracy,” he moaned, and the sound, ragged and full of ache, broke through my carnal haze.
I stopped unbuttoning my shirt. “What’s the matter?”
“I just—you have no idea how much I…” He bent and kissed me.
I was lost in it, the slowness and the build, but I cleared my head because this was important. He was important. Taking hold of his face, stilling him, I stared into his eyes. “Tell me what you’re thinking.”
He looked pained.
“Please, Cord.”
“It’s fast,” he said simply, his voice husky. “This is fast.”
“Yes and no.”
“Yes and no? It can’t be both.”
“It most certainly can, and is.”
“How?”
“This, between us, has been simmering since we met, coming out from time to time in stupid fights, sexy banter, you brooding and me being furious with you.”
“I don’t brood.”
I scoffed.
He furrowed his thick brows, and I traced over one of them with my thumb.
The man was adorable.
“Stop worrying, Cord.”
“I can’t help it. I only have you by default.”
“What’re you talking about?”
“If Breckin hadn’t messed up, where would I be?”
“Seducing me at a Christmas party?” I teased him.
“Like you’d have let me seduce you.”
“Oh, I don’t know. I’ve always had a bit of a soft spot for you, Cordell Nolan.”
“Shit,” he grumbled miserably as he dropped his head onto my shoulder.
After sliding a hand behind his neck and holding him there, I whispered into his ear, “Listen, I didn’t know why Breckin cheated on me at the time. It made no sense. But now I understand. He needed something I couldn’t give him.”
“What?”
“Excitement.”
He lifted his head and scowled at me. “Do you even know what you’re talking about?”
I nodded. “Breckin likes diversity. He likes the thrill of newness. I got old, and so he went on the prowl for something fresh. I have no doubt there would have been another after Sean. There would have been a whole string of people.”
“You can’t know—”
“I think Breckin likes the idea of being monogamous, but it’s not his natural state.”
His gaze searched mine.
“And it wasn’t yours either.”
A quick nod from him.
“But that’s changed, yeah?”
“Yes,” he said, swallowing hard.
“And you want to come home to me every night, don’t you?”
“More than you know,” he ground out.
“No more running around for you.”
He shook his head.
“Gonna settle down with me,” I murmured.
His lunge made me laugh as he wrapped his arms, corded with thick muscle, around me, crushing me against him. “I’m keeping you, Trace. You need to get it right in your head.”
I already had. Fast had never scared me, only indecision.
When I eased back, he was smiling lazily, the laugh lines in the corners of his eyes crinkling, and all of it, just him drunk with me, was simply too much to resist. I kissed under his impossibly square, sharp jaw. “Don’t be scared anymore. There’s no need.”
“Okay,” he said, resigned, as I leaned back, finished unbuttoning my shirt, and slid it off, then put it on the chair, on top of my leather jacket.
He yanked off his tie and shirt, dropping them on the floor.
“Gimme all that,” I directed, pointing.
“Really? We’re calling off the seduction to tidy up?”
“If you’re not still hot for me after I pick up your clothes, we’re doomed.”
Moving quickly, he grabbed his discarded button-down oxford and draped it over the back of the chair, over his coat, before turning on me.
I snorted out a laugh as he pounced on me.
“You’re a slob,” I protested as he wrestled me into his arms, carried me to the bed, and fell down with me on top of him.
“Yeah, so what?” he teased, wiggling under me.
I grabbed his hands, pinned him to the mattress, and straddled his hips.
“You’re gonna be taking care of me from now on, right?” he said.
“Doesn’t make me your damn maid,” I said, trying not to laugh.
“Manservant?”
“No,” I insisted.
He huffed out a breath.
“What?”
“I don’t wanna…play.”
I bent and kissed his collarbone. “Why not?”
He moved fast and rolled me to my back, covering my body with his. “Your eyes are so dark and wet.”
I shivered under him. “I had no idea you were like this—could be like this.”
“You’ve turned me into a sap.”
His disgust made me laugh as he bent to kiss me.
“It’s not funny,” he groused softly.
“No,” I agreed as he sealed his lips over mine.
The kiss was hard and slow, and I took my time because all I really wanted was to taste him. He closed his eyes, and I kissed his throat and his jaw before returning to his mouth. He moved his hands over my chest and down across my stomach to the snap on my jeans, tugging it open roughly. I dug my fingers into his shoulders to bring him close, and he smiled, covering me with his big, hard body, crushing me under him.
“I’m lucky you finally saw me,” he whispered against my mouth.
“Why?” I asked, threading my fingers through his hair, savoring the silky feel.