Total pages in book: 135
Estimated words: 131916 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 660(@200wpm)___ 528(@250wpm)___ 440(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 131916 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 660(@200wpm)___ 528(@250wpm)___ 440(@300wpm)
Turbulence rolled through me at his words. How he kept speaking of forever. And God, how perfect it would be to rest in his eternity.
“I trust you. I want you.”
Greed emblazoned the storm in his eyes, as if my saying it was the best thing I could give him.
“You have me, Charleigh.”
River reached out and pulled my tennis shoes from my feet, and he let each of them drop to the rug beneath the bed with a thunk. I wiggled my toes, then sighed when he leaned in and peeled my socks from my feet. He left little pecking kisses along my ankles as he reached up with those long arms and hooked his fingers in the sides of my scrub bottoms.
He hissed as he dragged them off. “Love these legs. Going to love them more when they’re wrapped around my waist.”
He rode his mouth up my left calf, kissed the inside of my knee, my inner thigh. Tingles raced, and my legs spread wide in anticipation as little juts of air ripped from my lungs.
“Going to take care of you, Charleigh,” he murmured as he kissed up to my belly. To my belly that had the tiny, silvered scars that ran upward above my pelvis. I knew they were visible in the light, and I flinched a little when he paused for the fraction of a second.
“Charleigh,” he rumbled. The sound of it vibrated through my body as he held me by both sides of the waist as he littered kisses all over the stretch marks before he eased back and took me by the hand, guiding me to sit up on the edge of the bed. He stood between my bent knees as he fisted his hands in my top and pulled it over my head.
He smirked when he saw the matching satin bra and underwear set that I’d put on this morning.
Just in case.
A blush rose to my flesh as he dragged a single fingertip from the side of my neck and down to the cup. “Pink. My favorite fuckin’ color.”
“I would have thought it would have been black.” I tried to play it coy, tipping my chin up as I rested back on my hands.
River seemed to like that, too.
The way that heated gaze licked over my flesh like flames.
“Nah, baby, I think you’re the perfect accent to all my dark. A light when things always look so goddamn bleak.”
My head barely shook, unable to keep up the playful front. “How is it that I look at you and see the exact same thing?”
“Oh, Little Runner, I’m not the light. Already warned you about that. It’s just that I’m going to stand in front of every demon and ghost so you can stand on a pedestal and shine.”
He reached out and lifted my left arm, and he leaned in and brushed his lips over the words he’d marked on my skin.
In grief we must live.
Never had I felt the truth of it more than right then.
“You’re going to, baby. Live. I’m going to see to it.”
Then he dove in, a big hand coming to the back of my head as he kissed me hard, his tongue licking and lashing while he angled from side to side as if he couldn’t get deep enough. Like he wanted to sink all the way inside and invade.
But he was already there.
Filling up all the holes and cracks.
He reached around me and unclasped my bra, and he didn’t break the kiss as he pulled it free. He tossed it to the side and then both his massive hands were kneading my breasts.
I arched and whimpered as he ran the pads of his thumbs over both nipples, teasing and playing. It sent shocks of electricity sparking through my body.
Desire flooded, this need so intense, and I was rasping for air when he suddenly broke the kiss and stepped back so he could peel my underwear down my legs.
He splayed his hand out over my chest and guided me back until I was lying on my bed, bare and spread out.
The air grew thick, alive as it swirled and twisted, the energy bashing at the walls and colliding back into us. His expression turned feral, and I shivered as he stared down at me.
“How’s it I have you like this? Tempting little angel I’m going to wreck?”
We both knew that he would.
And I wanted it. I wanted him to mark me. Ruin me. Most of all, I wanted him to keep me.
“I’m yours to take,” I wheezed through the need that pounded through me. My heart rate was erratic, my blood so heavy I could feel it slugging through my veins.
“That’s right, Little Runner. You’re mine. This needy little cunt that’s dripping for me.”
He reached out and pushed two fingers deep inside me, stealing my breath, my sanity.