Total pages in book: 19
Estimated words: 17588 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 88(@200wpm)___ 70(@250wpm)___ 59(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 17588 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 88(@200wpm)___ 70(@250wpm)___ 59(@300wpm)
I look Cadence’s way and she looks mine. She’s adorably awkward, unsure of what to do next. I’m no veteran of love, but I’ve got a better idea of what to do than she does.
I push the hair out of her eyes and she stares into my pupils, those beautiful brown eyes of hers so damn charming. I go for it.
I kiss her.
And she melts right into me. It’s awkward for only a moment before she leans into me, more than ready to embrace me right back. Lips against mine, they meet again and again, and it’s not long before simple pecks become messy ones, and then our tongues start to get involved. Fingers through her hair, running down her body, I’m enjoying her endless curves and seeing more of the wondrous specimen of womanhood that she truly is.
My heart pounds as it turns into a good, proper make-out session. It just feels right. Like this is how it’s always meant to be. She’s the one. Pretty, sweet, innocent, and everything I’m not.
Everything I’m not. The thought pounds through me. There’s a part of me that demands I go further. That demands I pull her dress down and reveal that luscious naked form that she’s hiding from me. My cock is screaming at me to do so, to unleash him from his prison and for me to take her, and take her hard. To make her scream for me, toes curling, back arching, not making love, but good, hard fucking.
I break from her, utterly breathless. But I can’t tease myself anymore. I have too many doubts. After everything I’ve been told by her and her father, I just don’t feel right fucking the preacher’s daughter on the first date.
She keeps leaning forward, clearly wanting more, not having the same doubts.
But I pause, shake my head. “You’re wonderful, Cadence. But if we keep going, I might do something I regret.”
“I’m not going to regret it, Carter. Keep going.”
“I will. And that’s enough.”
She pouts, but it’s a playful one. She understands where I’m coming from, at least.
“Sorry. Your father didn’t explicitly condemn this sort of thing, but I’m trying to avoid doing the thing that he warned me against.”
I don’t want to make her cry. Not in the slightest. She’s too much of a sweetheart for me to do something like that to her, and if it all doesn’t work out, I don’t want to carry that burden going forward.
She blows out a breath and straightens herself up beside me on the hood of my truck. “It’s not like he wants me to remain a virgin forever or anything, you know.”
“He seems like a nice guy. Bit intense at times, but it’s clear that he cares deeply about you and your feelings.”
“I guess. Doesn’t always feel like that, though.”
I cock an eyebrow. “How so?”
“He tried to fix me up with some guy from a congregation a few towns over. Someone who believes in the exact same brand of Christianity that we do. Marcus, his name was. Dad was none too subtle about us getting together. There was a very awkward Fourth of July barbecue where we kept ending up on the same team for family games, and we spent a whole lot of time on a paddleboat together.”
“Was he that truly that bad?”
“He wasn’t for me. He wanted something else out of life and was as disinterested as I was. Just a guy in the same weird situation I was in, with his parents trying to play matchmaker. I was pretty ticked off at my parents for trying to pull that. I let them know it and let them know I wasn’t going to be married off to a man of their choosing like this was 1317 or whatever.”
“You deserve better than that, yes. You should be free to choose who you want without your parents thinking they deserve a say.”
She nods. “I absolutely agree. I don’t mind being old-fashioned in some ways, but this isn’t one of them.”
“And who would you want if you could describe the perfect man for you?”
She leans back, a smile on her face. “Someone big. Strong. A man’s man. But someone who is also not afraid of who they are. Someone who isn’t going to let their masculinity get in the way of expressing their feelings. Someone who’s kind and sweet, someone worthy of promising myself to.”
She leans onto my shoulder, her hair so soft against it.
“Someone like you, Carter.”
I chuckle softly. “Sure you aren’t just into me out of some weird teenage rebellion against your parents? Getting them back for trying to set you up with some boring-ass church boy?”
She shakes her head. “No. I’m into you because you’re you, Carter. Not someone I imagine you to be.”
God, she’s too fucking perfect. Here she is, literally offering herself up to me on a silver platter. She wants me to take her so bad.