Total pages in book: 155
Estimated words: 145634 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 728(@200wpm)___ 583(@250wpm)___ 485(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 145634 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 728(@200wpm)___ 583(@250wpm)___ 485(@300wpm)
All because of one night that I so desperately wish I could take back.
“It’s been ten years, Nathan.” There’s a softness in my voice I didn’t intend to have. “I wish I could change the past. Even if you hate me, could you just …”
I can’t finish, although I want to. I want to plead with him and try to get on some neutral ground. But he beats me to it and silences me in a way I can’t refuse.
He crashes his lips against mine and it’s more than I can bear. My body goes weak, each nerve ending on fire and acutely aware of the heat of his body. His hands travel down to my waist, his blunt fingernails scraping against my skin and making my back arch.
I’m breathless when he pulls away, a flurry of emotions consuming me and taking me back to when I was his and he could make everything better.
“Hally,” he whispers in the space between our lips, his hot breath overwhelming me, leaving my head spinning with nothing but want and gratitude. My fingernails run up his shirt along his back, up to his broad shoulders. It’s like I’m home. His warmth, his touch, the reverence when he says my name.
I hold onto him with everything I have, holding him close to me like I wanted to do that night. And he does the same. Soothing me and cradling my body against his.
This is crazy. We’re crazy. I guess some things don’t change.
“You shouldn’t be here,” he whispers as he lowers his lips to the crook of my neck and nips me in admonishment. The action is directly linked to my clit, making it throb with need.
He pulls back slowly, both of us catching our breath, and he stares into my eyes. I lean into his touch as he brushes the hair away from my face to cup my cheek. “You aren’t supposed to be here.”
My heart stutters in my chest. Skipping its rhythm as it tries to figure out how it’s supposed to beat. I search his eyes for something. For the anger that pushed me away. For forgiveness, which I’m so desperate to have. But all I see is desire. And that’s something I can hold onto. I can be consumed by it. I was before. Blindingly so.
“It was an accident,” I tell him. He licks his lower lip and my eyes are drawn there before I meet his eyes again. “But I think it happened for a reason.”
“We should talk,” I say as though it’s a suggestion, but really, it’s a question. One I desperately need him to answer. So many unspoken things still remain between us. They eat away at me, drowning me in an abyss of unknown. And fear. I had to live with it all on my own. I don’t want to anymore; I never wanted to.
“Not right now. Not yet,” he answers me and looks back with pleading eyes. He’s the one with all the power and both of us know he doesn’t need my permission, but he craves it. And like a moth to a flame, I’m addicted to giving it to him.
CHAPTER 9
Nathan
She’s a mistake. A sweet mistake I can’t say no to.
Years and years of telling women no, letting them down gently or being blunt when I had to. Yet she walks in, and I can’t turn her away.
It’s got to be the guilt, or our past together. Both are synonymous.
How can you look into the eyes of the love of your life, and tell her to fuck off?
“Let’s take it from the top,” Stevens yells out and instinctively my feet rock, preparing for the scene, but this one’s not for me. I crack my neck and let out a tense sigh as I cross my arms and stare at the set from off the stage.
Hally’s gorgeous in that getup. It’s just black leggings and a cream silk blouse. Simple, but utterly gorgeous.
She’s a friend of Miranda’s in the scene and an instigator. It’s the same set from my last scene. The one I failed miserably to put into action.
“Spread the papers out when you go looking for a file,” Stevens yells down from his high chair to the right of me. He’s only a few feet away from me, but even I have a hard time hearing him. He refuses to use a bullhorn, but Hally nods diligently, ready to do her part. I love the way her mouth parts open and she licks her lips as she prepares herself.
I can see her bending over the desk just like Julie was doing yesterday. Even in that blouse, without an inch of cleavage showing, I could slip my finger down the center and pop the buttons open one by one. She’d crawl on top, well she would try to, but I …