Total pages in book: 107
Estimated words: 100873 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 504(@200wpm)___ 403(@250wpm)___ 336(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 100873 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 504(@200wpm)___ 403(@250wpm)___ 336(@300wpm)
Shoulders shaking, she shook her head. “Not that kind of clean.”
A blank look followed up by a blush so intense it glowed through the brown of his skin. “Jeez, Catie.”
“What? I can’t afford to catch cooties.”
He shuddered. “I do not have any cooties, thank you very much. Verified by the last team medical—and I’ve been a monk since.” A narrow-eyed look, hands on his hips. “What about you?”
Oh, she wasn’t falling for that. “Clean, as per my last medical—and I’ve been a nun since. Want to see the certificate?” Fluttering her lashes at him, she gave him a beatific smile.
He made a sound deep in his chest, but then he was right there, kissing the life out of her, and oh boom. Nails digging into his hips, she held on for the delicious, sexy ride. When he finally put his hands on her, it was to push them under her sweater and start to peel it off.
Having made the decision to do this, Catie cooperated and was soon clad only in her running tights and sports bra.
* * *
Danny stroked his hands down Catie’s sides, ran his thumbs over the sleek architecture of her abdomen, her musculature a testament to her dedication to her sport. He fucking loved the feel of her, the strength of her. “You’re so goddamn beautiful, Catie.” He glared at her. “I can’t believe you made that come out of my mouth.”
She glared back at him. “Your abs are ridiculous.” A poke at his gut. “An actual eight-pack? Seriously?”
Then they were both laughing because they were ridiculous, and a second later, he was all tangled up in her mouth again, and it was so good. Like ice cream and chocolate sundaes and fudge brownies and caramel cupcakes with pecan sugar frosting. Delicious and decadent and making him crave more and still more.
Groaning, he stroked his hands down her back, all the way to her very fine butt. When she didn’t try to unman him for daring to touch her there, he squeezed and stroked and learned the shape of her.
Her hands, meanwhile, were all over him, and he loved it.
But when she slipped her fingertips underneath the waistband of his shorts to brush against his buttocks, he pulled back. “Can we do it here?” he asked, his breath so shallow he had trouble forming words. “I mean, against the wall?” Catie had a thing about being picked up and lifted without permission—he’d learned that years back.
She stared at him. “You want to?”
“Hell yeah. It’d be hot as hell to have you wrapped around me.”
A pause before she said, “Yes, but I should get the protection now.”
* * *
Catie felt off-center, unbalanced, and it had nothing to do with her legs. While she hadn’t run riot through the ranks like Danny, she’d had more than just Ward as a lover. All the men with whom she’d chosen to share her body, Ward included, had treated her well in bed, but none of them had ever been so hot for her that they’d suggested impulsive up-against-the-wall sex.
There’d always been a subtle element of “looking after” her that had frustrated her. Because she wasn’t made of cold iron and baby Catie had liked those young men, she’d allowed that type of thing to pass at the start of her first physical relationships—back when she’d been nineteen, twenty. She’d figured they’d chill once they got used to her prostheses, realized she wasn’t breakable.
It hadn’t happened. So she’d walked away. Catie refused to be with anyone who saw her prostheses first and her second.
Ward had been her first and worst mistake as a full-fledged adult—because she hadn’t been expecting his idiocy. He was an amputee himself, after all. He’d also been a flat-out charmer at first. She’d gone giggly with excitement, telling Veni that she might’ve finally hit the jackpot.
Ugh.
Hot hands on her hips, Danny kissing the back of her neck.
She shivered. “Hold on.”
But of course he followed her all the way to the bathroom, where she’d stashed a box of condoms. Unopened, because training had taken the front seat for the past six months, and—after the disappointment of Ward—she hadn’t run across anyone who made her want to shave her bikini line, much less get down and dirty.
Until Danny.
The man who’d seen her with stubble on her thighs, sand in her hair, and makeup smeared by sunscreen. And whose cock was stone hard for her.
One big arm came around her front, Danny tugging her back to him so he could attack the side of her neck with his sucking, kissing, nibbling mouth. Her eyes threatened to roll back in her head.
“Danny, damn it, let me open this!” Stupid plastic wrap.
He kissed her shoulder instead while stroking one hand down her side to her thigh. “Hurry up, princess. I might lose it in my pants and damn, that would be embarrassing.”