Total pages in book: 158
Estimated words: 145729 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 729(@200wpm)___ 583(@250wpm)___ 486(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 145729 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 729(@200wpm)___ 583(@250wpm)___ 486(@300wpm)
“Jake has bank, baby, but the two of them go way back. He saved Drake’s life in Borneo and then his leg here. They’re tight. Jake can be… volatile. Drake rarely gets angry. He’s always steady.” He dipped his head to find her mouth.
He’d kissed a lot of women. He couldn’t remember their names or faces. He couldn’t remember their taste. Sonia had found a way inside him. He craved kissing her. He found himself thinking about her kisses at the most awkward times. He traced the shape of her lips with his tongue, memorizing the shape and feel of them. Taking his time. She let him. Right in the middle of an important discussion, she let him.
His heart stuttered. Her mouth was his haven. Her body was paradise, his escape from his reality. She became his reality when he touched her. He straightened his legs, tangling them with hers while he poured his love down her throat, stroking her tongue with his, dancing, mating, commanding. He got back love, and he took it deep.
He lifted his head. “You always give yourself to me. Wholly. All of you. That first time with you, your body melted into mine. You were so fuckin’ hot. All for me. All mine. Every time I touch you, it’s the same way.” He heard the reverence in his voice, the awe, but he didn’t care. She deserved to know how much she meant to him, and there was no way to explain to her. She was giving up everything for him.
“If this was his idea, why isn’t he looking dirty to the world?”
He didn’t see that coming. There was a little bit of bite to her tone indicating to him she might not want to get along with Drake.
“He’s a good man, Sonia. Give him a chance.”
She made a face at him and kissed his throat. “He put you in danger, Joshua. You’re the one looking dirty to the world. Not him. He may have cost me a good friend. My only friend. I don’t know if I can do that.”
“I didn’t have to take this job. No one put a gun to my head. That was all me.” He pushed his fingers through his hair in a sudden moment of contemplation. “I don’t even know why.”
“Atonement.”
His heart jumped. “What the fuck, baby? What am I atoning for?” But he knew. He knew exactly what. That monster inside him. The one he’d unleashed in Borneo. There were things one regretted in a lifetime. Things one couldn’t take back or ever make right. “Don’t answer that, just let it go.”
She tangled her fingers in his hair and pressed her lips to his throat. The action had her breasts rubbing along his chest, something he loved. He cupped the soft weight in his hands and dipped his head to lick at a nipple with his tongue. His mouth closed around the tempting mound. Her skin even tasted like paradise.
Her arms cradled his head and she laughed softly. “How can I possibly have a serious conversation with you when you’re distracting me? I’m not certain I can go another round, Joshua, my body’s a little sore.”
He lifted his head immediately, narrowing his eyes. “You didn’t say a word. You have to tell me when I’m being too rough with you.”
“You weren’t too rough, silly.” She kissed his throat and scattered more along his jaw to the corner of his mouth.
He knew damn well she was trying to distract him, and he wasn’t having it. “That’s unacceptable to me. You always tell me. Always.”
“I enjoyed every single second of what we did together. I have no problem opening my mouth and saying if I think you’re being too rough. We’ve had a lot of sex lately. I’m just saying I’m a little sore. I like the way I feel. I do. It reminds me, with every step I take, that you were inside me. I love that feeling.”
“I’m not small, baby. Maybe we should consult a doctor…” He tried to fight down panic. He didn’t have a lot to offer her and sex was a big thing for both of them. It wasn’t one-sided. She loved it as much as he did. He couldn’t…
“Stop, crazy man.” She pushed her forehead against his heart and burst out laughing. “I’m not going anywhere. You don’t have to change yourself for me. I love the way you touch me. The way you like to mark me. I love the way you play. You’re being paranoid. We don’t have to go to a doctor, although one might be needed for your head if you keep acting like a nut. A hot bath with salts will take care of it. I’m just too sleepy to go there.”
“Well, I’m not,” he snapped and rolled off the bed. It was difficult to leave the warmth and softness of her body, but damn it all to hell, she wasn’t going to be sore. “You should have told me immediately.” He snapped the command, warning her that if it happened again, his brand of retaliation would be worse than he’d given her tonight. Or better. Depending on what the outcome would be. He let himself fantasize while he started the taps running and looked through cupboards until he found some girly-looking lavender salts the maid had purchased when he’d asked her to get a few things along with the blow-dryer.