Total pages in book: 94
Estimated words: 89934 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 450(@200wpm)___ 360(@250wpm)___ 300(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 89934 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 450(@200wpm)___ 360(@250wpm)___ 300(@300wpm)
“Brenna.” The one word held more emotion than he knew how to express with words. “You don’t know what you’re asking.”
She walked to him, and with each step, his breath caught until she was so near he could share her air. But she didn’t put her hands on him this time, and he tried to command it with his mind.
Touch me.
What was happening? He’d never felt this before—the insane need to protect her from the world while also wanting to throw her on the floor and do the dirtiest things imaginable just to hear her moan.
“I do. I do know. And I need it for closure.” She stared up at him, eyes pleading but also with something akin to awe.
He felt his resolve weakening with each word she spoke, but he couldn’t cave yet. “I like this,” he whispered, running a finger between her eyes.
Her nose wrinkled. “Like what?”
“The way you look at me.” He stroked the pad of his thumb over her cheek. “That’ll change if you’re there tomorrow.”
She shook her head. “I—”
He pressed his thumb over her lips. “It will.” He sighed. “But you deserve to make your own choice. And you deserve that closure.” Who was he to make decisions for her? Some random dude passing through her life for a few days? No one with any power to sway her, even if he liked the idea of his opinion mattering to her in a big way. Who cared if she saw him differently? Hell, it would make it easier for her to walk away, which was what she needed to do.
Maturity fucking sucked.
“Thank you.” She spoke against his finger, and he couldn’t keep his mind from running with the fantasy of her drawing his thumb between her lips and giving it a hot, hard suck.
Lock yanked his hand away. Emotions bombarded him from all angles—frustration, fear, regret, the ever-present grief, the heavy weight of responsibility over Caleb, and now a new one—desire.
Always fucking emotions.
Fuck, he wanted to get high. It was the only thing to stop the swirling in his mind. To numb the pain, kill the feelings of failure, decrease the loneliness of losing his only family, and ease the constant worry over life depending on him. But what he’d learned during rehab was how, with each hit, those feelings compounded because he added the fear of losing his club and letting down the men he’d pledged his life to. It became a vicious cycle that only the imminent threat of losing his patch had been able to stop.
“I have to pick up Caleb,” he said as he turned his back on the only woman he’d truly wanted in a long time.
“Oh. Do you want me to come?”
Fuck yes, he wanted her to come. On his fingers, on his dick, on his goddamn tongue.
“Don’t you have to finish up at the shelter with the ladies?”
She smacked a palm to her head. “Oh God, right. We were in the middle of a walk-through when Oliver’s text popped up. We still have a lot to go over.”
He nodded. “All right. Sounds good. Off to get the little man.” He’d been hanging out with Curly’s sister, Rachel, for the morning.
“Great,” Brenna said with an obvious forced enthusiasm. “I’ll see you back at home this evening.”
Home. His home. And hers for one more night. “See you there.”
But he didn’t see her. Whether it was because he was a fucking coward or she was the one avoiding him, they’d never know. He picked Caleb up and took him to the beach. Little man loved nothing more than being a sandy mess. While bathing him in the early evening, he heard Brenna come in, but she went straight to her room and didn’t emerge again.
It was for the best. What the hell had he thought was going to happen? They’d eat and play with Caleb together again before falling into bed to spend hours lost in pleasure?
The thought played on his mind as he stared at the darkness late into the night. “Fuck,” he said with a groan as he rolled to his back for the fiftieth time. His cock was hard and aching as it had been for much of the night. Hell, pretty much since he first laid eyes on Brenna. That damn smile of hers went straight to his dick every time. And her eyes. The way she looked at him. She tracked him sometimes.
Fuck, she left him no choice. He thought of her as he shoved a hand down his shorts and wrapped a hand around his dick in a firm grip. One rough tug had him biting his lip to keep from shouting a curse. He liked it like that. Harsh and without mercy.
He had a feeling Brenna could give it to him like that and revel in it. The things she’d said, the hints she’d dropped. She wanted to fuck with the same fierce intensity he did.