Total pages in book: 144
Estimated words: 135382 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 677(@200wpm)___ 542(@250wpm)___ 451(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 135382 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 677(@200wpm)___ 542(@250wpm)___ 451(@300wpm)
Then she felt him press a kiss to the top of her head, his hands moving to turn her around. “You won’t regret this, Stephanie. I promise. It won’t be like last time. Last time I was quick and rough and I didn’t give you what you needed.”
She let him turn her, staring up at the most gorgeous man she’d ever seen. “I got an orgasm, as I recall. A few of them. I think that was what I needed.”
“Tell me you didn’t want D/s sex.” He was staring down at her, but there was no hesitation in those warm eyes now. His hands came up to cup her cheeks. “Don’t lie to me. I’ll know if you lie to me and it won’t go well.”
Wow. There it was. There was that dark, deep voice he used when he wanted to get something done. When he needed her to obey him while they were in the field, he would turn that rich-as-honey voice on her and she would find herself nodding and doing what he told her to.
But she wasn’t going to open herself up that much. She couldn’t, not when she knew that tomorrow morning they would be back to caution. “I read too many of Serena’s books. That’s why I did what I did. It’s okay. The sex was great.”
It had been the best sex she’d ever had. Since the majority of sex she’d had before hadn’t been about finding pleasure. It had been about escaping, and she hadn’t cared if she felt anything at all. Sex had been dirty, but then she’d been dirty, too.
So the sex she’d had with Brody had at least been for the right reason, to bring pleasure to them both.
“It wasn’t. Oh, it got the job done, no doubt,” he rumbled as he stared down at her. “But it didn’t fix my soul or yours. It didn’t connect us the way it should have. I want that connection. I want to feel you, and not only in a physical way. This isn’t playing. Playing is a silly word for what I want from you.”
“What word would you use?”
“Everything. I want everything.”
She couldn’t give him that, but she could give him tonight. Well, she could be with him for as long as Nate would allow. He slept fairly well, but certainly not through the night. What was she doing? “Nate’s going to wake up.”
His hands tightened slightly, gently forcing her to look up at him. “And I’ll feed him and change his nappy and rock him back to sleep. And then I’ll get back to making sure his mum can sleep, too. I’ve been gone and it was wrong of me. Let me make a bit of that up to you.”
“Brody,” she began because she didn’t want to lead him to believe this was really going anywhere beyond tonight.
“Don’t think and don’t argue. Let me take care of you. Let me show you everything is going to be okay.”
“For tonight,” she insisted.
“If that’s all you can accept,” he allowed. “But we’re going to do this my way.”
His head lowered down, sensual lips brushing hers. A rush of heat flashed through her body and it felt like her skin was alive with sensation. Even where he wasn’t touching her, her skin was primed, like a flower that knew it was finally going to get some love from the sun.
He kissed her, his lips moving over hers in a slow, methodical fashion. It was far from the way it had been the first time. The first time, he’d gone fast, passionate, like he couldn’t wait to swallow her whole.
This was different. This was thoughtful, meditative.
Was he taking his time because he felt differently about her now that she was a mom? Was she not as sexy as she’d been before Nate? Her body had changed. She hadn’t shed all the pregnancy pounds yet. She wasn’t a supermodel with two trainers, a nutritionist, and a chef.
“Stop thinking,” he whispered. “I know that big brain of yours is working. I can feel it. Stop. There’s no thinking tonight. No analyzing. There’s just you and me and what I can do to your body. Drop the towel, Stephanie.”
She bit her bottom lip. “Maybe we should go to the bed.”
“Because I turned the light off so Nate could sleep? I didn’t. The light on the nightstand is still on and if it wasn’t I would turn it on. I’m not fucking you in the dark. You’re going to look in my eyes and say my name and I’m going to do the same. It’s going to be you and me, and no pretending it ain’t exactly what it is. Drop that towel and let me look at you. I close my eyes every damn night since the day I met you and do you know what I see? I see you. I see you laughing and frowning, and they’re equally beautiful because they’re equally you. Since the night when we made Nate all I can see is you sleeping in that bed. I didn’t sneak out right away, you know. I stayed for three hours. I held you for the longest time and watched you while you slept. I only left when I had to and I did it because I thought it was best for you. You’ve been a ghost haunting me every night since that one.”