Total pages in book: 55
Estimated words: 51832 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 259(@200wpm)___ 207(@250wpm)___ 173(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 51832 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 259(@200wpm)___ 207(@250wpm)___ 173(@300wpm)
She goes down on her knees in front of me, her hands on my body, a lightning rod of adrenaline. I need to fuck and I’m hard and ready.
“Talk to me,” she encourages.
“I don’t want to talk, baby,” I confess honestly. “That’s not what I need right now.”
Her eyes widen. “That bad?”
“That bad,” I confirm.
“Then I’m here. Tell me what you need.”
“I need you to stand up and undress, and that’s just the beginning.”
Understanding dawns in her eyes, deep in those intelligent eyes but there’s no fear or hesitation. She uses my legs to push off the floor and stand up. She undresses then, and truly I don’t know who is more in control right now. I am that lost in just watching her. When she’s naked, she just stands there in front of me, as if she’s waiting on instructions. And I give them to her.
“Turn around,” I order.
She turned around and damn the things I did to her that night.
We didn’t speak about Ned until morning.
And now here she is again, her hands in front of her and me behind her.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Luke
“Don’t let yesterday use up too much of today.”
—Will Rogers
You’d think with Ana naked and at my mercy, I wouldn’t be thinking about anything but fucking her. But fuck me, for just the briefest of moments, I’m living all the hell we’ve been through all over again. That confrontation with Kasey. The fight with Ana when I returned. The hospital. The funeral. That phone call from Jake when he was murdered as I listened. And then his warning about Ana, and my fear that our enemies would get to her before I did. And then that damn empty locker that tells me I’m no closer to ending all of this than I was two years ago.
All of it leads to right here and now, and how damn badly I need her and this escape.
But I’m not in a rush, even if our circumstances demand otherwise.
No.
I will not rush any moment I have with Ana. Not ever again.
I step into her, my hips pressed to her hips, my hands sliding up to cup her breasts, the puckered pebbles of her nipples against my palms, my lips pressing to her bare shoulder, teeth scraping the delicate skin there. She moans one of her sweet little moans and presses into me. Confirmation that she’s let go of the world outside. She’s present with me all the way, and that’s exactly what I was looking for in her.
I reach for her pants, working them free until my hands are pressed beneath the material and I’m sliding them over her hips. I yank them down, and find her backside bare, not a slip of silk anywhere to be found, and color me happy. All the easier to find my way inside her.
“Shoes off,” I order, and she does as I say, toeing them away before I wrap my arm around her and get rid of her pants.
The instant they’re gone, I smack her backside. She gasps, and arches her back, thrusting her beautiful ass further into the air. Fuck, I love her ass in the air, but I have this realization that now is not that time. I feel like I’ve waited a lifetime for every moment I get with her. I want to see her, see everything she feels on her face.
I turn her to face me, but I’m not ready to shift the control, to let go of her submission.
Pressing her hands over her head, I order, “Hold them there.”
Her lips are swollen, eyes heavy, voice breathless as she says, “I don’t know if I can do that. I need to touch you.”
“I promise you, I’ll make it worth the wait.”
“I waited a long time, Luke,” she whispers. “Too long.” Her voice trembles with emotions.
Fuck.
She might as well slice me open and gut me. Because it’s the truth. It was too long. And I did that. I let that happen.
Guilt stabs at me and I release her hands, tangling my fingers in the silky strands of her hair, even as I pull her head back, and drag her mouth to mine. “No more waiting,” I say, and already she is touching me, wrapping her arms around me, her breasts pressed to my chest. She is delicate and soft against me, a thorned rose, beautiful and strong, my thorned rose.
Holy hell, this is what I needed, not the games.
I deepen the kiss, drinking her in, my tongue licking deep, and I swear I could drown in the taste of her—all sweet and womanly—and it wouldn’t be enough. Her hands, as soft as her body, press under my T-shirt, shoving it up and I reach behind me, dragging it over my head. I’ve barely tossed it aside and she’s stroking my cock through my jeans, and I groan with the impact, I am hot and hard, and I might break the damn zipper. I set her back from me, lean her against the wall and at least for now, she waits for me, watching me with hungry eyes, and giving me just enough time and space to get naked.