Total pages in book: 34
Estimated words: 33474 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 167(@200wpm)___ 134(@250wpm)___ 112(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 33474 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 167(@200wpm)___ 134(@250wpm)___ 112(@300wpm)
“That is something I’d like you to teach me. Hey!” I try to hook his gaze but he keeps skipping his away. “You weren’t worried about Jordy when I slept here the other night.”
He stops that train of thought with a quick nip and a nuzzle down my throat. He sighs into the crook and I hug him tighter.
“I shouldn’t have left you alone that morning.” I exaggerate a long sigh. “I’ll have to prove I’ll never do that again.”
He pulls his ticklish lips off my throat and meets my eye. “When can you start?”
I laugh. He smiles.
And it’s magic.
A year later
Lyle’s hands come around my waist, pushing at the edge of my T-shirt. He drags his fingers over my skin to my chest.
My gasp is soft, and he whispers against my nape, “Happy moving-in day.”
We’re on his back deck, taking a breather from emptying boxes. The sun is out and a warm breeze pushes at the garden-sea of lavender heads. His body is warm and familiar at my back and I hold his hands in place against my chest, my steadily beating heart. “You know that space,” I say cheekily, “where you once wanted a dog kennel?”
He pinches my nipples and I laugh, threading my fingers between his and squeezing. “I think our tree should go right there.”
“Our tree?”
“Mm, let’s go to Cole’s this afternoon and choose one together. We’ll plant it right in that spot.”
“Will it be magical?”
“Yes.”
“Will it grow very fast?”
“No.”
“What’ll be magic then?”
“Getting to see it grow.”
Lyle holds me tighter and nibbles kisses at my neck. “Jase?”
God, hearing him say my name so softly, wantonly. It never gets old—
I spin around and capture his mouth in a kiss. “Yeah?”
“Jordy and Robin are gone . . .” He smirks. “I mean, there’s not much left to unpack.”
He pulls off my shirt and his fingers dance over the fine chest hairs to my nipples. Blood rushes south, and Lyle kisses me again. I bring him flush against me and nip his lip.
He hums. “You touch me like you do plants in the garden: firmly, with a confident hand. I like it.”
I laugh and, drawing on any willpower I have left, pull myself away from him, backing towards the house. “There are things left to unpack. In the bedroom.”
Our bedroom.
Lyle pounces from behind, toppling us both into the empty boxes on the floor. He’s heavy and warm against my back, vibrating with laughter; his lips brush lightly over the skin on my neck, and I turn my head and snatch his lips to mine.
We extricate ourselves from the crushed boxes and stand, the tips of our big toes touching. Sunlight pushes through the mesh curtains, kissing Lyle’s hair and one side of his face, and a light breeze washes over my skin. I tangle our fingers together. This gorgeous man before me—
Lyle kisses me hard, thrusting his tongue with passion as he works my buttons and yanks down my shorts. “Jase. I want you.”
Our naked bodies come together in a cool clash that quickly warms. Hands roam over my back, digging into my skin, calling me closer.
I nudge him towards the large bed. He doesn’t want to let me go, even for a moment, and we tumble down beside three unopened boxes. Lyle gasps at the cool blankets under his back, but stills me with firm hands when I try to roll us over. “I like your weight on me.”
The breeze caresses my back, hips and thighs. I pin his hands down, stapling his fingers to the bed with mine.
It feels good to be with him like this. From the first time we touched, intimacy with Lyle has been easy. We connect—a spark on the surface, and something like a sigh under it. Maybe it’s knowing all his shades, and him knowing mine. Maybe it’s feeling like we can make mistakes; knowing we’ll find ways to fix them.
Maybe it’s his goddamn gorgeous grin and the sexy way he moans.
Our skin becomes hot and damp.
He bites my ear, my neck.
The boxes beside us jump and lurch.
Nails dig into my back, drag down . . .
The boxes fall off the bed. Something breaks.
I don’t care. I collapse onto Lyle’s panting, sticky body and steal his curled lips into a soft kiss.
He tastes it with a satisfied, sleepy hum, and his eyes crinkle. “Let’s go buy our tree.”
~ The End ~