Total pages in book: 89
Estimated words: 82756 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 414(@200wpm)___ 331(@250wpm)___ 276(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 82756 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 414(@200wpm)___ 331(@250wpm)___ 276(@300wpm)
Bedside lamp casting warm shadows across the bed, he lifted the edge of the blanket for me to climb in next to him. His eyes were heated, but somehow he managed relaxed body language and a casual tone.
“Requests?” he asked as he pulled me close under the covers, onto more of his side of the bed. The gesture was more sweet than sexual but romantic nonetheless. “Big spoon? Little spoon?”
“How the hell are you so nice?” Making a sound partway between frustration and chuckling, I arranged myself exactly how I wanted, on my side, head on his shoulder, an arm and a leg across his big body, chest pressed to his, warm and perfect.
“I train hard.” Holden stroked a hand down my bare back. “Maybe you make it easy to be nice?”
I snorted. “Try again.”
“Maybe I like being nice to you.” Pressing a gentle kiss to the top of my head, he held me close, and wonder of wonders, I relaxed into the embrace.
“Huh. I guess I like it.”
Holden laughed and kissed my head again, this time on the temple. “You don’t have to sound so startled.”
“Hey, my surprise is real. I used to hate being fussed over. Still do, honestly. Only seem to tolerate it from you.” My admission made him squeeze me tighter against him, hand firm on my back.
“Good. I don’t want to share you.” He gazed intently into my eyes, a message there about far more than nice gestures. “I’ll do all the fussing you need.”
“That you asking if we can go steady?” I joked to relieve the sudden tightness in my chest, but Holden cocked his head, more serious than silly.
“Are we dating?” The tiny note of hope in his voice darn near killed me.
“Um.” He deserved far better than a flip answer, especially after the day we’d had. He’d been there for me, no questions asked, yet again. Lacking clarity, I went for the truth. “I was hoping you’d know the answer to that.”
“Living together certainly makes things confusing.” He sighed. “I mean, I’m your landlord—”
“Never had dinner and TV with a landlord. That ain’t how I think of you, and you know it.” I gave him a hard stare. “You telling me roommates never date?”
I had absolutely no clue what I was doing, advocating for us to be anything other than casual friends. But the answer mattered to Holden. That much was clear in his every look and gesture, and what he wanted mattered to me, even if it was unfamiliar territory.
“All right then.” He gave a crisp nod. “Come with me to trivia night at the pub. Wear a nice shirt. I’ll buy you fried pickles, and we can hold hands under the table.”
“It’s a date.” Swallowing hard, I tried to calm my pulse rate out of cardiac-event territory.
“Your heart is pounding.” Holden’s voice was kind as he stroked my back some more.
“Yeah.” There was no sense in lying. I sagged against him. “Not like I have a lot of dating experience. I’ll probably screw it up.”
“It’s trivia night with the guys.” He offered me a crooked smile. “Pretty hard to mess up. I know you can’t make me any promises.” His smile dipped a tiny bit before recovering. “But I want this. I want to see where things go.”
“Me too.” My heart continued to hammer like an out-of-control nail gun. Humor was usually Holden’s weapon of choice, but right then, it was the only thing standing between me and emotional Armageddon. “So we lived together first, then did kink, slept next to each other, finally kissed, and now we’re gonna have a first date? At this backward pace, I’m gonna be sending you love notes on looseleaf next week.”
“I’m counting on it.” He tipped my head back, eyes telegraphing his intent, but I didn’t pull away. In fact, I leaned toward him as he lowered his mouth. Earlier, the kisses had been more about connection and comfort. And this started in a similar fashion, a light brush like I had done to him, but then the kiss turned far more seductive. His tongue coaxed mine out to play, and his lips, while still soft, were active, encouraging more responses from me. If earlier had been a kiss, a singular noun, this was kissing, a verb, a very active verb.
“Oh.” I gasped as he pulled back. We were in exactly the same position, lying next to each other in his bed, under the covers, but every cell in my body felt as though I’d traveled through space and time, a cosmic event. I released a shaky laugh. “All those songs and lines about butterflies and fireworks. I always figured everyone else was either liars or damn good poets or both. But that…”
“Butterflies?” Hopeful crinkles appeared around Holden’s hazel eyes.
“More like the butterfly effect. Time travel.” I laughed, not entirely comfortable with this level of poetry from myself, but I lacked the appropriate vocabulary for kissing Holden. Anything I’d experienced prior was fast and fleeting, ultimately disappointing. “You…took me places.”