Total pages in book: 58
Estimated words: 55153 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 276(@200wpm)___ 221(@250wpm)___ 184(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 55153 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 276(@200wpm)___ 221(@250wpm)___ 184(@300wpm)
“We don’t have to, okay?” he says softly.
“Don’t you want to?”
The corners of his lip quirk up. “Very much. But if it’s not tonight…if you’re not ready, it’s okay.”
I reach up and trace my fingertips over the dark stubble on his cheeks, to his jaw, and down to his neck. “I know it’s a weird time to ask this, but do you sleep with lots of women?”
His lips turn down into a thin line. Uh-oh. This isn’t going to be good.
“There was a time when I did,” he says. “But I always used protection and I get tested regularly. I don’t have anything.”
“Oh.” I trail my fingertips down to his chest. “I wasn’t worried about that. I was more wondering…how long it’s been for you?”
His lips turn up in a partial smile. “A while. Close to a year.”
My eyes widen with surprise. “Really? Wow.”
As my fingertips graze lower, to his happy trail, his lips form an O and I see the truth in his words—it’s been a long time since a woman touched him.
“It’s not that I haven’t wanted to,” he says in a low tone, leaning back and grabbing the back of his shirt to pull it off over his head. “It’s because I met this amazing woman who was the only one I wanted, but she wasn’t ready for anything yet.”
My heart stammers as I realize what he’s saying.
“Me?” The word gets caught in my throat.
He’s leaning over me again, brushing the backs of his fingers over my cheek.
“The first time I saw you, I was a goner. But I felt guilty about it, and I tried to hide it.”
Emotion wells in my throat; I had no idea he thought of me this way until after our fake dating arrangement. It wouldn’t have changed my devotion to Eric, but knowing he felt that way and kept his distance says a lot about the man he is.
“Pax…wow.”
“So if any of this is too soon, or too much, we can stop at any time. I’ve been waiting for you since before you even gave me a second glance, baby. I’ll wait as long as I need to.”
I feel myself falling for him even harder. Even now, with his erection straining against his pants, he’s thinking of me first.
“No more waiting,” I say softly. “I want you now.”
His mouth is on mine. I wrap my arms around him, tracing the ridges and valleys of muscle on his back. We’re still mostly clothed, but we’ve already exposed the most intimate parts of ourselves to each other.
He pushes my shirt up, a growling sound escaping his throat as he lowers his mouth to my breasts, cupped in a lacy white bra. He kisses one, sending a shiver up and down my spine.
I shimmy beneath him, trying to get my shirt off. He leans back and helps me into a sitting position, and then he pulls it off and tosses it to the floor without even looking. His eyes are locked on me.
“You’re so beautiful,” he says, grazing his thumb over my jawline. “I’m the luckiest guy in the world.”
My glance unconsciously falls to his crotch, and I smile. “I’m feeling quite lucky myself.”
With a smirk, he reaches around and unfastens my bra, throwing it aside, and we fall back onto the bed together. The sheets smell like he does—a light spearmint scent that I think is from his soap.
I’m out of practice at taking a man’s pants off, and I can’t even get his khakis unbuttoned. He rolls to his back and comes to my aid, unbuttoning and unzipping them and then putting his hips in the air and pulling off his pants and boxers at the same time.
I force my lips to stay closed, but inside I’m about to have a panic attack. The lighting’s not much, but it’s enough to see that he’s even more enormous than I thought. But as soon as he returns to me and circles one of my nipples with the tip of his tongue, everything else is forgotten. He takes his time with each one, licking and nipping until they’ve hardened into desperate points.
He moves lower then, kissing his way down my stomach to my navel, making me jump because it tickles or making me moan with pleasure every time his mouth finds a new pleasure point. I run my hands into his thick hair, tugging lightly as he unfastens my pants and tugs them down.
“Tell me when you want these off,” he says, pressing a kiss against me through the satin of my panties.
“Off,” I say, his breath warm on my bare thighs. “Now.”
He complies, the last of my clothes hitting the floor. His mouth becomes an exquisite instrument of torture as he slowly kisses his way from my ankle to my upper thigh, making me shiver and gasp along the way. When he moves to my other ankle, I start to run out of patience.