Total pages in book: 56
Estimated words: 53417 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 267(@200wpm)___ 214(@250wpm)___ 178(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 53417 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 267(@200wpm)___ 214(@250wpm)___ 178(@300wpm)
“All day,” I tell him because it’s true. Every time I finished a task or started a new one or got a drink or ate my lunch or stapled some documents, I thought of him. He rakes his teeth over my shoulder, and I admit in a rushed breath, “I missed you.”
“You should have told me,” he scolds, and fucks into me harder. With a hand on my hip and the other gripping the back of my neck, he pounds into me.
I dig my fingers into the leather and nearly bite down on the back of it to stifle my moans. His fingers are taking me right to the edge. I can feel my orgasm gathering, centered over my clit and deep inside me. “Would you have come to the office and taken me?” I question, although I’m nearly breathless.
“I should have done it already,” he says, his voice low and dangerous.
“Yes,” I gasp, and the orgasm comes on fast and hot. I move my hips back against Graham until he holds me still, filling me while he curses.
“Do you have any idea how fucking hot you are?” He leans over me, covering me with his body. “Do you have any idea how bad I want you?”
I can’t answer because I’m holding on for dear life.
Graham pushes in so deep he bottoms out and lets out a low grunt, and then he’s finding his release as well.
He pulls out with a reluctant sigh, then gathers me onto his lap.
He tips his head back to rest on the chair. I kiss down the line of his neck to his collar and he makes a satisfied noise.
We stay like that for a long time, and then Graham offers me a shower and some clothes to borrow.
“Borrow?” I tease. “You want me to spend the night?”
“I don’t want you going downstairs,” he says, and guides me into the shower. “I didn’t have you all week, stay with me tonight.”
Graham
* * *
I've never thought much about lying around in the bath before. Baths don't make money, and lying around doesn't, either.
But you couldn’t pay me to get out of the bath with Maddie. It’s fucking heaven.
Her wet hair drips onto my chest, and she curls her whole body up onto mine, and fuck. I don’t care if I lose everything so long as I can hold on to this.
The air is filled with the scent of her shampoo and her body wash and the clean, warm smell of her skin, and part of me wants to save this memory somehow so I have it forever.
Maddie sighs, turning to kiss my collarbone.
“What’s on your mind?” I ask, running my fingers through her hair. It’s slippery from her conditioner and doesn’t snag at all.
“Oh, it’s nothing.”
“Tell me anyway.”
“I was just thinking about how content I am.” She lifts her hand from the water and the sound is soothing. I take her hand in mine, enjoying the warmth as she settles into me.
I murmur and kiss the side of her neck, loving how her body reacts. “Is that right?”
“Yes. And...” She makes another soft sound. She’s careful with her words. “I don’t know how to feel about it. I always thought it would take more of a fight. That’s what I was used to, before.”
“Before?”
“When I was younger.”
“You’re young now.”
Maddie presses her sweet body against mine, and that’s almost the end of the conversation. “I mean before I met you. I always felt like I was fighting for something. I felt like...if I wasn’t fighting and going after my goals, then it would definitely turn out wrong. And it did, with my ex. I stopped fighting, and everything went to shit.”
I stiffen at the mere mention of men who had her before me.
We’re both quiet for a minute.
“It’s different with you,” she admits. “I don’t feel like I have to fight for everything.”
I don’t want her to fight for a damn thing. Not when she’s mine. Tension builds in my shoulders and I bite back so much of what I want to say.
Instead, I lean down and kiss her, my heart aching. Because I want to be the person who gives her the world. I want to tell her that.
But something’s stopping me.
Something says I shouldn’t go that far, and shouldn’t offer her that, because maybe I’m not the man she needs. And one day this is going to end. It’s merely an arrangement. A negotiation that has an undefined timeline. She knows it. I know it. But neither of us says it out loud.
Maddie
It was too good to be true.
It’s all I can think, and I nearly tell Suzette just that when she texts me and asks how it’s going.
I should have known that the minute I started to settle into what I thought was a fresh start, it was too good to be true. But I wanted to see the best in it. Looking on the bright side is what got me through hard times.