Total pages in book: 103
Estimated words: 99434 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 497(@200wpm)___ 398(@250wpm)___ 331(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 99434 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 497(@200wpm)___ 398(@250wpm)___ 331(@300wpm)
If I didn’t put a little space between us, I was about to fuck things up. I cleared my throat. “I need to give Freckles some water. Can I get you a glass of wine?”
“I’d love that.”
Layla stayed at the windows as I filled Freckles’ new bowl and opened a bottle of wine. It was getting dark fast, and by the time I joined her again, the light of the day was almost gone.
“When I was little and people asked me my favorite color, I would say rainbow because I loved the way all the colors looked together and couldn’t pick just one,” she said. “I think that’s changed.”
“Oh yeah?” I extended the glass of wine to her. “What’s your new favorite color?”
She smiled. “Sunset. That’s my new favorite color.”
“Come on. Let me show you the view from my bedroom before it gets completely dark. It’s different, but just as good.”
“I don’t even care if that’s a line. I want to see the view.”
“Seriously?” she said as she walked in. The two windows in my bedroom were smaller than the display in the living room, but they framed a view of the Hudson River, which currently reflected the last of the sunset and lights of the coming evening. “These are the best views I’ve ever seen in an apartment. I don’t think I’d ever leave if I lived here.”
“I’m sure that could be arranged.”
Just as we’d done in the living room, we stood at the bedroom windows looking outside for a while. I’m not sure how long we were there, but when Layla turned around, it was totally dark.
Her big green eyes looked up at me. “What did you miss most?”
Before I could answer, she held up a finger, clarifying her question. “And you can’t say me.”
I thought for a moment. “I missed wanting time to slow down.”
“What do you mean?”
“I wanted every day to pass quickly. I was basically wishing my life away. I missed the moments in life when I wanted time to stand still.”
“I’m not sure I understand.”
“How did you just feel watching the sunset in the living room? Like you were enjoying the moment, and maybe it would be nice to stretch it a few minutes longer…make time slow down?”
“Yeah. That’s exactly how I felt.”
“I missed that feeling. I missed having things that were so important to me, that I enjoyed so much, that I wanted them to last a little longer.”
She looked into my eyes. “That’s a really good answer. I guess it can encompass many different things—a sunset, a special moment with someone, hearing an old song, a rainbow.”
I wanted to tell her that this was one of those moments in the worst way. But I held back for fear of scaring her. Instead, we both sipped our wine. Tension built inside of me. She had to have felt it, too. We were standing in my bedroom, in the dark, in silence. I looked over at the bed eight feet away, and my thoughts couldn’t help but move to what it would be like to be inside her. I wanted to fuck her all over my apartment—a christening of sorts. Against the living room windows while she watched the sunset, in the bedroom on all fours while she watched the sun rise. On the kitchen counter, in the shower, on the floor in front of the fireplace in the dining room, on top of my desk in the guest bedroom that I used as an office.
Layla’s voice broke me out of my fuckfest fantasy.
“What are you thinking about right now? You seem so focused on something.”
I sipped my wine. “I don’t think I should say.”
She tilted her head. Even though it was dark now, the green in her eyes sparkled. “Why not?”
“Because I promised myself I’d never do something stupid like lie to you again.”
“Why would you have to lie to me?”
I pointed my eyes to the bed before meeting hers again.
“Oh,” she said.
The tension we’d managed to keep on simmer suddenly intensified. The air grew thick as the seconds passed, neither of us making an attempt to move out of the dark bedroom. I heard her breathing turn heavier as she stared down at the floor, avoiding my gaze. When she looked up from under thick lashes and our eyes connected, I thought I might lose it.
So fucking beautiful.
So fucking sexy.
In my bedroom…
But I couldn’t make the first move, even though I would have given anything to take that mouth, devour that neck, hear her moan the way I knew she did when I kissed her. It was a sound I’d never forgotten.
Her voice was so low, I almost thought I’d imagined it at first.
“Tell me what you were thinking.”
“You won’t hold it against me?”
She swallowed and shook her head.
“I was imagining waking up to a sunrise in my bed with you. I was imagining the sun coming up over the river and all the beautiful colors.” My voice was gravelly, and I waited for her to stop me. She didn’t. “You’d be on all fours in the center of my bed while I fucked you from behind, slowly, as you watched the sun rise.”