Total pages in book: 31
Estimated words: 28557 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 143(@200wpm)___ 114(@250wpm)___ 95(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 28557 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 143(@200wpm)___ 114(@250wpm)___ 95(@300wpm)
Winnie yaps from her perch, disapproving and demanding. Sage laughs, her voice ringing like a bell. I throw in the towel and laugh with her, knowing I've already won the biggest prize just by being here.
Dinner is a blur of jokes and stories, most of which involve embarrassing tales about Sage and Eloise's college years. I’m helpless to resist the pull of it all.
My focus is split between Sage and the whirlwind around her. I want this. I want it so much it feels like my chest might burst from the pressure.
As we finish up our meal, Eloise turns to Sage. "Ian's won me over," she admits, and they both chuckle. "But listen, if you ever hurt Sage, I'll kick your ass." Her words are lighthearted, but I know she means each one.
Eloise dramatically flops against the couch and sighs like she’s dying. “Oh my God, the kids were hyped up this week. I’m exhausted,” she groans, stretching and pointing to her bedroom. “I’m gonna hit the sack a little early.”
I smirk. She’s not being subtle about leaving me and Sage alone. Out of the corner of my eye, I notice the red blush flashing across Sage’s gorgeous face. Her fingers tremble slightly when she presses play on the movie we’re about to watch. She sits as far from me as the cushions allow, pretending we’re going to do anything but forget all about the movie.
Winnie bounces after Eloise, but not before throwing a disapproving glance our way. “I’ll see you two lovebirds in the morning,” Eloise chirps, her grin wicked and knowing. “Or whenever you show up, Ian.” I rub my chin, not hiding my smile. I’m damn glad Sage’s roommate is on board with what I’m about to make happen. Her blessing isn’t strictly necessary, but it sure doesn’t hurt. I watch Sage, waiting for her to react, to protest, to insist this movie marathon isn’t some elaborate set-up.
“Uh, I thought she’d never leave,” Sage says, voice shaking a little as she keeps her eyes on the screen. Her face is flushed, a bright crimson hue that spreads across her cheeks while her fingers tremble slightly, betraying her nervousness.
She sits on the far end of the couch as if trying to keep some distance between us, but her eyes keep flickering toward me. She scrolls through movie titles quickly like her nerves are getting the best of her.
“What do you want to watch?” I ask, leaning in and closing the distance between us, swallowing her with my presence, feeling the way she reacts when I get too close. The way she gulps and then catches herself before she actually squeaks.
She flicks her eyes at me, too fast. “Do you like scary movies?” she blurts, as sexual tension swirls heavily in the air.
“I love them.” Usually. But right now, all I want to concentrate on is her. I reach for Sage’s hand, pulling her into the warmth of my side, feeling the way she molds against me. She turns on the movie I’ve been dying to see. Too bad I won’t see it tonight either.
The movie starts, but my eyes don’t leave her face. I wonder if she can tell just how fast my heart is thundering. If she notices my pulse in the movement of my arm across her shoulders. Her huge eyes blink at me, and suddenly it’s like she can’t get close enough. She burrows closer like I’m everything she wants and needs.
I let my fingers drift slowly, hesitantly over her arm, feeling her softness. Her closeness. I could not give two shits what happens on the screen. As far as I’m concerned, it’s an empty gray blur. It might as well be a snowstorm. This right here is all that matters, the way she breathes in and out, in and out, and the way I breathe along with her, getting a little wilder every second. Her hand is so close to my thigh, and if she can’t feel what she’s doing to me, she’s got less teacher sense than I thought.
Her breath hitches, and she nuzzles closer. I move my hand up to her shoulder, waiting for her to stop me, to pause, to say anything other than what she says next.
“Oh,” she gasps, so soft it’s not even a word, so soft I could imagine it.
“Sage,” I say, voice raw and unfamiliar. “Do you want me to stop?”
She tilts her head back, inviting me to capture her mouth with mine. Inviting me to take more and more, everything I’m desperate for. “I want you,” she says, or maybe I just fucking hear it, maybe it’s just what I need her to say. She melts and dissolves and evaporates against me, filling the air and then my lungs with the scent and taste and feel of Sage. Her name is all I can manage as I find her lips, capture them, and cover them as I move her up and over me.