Total pages in book: 103
Estimated words: 96007 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 480(@200wpm)___ 384(@250wpm)___ 320(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 96007 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 480(@200wpm)___ 384(@250wpm)___ 320(@300wpm)
“Alright, Mighty Mouse. Just be careful.”
I stepped up on to the cushion and tried to reach the folder. I couldn’t see on top, so I reached blindly.
“No, not that one,” Dr. Pierce said when my hand landed on a stack of papers. “It’s the one further back.”
My face was pressed to the spines of the books, my feet cramping from trying to push up higher and my T-shirt riding up past my jeans exposing my skin.
“Here, I’ll get it,” he said, beginning to stand.
“Nope.” I gave him a hard stare. “You grade papers. I will conquer this reach.” He didn’t come running around the desk, but he did remain standing.
I looked at my options and put my foot on the thin arm of the chair. Getting a good balance, I held on to the shelf and moved my other foot to the other side. I only wobbled a little bit, which brought him out from behind the desk.
“Please don’t fall, Oaklyn.” He stepped closer.
“I’m not going to fall,” I said, laughing.
I fully extended my legs and could finally see the folder at the top of the shelf. “Who put these up here?” I asked reaching for them. “Whoever files for you, really needs to get better at their job.
“I’ll fire her in the morning.”
“Good plan.” I lowered my arm to hand the papers down and the angle threw me off. My foot slipped and the next thing I knew, I was doing exactly what I said I wouldn’t.
Falling.
My heart pounded and in that split second, all I could think was how dumb I must look after I made a big deal of getting the papers. Idiot.
Strong arms wrapped around me. One behind my back, fingers firmly pressed to my arm and the other over the top of my thighs, his hand gripping close to the crease of my ass. I rolled in toward his hard chest, hands pressed to his sculpted pecs, and my face buried against his crisp, white shirt.
“I’ve got you.” The vibration of his words rumbled against my palms and shot straight toward my core.
My body came to life, acknowledging every part of me in contact with him. My heart thumped painfully against my chest, either from adrenaline or excitement—excitement that moments had passed, and he still hadn’t let me go.
Swallowing hard, I raised my head and looked up into his eyes, watching them darken right before me. “Thank you.”
The arm across my legs, slowly lowered them back to the ground, but the arm around my back, kept me close. Could he feel my heart beating against his chest? Or the speed at which my lungs were trying to expand?
Solid ground hit my feet, yet I still floated above the ground, my hands holding tight to him.
I licked my lips and his eyes followed the movement before his own tongue repeated the process against his.
And I acted. Without thought. Without a care beyond what my body urged me to do.
Lifting up on to my toes, I recklessly pressed my lips to his.
A wave of chills washed over me. Excitement at the feel of his soft lips spread across my skin. His hand on my back contracted, but it was the only part of him that moved. It took me less than a moment to realize he wasn’t kissing me back. He wasn’t shoving me away, but he wasn’t reciprocating either.
I’d made a mistake. I slowly eased back, breaking the connection between our lips, and opened my eyes, wanting to lose myself in the flecks of gray in his open eyes, and realizing that while I’d been lost in a moment I’d probably regret forever, he’d stood frozen, with his eyes open.
“I’m. . . ” I tried to say the words, but they barely fell out in a whisper. They were hollow anyway, since I still clung to him. Was still pressed solidly against him. “I’m sor—”
I never got to finish before he leaned down and attacked my lips. For as frozen and inactive as he’d been a second before, he was giving it ten times more. He was devouring me, like a desperate man trying to push past all the reasons this was wrong. To drown in the pleasure of feeling our bodies close.
He stared at me as he licked at my lips, my eyes opened in shock with the complete one-eighty. But then I opened my mouth, meeting his tongue halfway, tasting him, and on a moan I tried to swallow, his lids slid closed.
I dug my hands in his hair and lost myself to the moment. Closed my eyes and focused solely on the taste of coffee on his tongue, the feel of his hands pressed against my back, holding me tight against the erection I could feel against my stomach.
He trailed his lips across my cheek and down my neck before working their way up again. This was happening. I couldn’t believe it.