Total pages in book: 129
Estimated words: 121764 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 609(@200wpm)___ 487(@250wpm)___ 406(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 121764 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 609(@200wpm)___ 487(@250wpm)___ 406(@300wpm)
And yet, every single one of them was bad.
“I’m sleeping in an actual bed tonight,” I grumbled, which earned me a roll of Grace’s eyes as she stuck her tongue out at the camera and cut the video. She set her phone down on the bedside table, and then crawled back over to me.
And I do mean she fucking crawled, on her hands and knees, long hair falling over her shoulders as she kept those emerald eyes locked on mine.
“That was the best thing you could think of?” she asked, and she kept crawling, knees pressing into the comforter each step of the way.
When she reached the edge, she stepped one foot down to the floor right in front of where I stood.
“Nothing… good about the festival?” she probed, and her other foot came down to meet the first.
She was standing less than half an inch from me, eyes glittering in the light as she looked up at me.
I had to shut this down.
Now.
But all I could do was stand there and stare back at her.
Grace waited for me to speak, her hands clasped behind her back as she swayed her shoulders side to side with an arched brow. When I didn’t respond, she blew out a breath, falling back onto the bed and making the comforter fluff around her.
“Ugh,” she groaned, covering her eyes with her forearm. She took a deep breath, and then…
The woman started listing planets.
“Jupiter, Mars, Saturn, Venus, Pluto — because yes, it is a planet — Uranus, Neptune—”
“What are you doing?” I asked on a smile.
Grace threw her arm from her face down to the mattress, leaning up on her elbows. “I’m trying not to be turned on.”
She said the words unapologetically, and my mouth dried up like the desert when she did.
Her eyes stayed glued to mine, chest rapidly rising and falling, the strap of her dress sliding off one shoulder and catching on her arm.
“You have any tricks that are better than this?” she asked, but the tease was fading, her voice breathy now — needy. “Because I am still turned all the way on.”
Possession rippled through me like the aftershock of an earthquake.
“I’m so wet for you right now, Jax,” she breathed.
Each word struck me like a bolt of white-hot lightning, zapping what little self-control I was holding onto.
She writhed in the bed with her admission, one hand running through her hair as the other palmed her breast like she didn’t even realize she was doing it — like it was the most natural reaction to the way she felt.
Fuck. Me.
Everything inside me wanted to catch those squirming legs of hers and spread them wide, to rake her dress up so I could investigate just how wet she was for myself. I wanted to hook my fingers under the band of her thong and rip it down her legs, wanted to hear the sounds she’d make the first time I slid my fingers inside her and tasted that sweet fucking pussy.
I shut my eyes tight, grinding my teeth.
Teammate’s. Little. Sister.
Eight. Years. Younger.
God, the words were like a shallow whisper at this point. I could barely hear them, and yet I had to.
Nothing about this was okay.
But everything about her drew me in, like she was Medusa and I was locked in her gaze. Except the only thing turning to stone right now was my cock.
“Grace…” I warned, my voice gruff.
“I know, I know,” she whined, huffing out a breath of air. “I read too much into that kiss, didn’t I?”
She peeked at me, and I willed myself to keep my mouth clamped shut.
“God, I did,” she said, letting her head fall as her eyes closed. “You don’t want me. How could you? You’re—”
“Don’t do that.”
The words shot out of me even though I didn’t want them to. I should let her believe that, let her think it was a mistake.
But I just couldn’t.
Her brows bent together as she leaned up on her elbows again, eyes on mine.
I took a step toward her, one that seemed to suck up all the oxygen in the room.
“You know damn well you don’t believe that,” I said. “You know damn well it isn’t true.”
She swallowed. “Then touch me.”
“I can’t,” I croaked. “And we both know why.”
The rejection on her face pummeled my heart like an iron fist.
Slowly, she laid back, eyes on the ceiling, those words hanging between us like the tentacles of a deadly jellyfish. My chest ached the longer I stared at her, and then my eyes flicked to the colorful keychains on her nightstand.
And a stupid, crazy idea bloomed before I could stop it.
I should leave.
I knew that to be truth even as my feet started carrying me in the opposite direction. I rounded the bed, walking over to her bedside table on the other side.