Total pages in book: 76
Estimated words: 75107 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 376(@200wpm)___ 300(@250wpm)___ 250(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 75107 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 376(@200wpm)___ 300(@250wpm)___ 250(@300wpm)
“Doubt it.”
“Then maybe we can just stay here for a bit. I can force you to watch a Christmas movie,” she said, waving to the TV set on the dresser across from the bed that we had yet to turn on.
“Sounds good to me,” I said, finding the remote and passing it to her.
And the crazy thing was, it did.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Stephanie
Honestly, I dozed in and out. Not because I didn’t absolutely love “While You Were Sleeping,” but because there was something undeniably comforting about being snuggled up with Venezio in bed without a single distraction from the outside world.
Each time I woke up, I found Venezio’s attention pinned to the TV and managed to be awake to watch him watch the final scene.
“What did you think?” I asked as the credits rolled.
“That was funnier than I was expecting from a movie based around someone in a coma on Christmas.”
“Jack and Lucy are one of my favorite TV show couples ever,” I said as the streaming service automatically started playing one of those low-budget made-for-TV Christmas movies. Which I also usually loved. But I couldn’t focus on them when Venezio’s hand was drifting up and down my side.
“Yeah, they handled the whole lie thing pretty well.”
“I think it’s because Jack understood why the lie kind of spiraled out of control.”
We weren’t talking about the movie, and we both knew it.
“I should go get the damn cord.”
“Or,” I said, turning my head up to look at him, “you could stay here with me.”
“And watch another Christmas movie?” he asked.
“Actually,” I said, moving to straddle him, “I was thinking something else.”
Venezio’s chest expanded wide as his hands went low on my hips. “Oh, yeah?” he asked, eyes warming.
“Mmhmm,” I agreed, leaning forward to press my lips into his neck. This time, when he sucked in a breath, I could feel the way it shook through his chest as my tongue found the pulse point in his neck.
His hands shifted up to press against the bare skin of my back, but he didn’t explore, didn’t try to take control.
My lips kissed a path upward to his earlobe. And when my teeth grazed it, a jolt moved through him.
I got the feeling that a man like Venezio wasn’t often the recipient of teasing. And I was all too happy to be the first to let him experience it. Even if my own need was a coiled sensation deep in my core that tightened with each passing second.
Venezio’s breath went quick and shallow as I kissed down his jaw, then across toward his other ear.
When my lips found their way to his, they were soft and explorative. And while every muscle in his body seemed tense, he didn’t try to deepen it. Even if his fingers were digging into my hips with the effort to rein in his desire to move things along.
I reached for the hem of his shirt, dragging it off and tossing it to the floor.
Then I continued to map his body with my lips and tongue, tracing the edges of tattoos, and kissing his scars.
Beneath me, his muscles tensed and twitched. His breath quickened.
His hands curled into fists at the sides of his body as I moved down his abdomen, and licked down the delicious V that disappeared into the waistband of his pants.
His hips rocked impatiently, but he didn’t press my head down.
I slid my hands over the tops of his thighs, briefly running my fingertips over the head of his cock before moving away.
I sat up and reached to pull off my shirt.
Only then did Venezio’s self-control fracture, making him sit up and reach out, his hands closing over my breasts, twirling, twisting, squeezing.
My own need had me shifting my hips until I felt the press of him at the juncture of my thighs.
Then I was moving, rocking, grinding down.
But before I could get any relief from the aching need, Venezio hooked me behind the knees and pulled hard, making me fly backward and land with a bounce and a gasp.
He was over me in a blink, holding his body off mine as he leaned down and ran his tongue down the shell of my ear.
“Two can play that game, babe,” he murmured, making my belly wobble. “Except I’m gonna win,” he promised, nipping my earlobe and pulling as a shocked moan escaped me. “Because before I’m done, you’re going to be panting,” he went on, kissing down my neck, “writhing, begging, and crying for release.”
Judging by the way desire was pinging off of every nerve ending, I had no doubt he was about to make good on that promise.
Not that I was objecting as his lips and tongue teased across my clavicle.
Pressure built and built as Venezio kissed across the top of my breasts, then down between, before gliding his tongue across the undersides.