Total pages in book: 107
Estimated words: 99723 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 499(@200wpm)___ 399(@250wpm)___ 332(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 99723 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 499(@200wpm)___ 399(@250wpm)___ 332(@300wpm)
She shakes her head, looking innocent. But I see the spark in her eyes, the hope hiding there. But her demons are loud. Too loud, working in her mind to create doubt.
“I fucking fantasize about you dancing with a shovel, for fuck’s sake. I’m gonna need therapy for sure.”
A tiny smile tries to lift her lips, but it disappears as fast as it came. “I have stretch marks, from being pregnant. Tyler always said they were ugly.”
“Tyler’s an idiot. I bet your tiger stripes are hot,” I assure her with a cocky smirk. “What else you got whispering in that head of yours?”
“My boobs are saggy.”
“I’ll hold ’em up.” I mime cupping her breasts, supporting them in each hand.
“What if I’m not good at sex?” she blurts out. “Or don’t know what to do?”
I chuckle at the absurdity of that. “You know what to do, Briar. And if you’re not sure, I know what I want to do. Do you want me to tell you?”
Her eyes jump from my lips to my eyes, hunger building but doubt still lurking.
I don’t wait for her to say yes. She needs the reassurance, needs to know that I have a plan because she doesn’t think she does. “I want to kiss you until you’re completely breathless and your body is craving mine so badly that you’re begging for more.” My breath skates over her cheeks with every word, all humor gone, replaced with hunger. I lift a finger to her shoulder, tracing the soft curve there. “I want to finally discover if your tits fit in my hands and what color your nipples are, because I’ve imagined them so many times and I want to rewrite my own fantasies with the reality of you.”
I lay my hand on her thigh, wishing she had her usual shorts on so I could feel the soft warmth of her skin, but telling myself that I’ll have her entire body laid over mine soon. Or under, whatever she needs. “I want to taste you, drink you down, giving you more pleasure than you think is possible as I use my lips and tongue for more than just words for your ears. I want to feel your warm heat surround me as you take me, slow and easy at first, and then hard and fast as I take us higher and higher. I want you to fall apart in my arms, trusting that I’ll hold you together until you come back to your body, changed for the better. Knowing that you can have it all again, anytime you want.”
“That actually sounds terrifying,” she says quietly. A slow, seductive smile grows across her face. “But I think I want to try it anyway.”
I whisper against her lips, on the verge of kissing her. “Because you’re a brave badass, Briar.”
She laughs, her breath hot. “No, I’m not.”
I should argue further, until she agrees with me, certain of her own bravery. But the need to kiss her wins out.
Cupping her jaw, I finally kiss Briar the way I’ve wanted to all day—intimately, passionately. As I feel her anxiety melt away and she turns to putty in my hands, a sense of power and peace fills me. This is what I’m meant to do. The thought ghosts through my mind, writing itself at the forefront as my new guiding force. For Briar. For Harley. For us.
She breaks the kiss, putting a few inches between us. Panting, she says, “Let’s go inside.”
As she walks backward toward the door, excitement is written all over her face. It’s in her smile, the sparkle in her eyes, the flush on her cheeks. And fuck, I want more of it. More of her. Need riding me hard, I urge her to hurry, taking her hand and running with her to the door.
“Open it, Briar,” I murmur low. My hands are all over her. If any neighbors are peeking out their windows, they’re gonna see me ripping her clothes off if she doesn’t get the door unlocked soon.
The door finally bursts open and we’re inside. I slam it shut with a kick and wrap my arms around her, finding her mouth again.
“Down the hall,” she murmurs against me, and I dance us that way.
She doesn’t reach for the switch as we enter her darkened bedroom, so I do it, flipping the light on. “I want to see you,” I tell her.
“I—”
“Don’t let him in here with us.” I don’t want to say Tyler’s name in this moment between us, but he’s in her head, and I swear to fuck that I will kill that asshole for making her ever question herself. “I want to see you, Briar. Want to worship you . . . love your body . . . fuck you.”
Her fingers slowly lift to her shirt and she undoes a button. Then another, revealing a plain white bra beneath. “I couldn’t exactly wear sexy lingerie under this,” she says.