Total pages in book: 68
Estimated words: 68716 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 344(@200wpm)___ 275(@250wpm)___ 229(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 68716 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 344(@200wpm)___ 275(@250wpm)___ 229(@300wpm)
I lower her onto the bed, slow, deliberate, giving her every chance to pull back.
She doesn’t.
Her hands slide up my arms, lingering on my shoulders before drifting down my chest, fingers tracing the lines of muscle like she’s memorizing them. Her touch is hesitant but hungry, a mix of need and disbelief.
“You sure?” I ask, hovering above her, brushing my thumb along her cheekbone.
Her eyes lock with mine—warm, open, trusting in a way that hits me deeper than the hunger already burning low and hard.
“Yes,” she whispers. “I want this. I want you.”
Those words wreck me. I dip down, kissing her again—slow at first, lips molding to hers, coaxing out every soft sound she tries to swallow. Her hands slide into my damp short hair, tugging me closer, pulling a gravelly groan from my throat. I’ve never cared to have longer hair until now as I imagine the feel of her tugging the roots tight.
She arches under me, the towel slipping enough that I can feel her warmth, her softness. I trail my mouth down her neck, tasting her skin, lingering on the spot that makes her gasp and tilt her head back.
Her pulse flutters against my lips.
“Holley…” I breathe, savoring her reaction. “You’re killing me in the best damn way.”
She laughs, but it melts into a shudder when my hand traces the curve of her waist, slow, reverent, learning her shape like it’s something I’ve been starved for.
Because I have been.
She draws me down, her breath warm against my ear. “I want to feel you.”
The way she says it—soft, pleading—makes heat crawl down my spine. I settle over her more fully, our bodies fitting together like the universe planned it. The tension between us tightens, electric, pulling us closer until breathing feels optional.
Her lips brush mine again. “Don’t hold back.”
I smile against her mouth. “Baby, be careful what you wish for.”
Her answering breath trembles, and I kiss her again—deeper this time, slower but filled with promise as my hands slide along her curves, mapping every inch she lets me have.
She opens beneath me, trusting, warm, wanting, and the moment feels bigger than just heat—it feels like turning a page we can’t ever turn back from.
The storm howls outside.
* * *
The room breathes around us.
* * *
And I lower us both into the kind of night that changes everything— not rushed, not careless, but full of need and connection and the hunger we’ve been circling from the very first kiss. I work her with my fingers until her slick heat drenches my digits. Only then do I push my long, hard length in her slowly inch by delicate inch feeling her clinch around me. Her body taking me in deeper and deeper with every thrust.
When it finally softens, when her fingers relax against my back and her breath evens out against my chest, I hold her like she’s something I was always meant to find.
And for the first time in a long damn time… I feel calm inside.
Twelve
Holley
The first thing I hear is the wind—howling, battering the sides of the cabin, rattling the windowpanes like a living creature desperate to get in. For a moment, half-asleep, wrapped in warm blankets and an even warmer body, I don’t understand what’s happening. Everything feels too soft, too safe.
Then Tony breathes behind me.
That’s when I remember.
The shower.
The bed.
His hands on my skin, his body wrapped around mine, the slow, burning way the night unfolded.
Heat spreads through me, even as the cold outside tries to claw its way in.
His arm tightens around my waist, pulling me back into his chest. He’s still half-asleep, voice low and gravelly. “Morning, trouble.”
There’s something about the nickname that all but melts me.
I shift slightly, blinking toward the window. It’s nothing but white—snow piled in thick waves, wind whipping it sideways, sky a swirling, merciless blur.
“Oh my god,” I whisper. “It’s a blizzard.”
“Mm-hmm.” Tony nuzzles his face into my neck, unbothered. “Storm rolled in fast.”
Fast is an understatement. It looks like someone turned the world into a snow globe and shook the hell out of it.
I reach for my phone on the nightstand, squinting at the screen.
Five missed calls from work people.
Three voicemails.
And a text from work:
OFFICE CLOSED. WHITEOUT CONDITIONS. DO NOT DRIVE. WE WILL UPDATE WHEN ROADS CLEAR.
I stare at it long enough that Tony cracks one eye open.
“Work?” he asks.
“Closed. They shut down the whole office.” I let out a long breath. “The roads are probably a nightmare.”
“Not probably,” he says, stretching behind me, muscles rippling under the sheet. “Definitely.”
I swallow, nerves and something warmer tangling in my stomach. “So, it looks like I’m stuck here.”
He smirks, still half-asleep. “Damn. What a tragedy. I guess I’ll have to get creative with ways to keep you entertained. I know you’ll be bored not working.”
I swat at him, but he catches my wrist, laughing as he tugs me back against him.