Total pages in book: 30
Estimated words: 27796 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 139(@200wpm)___ 111(@250wpm)___ 93(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 27796 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 139(@200wpm)___ 111(@250wpm)___ 93(@300wpm)
"You should know," she says, licking her lips and gazing at the outline of my erection through my boxer briefs, "I'm a virgin."
I stop stroking myself.
Her eyes meet mine and I can see the desire in them. Her teeth sink into her lower lip, making me even more aroused.
"Well, precious," I hum, savoring the taste of her name on my tongue. "I've been celibate for over a decade now." I lean in and kiss her softly. "There hasn't been anyone for me since long before I met you. As soon as you came into my life, I knew it was you and no one else."
She responds eagerly to my kiss, her fingers tangling in my hair to pull me closer.
"I'm clean, baby," I assure her as I caress her thighs, inching closer to her wet pussy. "And I've been desperate for you."
My lips find their way to her dripping arousal, savoring the taste of her as I lick gentle circles around her sensitive folds. Her moans and cries fill my ears as she climbs towards another orgasm.
With a nip at her inner thigh, she squeals before I focus on sucking on her clit until she’s trembling with pleasure. Multiple orgasms rock through her body as she pulls at my hair and moans my name.
"So precious. So sweet. All mine."
Her hopes move rhythmically against my hand. “Fuck me, Pope, please fuck me.”
“Not yet, precious. Not yet. But soon.”
A groan of frustration falls from her lips. I press our lips together in a tender kiss. “I lille having you as desperate for me as I’ve been for you.” My eyes twinkle with mischief. “You look good when you’re needy for my cock, precious.”
She giggles, heat flaming her cheeks, and I think for the first time how much I fucking love her and that scares me and thrills me all in one breath. I need this woman, I’ve just got to make sure she feels the same before I let her in. Forever.
Chapter Eleven
Ruby
The library stands tall, golden sunlight streaming through the newly polished windows, casting a warm glow across the freshly finished wood. Every nail, every beam, every inch of the place is imbued with a sense of accomplishment that pulls at my chest. It feels surreal—like I should still be waiting for something to go wrong, something to mess it all up. But nothing does. The silence around me is peaceful, the crisp mountain air mingling with the smell of freshly cut wood. It’s done. We built this.
Pope stands beside me, close enough that I can feel the heat of his body, that quiet strength radiating off him like always. I glance at him, and for once, there’s no gruffness, no walls. Just him, raw and open, staring at the library like it means something beyond bricks and wood. Maybe because it does. It’s more than just a building—it’s a symbol of everything we’ve been through, everything we’ve fought to make happen. Us.
I take a breath, my fingers running along the smooth edge of the newly painted door, feeling the cool metal of the handle. This moment, this place—it’s everything. "This place… it’s everything we dreamed of," I whisper to myself, though I know it’s not just the library I’m talking about.
Pope catches my eye, and I can see that flicker of pride in him, that softness that he doesn’t show to anyone else. Only me. And it makes my heart race. I didn’t think we’d get here—not with the library, not with everything between us. But here we are. We did it.
"I can’t believe we’re finished," I admit quietly, my voice barely above a whisper. My fingers trail across the door’s handle, feeling the weight of it, the cool metal against my skin grounding me.
Pope’s presence shifts beside me, and I can feel him looking at me, that intense gaze of his making my pulse quicken. “You’re the reason we got here, Ruby,” he says, his voice rough, like it’s hard for him to say it, but there’s no hesitation in the emotion behind it. “This place—it’s just wood and nails without you. You’re the one who kept it all together. Kept me together.”
His words hit me harder than I expected. For so long, I’ve felt like the one holding back, the one afraid to fully commit. And now, hearing Pope say this—hearing him admit how much I mean to him—it almost knocks the air out of me. I never thought I could be the one to break through his walls. I never imagined I’d be the one who made him feel whole again.
“You broke me in the best ways,” Pope continues, his hand sliding over mine, the warmth of his touch steadying me. “I didn’t even know I was waiting for someone like you. I was just… surviving. And now? Now I feel like I’m actually living. And it’s because of you.”