Total pages in book: 46
Estimated words: 45063 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 225(@200wpm)___ 180(@250wpm)___ 150(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 45063 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 225(@200wpm)___ 180(@250wpm)___ 150(@300wpm)
“Is that what you always say to get women into bed?” she snaps.
I bite down, focusing on the road.
“I shouldn’t have said that,” she murmurs after a pause.
“Don’t worry about it,” I reply. “I get it.”
“It wasn’t fair.”
She says this with a speculative note. She wants me to agree or disagree with what she said about getting women into bed, but it’s difficult to share anything with her without going the whole way.
Without telling her that every inch of her belongs to me.
She sighs. “What are we doing, Bryson?”
“I’m driving you home.”
“You know what I mean.”
She’s right. Of course, I do.
“I didn’t plan on touching your leg that night. And earlier… yesterday, I guess. I didn’t plan on what we did. You make me so crazy. I just lost control. I’m not sure what we’re doing.”
“So we’re risking breaking Adam’s heart for something we’re not even sure about?”
“What do you want?” I ask.
I feel her gaze on me as I focus on the road, as if imploring me to look at her.
But if I do, even for a second, my resolve will melt.
I’ll tell her, We’re working out how we can have children together without tearing Adam to pieces. We’re betraying him so we can give him nieces and nephews.
“I don’t know,” she says after a pause. “It’s all so confusing.”
“We can agree on that.”
“I wish Eva was here,” Harper says after a pause.
She’s watching me again. Her gaze burns into me. It’s like she’s waiting for my reaction.
“So do I,” I say after a pause.
“You wish she was here?”
“Obviously, I do. I wish that road had been less slippery. I wish fate had been less cruel.”
“Hmm.”
We drive without talking for a time.
“We probably shouldn’t do this again,” she says.
“You’re right,” I reply, “but I don’t think I can stop.”
Reaching over, I place my hand on her leg. She whimpers in that tempting way, the pleasure sound reminding me of earlier.
“I’ll never be able to give you what you want,” she says, her hand on my wrist.
“What is it you think I want?”
“A wild fling. A woman to have fun with, then move on. I’m not that sort of person. I… you know what I am.”
“There’s no shame in being a virgin,” I tell her, my voice trembling like my need is going to erupt.
It’s everything I want, I almost add. For you to belong to me, only me.
“And I never said that’s what I wanted. I don’t do that. Sleep around. It’s not the sort of man I am. It never has been.”
“Then why me?” she whispers.
“Because you’re… you.”
A silence falls over us, as we both wordlessly acknowledge what a lame response that is—a nonresponse.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Harper
We sit outside my apartment building, the heat running, Bryson staring down at me. I gaze up at him, thinking maybe I’ll lean away when he tries to kiss me.
The street is quiet. It’s dark, no lights on in the car. Nobody will see us.
Maybe it’s petty, but I want him to see this means something to me. Want him to see it without me having to say it.
When he leans down, guiding his lips to mine, nothing could stop me from meeting him. We press our mouths together. Instantly, the pleasure tingles across my lips, thoughts sparking in my mind.
The kiss brings the future slamming into the present, thoughts of kissing beneath an altar, of stealing secret kisses as the children play in the yard.
I try not to think about the look on his face when I mentioned Eva. Or how shameful it felt skulking out of the pizza joint.
He groans through the kiss like he can’t get enough of me, one hand sliding down my body and squeezing onto my hip. My core aches when his other hand trails up my leg, the pressure getting firmer the closer he gets. Pausing near my sex, he leans back, breaking off the kiss.
His voice shudders as he speaks. “I wonder if I’ll ever be able to kiss you without losing control.”
Despite everything, I smile. “I don’t think I will.”
“We probably shouldn’t do anything in the street.”
“Tiffany’s upstairs,” I tell him.
Truthfully, I want to hold back from anything physical until I’ve got a better answer to what he wants. If he outright told me that was all he wanted, a physical release, I’d have to try to stop. I wouldn’t be able to take it—not from this man I’ve wanted for so long and dreamed about, picking me up, using me, dropping me, and then moving on.
It’s an old-fashioned way to look at things, some might say.
I could chase the pleasure, get mine, and enjoy what I can when I can…
“Then we’ll have to say goodbye,” he says. “It should be for good. We both know that.”
His breath previews the kiss, warm on my cheeks, and then our lips fuse together again. Our mouths move as one, our tongues searching for each other desperately.