Total pages in book: 73
Estimated words: 68247 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 341(@200wpm)___ 273(@250wpm)___ 227(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 68247 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 341(@200wpm)___ 273(@250wpm)___ 227(@300wpm)
Avery allowed his words and his belief in her to settle inside her. To warm her up where she’d always been cold. Because what she’d just admitted to him now? She’d never told anyone before, not even the therapist that her mother had sent her to.
Yes, she’d given bone marrow. But she’d always believed that her motives made her selfish. And though as an adult, she donated her time to sick kids at the hospital and enjoyed seeing them light up and feel better about themselves, a part of her was trying to atone and make up for those selfish thoughts and needs she’d had as a kid.
But here was Grey, telling her that those old childhood feelings had been valid. For the first time, she pushed aside the juvenile view she’d tortured herself with for years and looked at things as an adult. As Grey did. And the heaviness that was always in her chest when she thought of that time, of her father or Sienna, lifted a little.
“Thank you,” Avery said.
“It’s just the truth, sugar.” He grinned, and she melted inside, the heat of the afternoon sun having nothing on the heat Grey generated inside her.
Because she was finally looking at him, and she was instantly aware of more than her own emotions. His tanned, bare chest filled her line of vision, and her pulse began a heavy beat in her veins. Desire kicked in, making itself known in telling ways, her sex filling with need, her breasts suddenly heavy and aching to be touched.
“Now let’s get back to what changed your mind about staying here, with me,” he said.
“Oh, that.”
He cocked an eyebrow. “Yeah, that.”
She blew out a deep breath, forcing herself to concentrate on what he needed for a change, and that was answers.
They weren’t simple, but she owed him the truth. “On the one hand, there’s the practical consideration. I really do need to stay someplace safe.”
He nodded. “We all agree on that. But if safe is all you’re looking for, across the hall works just fine.”
He was right. “I know. But after everything that happened with my father at lunch, all I wanted to do was see you. I wanted to talk to you.” Her mind had been filled with thoughts of him. “I already knew I had to make a decision about where to go, and after talking to my sisters, I realized I’d be deluding myself if I thought I could stay anywhere but with you.” She drew a deep breath for courage and said, “We click, Grey. And I can’t run from that anymore.”
“Thank fuck,” he muttered, and she couldn’t help but grin.
“I can’t promise what the future will bring,” she had to add. “But I’m here now, and I’m trying to give this thing a shot.”
It wasn’t something she’d consciously decided at lunch; rather, as she’d sat here unloading her burdens, letting him help her ease her pain, she’d understood running away was no longer an option. She needed to try.
* * *
At Avery’s words, Grey’s heart pounded hard in his chest. She was baring her soul in a way she’d never done before, because it pertained to them. She was admitting that she was as invested as he was . . . he hoped. But he also knew his own needs could be setting him up for a hard fall he wasn’t prepared to take. He heard what she was saying, but he had to make sure he processed correctly.
“We need to be clear, sugar. I want to see where things go for real. Are you on board?”
Her honest, open gaze met his. “I am.”
She’d just given him everything he’d asked for and all he needed to hear. He pulled her across his lap and managed to twist so she straddled him now. The skirt from her dress flipped up easily on its own, her moist panties coming into direct heated contact with his rigid cock, which strained against his workout shorts.
“Mmm. You feel good.” She rocked her hips and, at the same time, placed her hands on his bare chest, skimming his flesh with her orange-painted fingernails.
Goose bumps and arousal hit him hard.
“You feel better.” He slid her dress up and over her head, tossing it to the ground at their feet.
“We’re outside,” she said, her eyes open wide.
“We are.” He flicked his wrist and divested her of her bra, adding to the pile, then cupped her breasts in his hands, squeezing the mounds with his palms before zeroing in on her pert nipples, tweaking and toying with each.
“Oh God.” She rolled her hips against his dick, moaning as she obviously hit the right spot.
He gritted his teeth, counting in his head, holding back the need pulsing through him at breakneck speed. If he let go, he’d come hard in his pants like a teenager with no control. And that wasn’t happening.