Total pages in book: 82
Estimated words: 77490 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 387(@200wpm)___ 310(@250wpm)___ 258(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 77490 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 387(@200wpm)___ 310(@250wpm)___ 258(@300wpm)
A question pops into my head, but it takes a moment before I work up the nerve to voice it. The continuing reassurance of his hand caressing my arm gives me courage. “What might you be doing if you were on a date with another woman—a normal woman?”
He frowns as his hand comes up to cup my chin. I was about to look away, and he’s not going to let me. “I won’t have you implying that you are somehow not normal, Ava.”
“You know what I mean, Erik. What would you be doing if you were out with a woman with more experience? Someone who’s been dating for several years.”
His expression slides back into neutral territory, and as his gaze drifts to my lips, I watch his eyes fill with heat. His hand doesn’t leave my face.
“If this were my first date with someone—and I’m considering this our first real date—then I’d be doing the same thing. Saying goodnight to them at their door, most likely with a kiss.”
“Are we going to kiss?” I ask.
“Of course.”
He immediately backs up his promise with action, and my knees soften as my senses fill with him. The gentle press of his lips to mine, the firm touch of his hand on my jaw, the tantalizingly masculine scent of him surrounding me.
I take it all in and sigh as he pulls back a mere inch. And because I’m feeling more and more comfortable flirting with my friend, I whisper against his lips, “What if the first date went really well? Then what would you do?”
His hand that had been caressing my arm slides down to capture my hand. “If the date went well, I’d probably hold her hand while I kiss her.”
He’s held my hand when we’ve been out, but now, it’s not an innocent, passive grip. The way he touches me is so different, it should be called something else entirely. His fingers work to stroke mine as if each one of them is filled with need—need that transfers into my body like I’ve been struck by lightning.
While he’s doing this, he kisses me again, and there’s suddenly so much more to it. His mouth moves at a different pace, full of intention, and I strive to give it back as good as he’s giving.
“I might take the kiss to different places if my date seems receptive,” he says, his voice low and impossibly sexy as he works his way from my mouth, down to my jaw, and along my cheek to my ear.
I don’t know how I’m still standing, and a small part of me marvels that I’m able to stay here and fully enjoy this when I ran from a kiss just two days ago. But I’m enjoying every second, and I am, indeed, so very receptive.
When he takes my earlobe between his lips and gives it a gentle tug, warmth pools between my legs. His breath is hot and humid against my ear, and if I thought my body had grown warm from the nearness of a man before, I realize I’d been mistaken.
I am pure liquid inside, held in shape by my skin alone, which is heating with sweat. I’m mere moments away from dissolving into a puddle.
His teeth graze my ear, and there’s a pulse throbbing inside my panties, just like when I touch myself. Who knew an ear could trigger such sensations?
Erik’s mouth works its way back to mine, leisurely but not at all lazily, and I’m breathless.
“If the date went incredibly well …” He interrupts himself to kiss me, and I lose myself in him, but I can’t let go of the sentence he hasn’t finished as he feasts on my lips.
“Then what?” I insist, the moment he breaks to take a breath. “What would you do?”
“If the date went very, very well, then I might pull her close to me—” He tugs my hips against him, erasing the space that had remained between us, and I gasp at what I feel. “So that she’d know exactly how appealing I find her.”
His entire body is firm, but there’s now a very particular hardness pressing into my belly, and though I’ve never felt anything like it, I’ve read enough books to know what it is.
He wants me. His body is excited and hungry for me, and my heart is pounding out of my chest as he carries on kissing me, running his tongue along my lip before giving it a gentle nip.
“Erik—” I’m overwhelmed, but I won’t push him away. I won’t.
Hearing his name, he pulls back and looks into my eyes, searching. “Ava. Are you okay?”
I nod quickly, though I’m in a daze. He puts distance between our bodies, and I’m both relieved and frustrated. Mostly frustrated.
“I’m good,” I say, needing to make sure he believes it. I’m a million things right now, many that I can’t put words to, but I’m very much good.