Total pages in book: 128
Estimated words: 125135 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 626(@200wpm)___ 501(@250wpm)___ 417(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 125135 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 626(@200wpm)___ 501(@250wpm)___ 417(@300wpm)
I put my purse down and returned to the door, bunching his shirt into my fists. “It’s been twelve days. Don’t you think that’s close enough to two weeks?” Pushing up on my tippy toes, I pressed my lips to his and whispered, “I don’t have any underwear on.”
Holden groaned. “Fuck, Lala. I want more than anything to end it. But we’re doing so good, and the last thing I want is to show you I can’t even commit to something for two weeks and stick to it.”
“I know you could make two more days. You don’t need to prove it.”
“Yes, I do. I think I need to prove it to both of us.”
I pouted. “But we’re leaving soon. Will I even get to see you before I leave for Philadelphia to visit my parents and you go back to California to record? Your flight is early on Friday, and you don’t even know how long you’re going to be gone.”
Holden ran his thumb over my bottom lip. “Trust me, sweetheart. You’re going to see me and you’re going to feel me. I plan to send you home sore so you have no choice but to think about me every time you sit down.”
I sighed. “Okay.”
“Now give me that mouth and then help me out a little by locking the door and holding on to my master key for the evening.”
***
Holden: Take a nap. I’ll be over at midnight, and you won’t be getting much sleep.
It was the third time I’d read the text since it had come in this afternoon. Each time, it made me giddy. Since we were both leaving tomorrow morning, I spent the evening at home packing, running errands, and finishing some last-minute work things that needed to be done. I didn’t want to waste a second of the time Holden and I had together before we left by doing anything but ravaging him.
It was now 11:55 PM, and I only had one thing left to do—reply to Barbara’s email. This morning she’d sent a follow-up message, telling me she’d reached out to a contact at UPenn in Philly, and I could use their administrative offices for whatever I needed, if I decided to go home early—printing, copying, even office space. That really gave me no reason to turn her down. Well, no work-related reason anyway. Yet I still wasn’t ready to make a decision. So I responded to her email, letting her know I’d get back to her by Monday, hoping that maybe my trip home would help me figure out what I should do. Immediately after I pressed send, I looked up at the time on my laptop, and the clock changed from 11:59 to 12:00. Seconds later, there was a knock at my front door. Holden must’ve been waiting out there. I smiled and tossed my laptop on the couch, running to answer and practically ripping the door off the hinges as I swung it open.
Holden leaned casually against the doorframe. He looked insanely hot in that beanie I loved so much. He held a set of fur-lined handcuffs in one hand and some bunched-up rope in the other.
“Time to play…” he crooned.
I leapt into his arms, causing him to stumble back a few steps with a laugh. “Hello to you, too, beautiful.”
My arms wrapped around his neck and my lips glued to his as he carried me inside my apartment. I vaguely registered him kicking the door shut behind us.
Holden took me straight to the bedroom. Neither one of us seemed to be able to get our clothes off fast enough, though things slowed as I positioned myself in the middle of the bed and Holden climbed over me. He laced our fingers together, kissed the top of both my hands, and brought them up over my head. Then he stared into my eyes for the longest time.
“I missed you so much,” he whispered.
“I missed you, too.”
“I don’t know what the last two weeks proved to you, but it proved to me that I don’t want to be away from you that long ever again.”
I forced away the thought that crept into my head about Barbara’s offer and cupped his cheek. “As much as I missed the sex, I still enjoyed every minute of our time together over the last two weeks, Holden.”
He closed his eyes for a moment. When he opened them again, they were watery and filled with emotion. He nodded and swallowed before taking my mouth in a kiss and easing inside of me. “Fuck.” Holden moved in and out of me slowly. “This is…everything. You feel so fucking good.”
He kissed me until I was breathless and then pulled back to look at me. His pupils were dark and huge, filled with so much emotion. Everything else in the world faded away as we moved in unison.