Total pages in book: 81
Estimated words: 79052 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 395(@200wpm)___ 316(@250wpm)___ 264(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 79052 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 395(@200wpm)___ 316(@250wpm)___ 264(@300wpm)
“I could ease up a bit on the men,” I agreed. I’d cut it down to one man watching her, but I wasn’t ready for her to be off the radar yet.
“And I’m sure you want your space back. I must be cramping your style. Sharing your bathroom vanity, taking over your kitchen, and all,” she said lightly, looking over my shoulder, her gaze focused elsewhere.
I leaned forward, taking her chin in my hand, forcing her to meet my gaze. “No,” I said shortly. “You’re not.”
She blinked, and I saw the worry in her eyes. I held her firmly. “I don’t want you to go back to your apartment, Raven.”
“You don’t?”
“No. I want you to stay here with me.” I drew in a deep breath. “Permanently.”
Her breath caught.
“I realize the normal thing would be that you go back to your place. That we date. Text. Call. I pick you up. Take you home after the date. Or bring you here. Stay over on the weekend. But that’s not what I want.”
“No?” she whispered.
I brushed my fingers over her jaw as I shook my head. “No.”
Silence hung between us. She stared at me, uncertain but hopeful.
“Ask me what I want, Raven.”
“What do you want, Damien?”
“I want you beside me at night. I want to wake up with you wrapped around me like a little kitten, happy and content. I want to push aside your lotion bottles on the vanity so I can find the toothpaste, listen to you humming as you cook in the kitchen. I want to go grocery shopping with you, argue over who ate the last of the popcorn and what movie we’re going to watch.”
Her eyes glistened.
“I want to make love to you every day. Listen to you laugh. Watch over you and know you’re safe.” I ran my thumbs under her eyes, catching the tears that were spilling over. “I want to live my life with you now, Raven. That’s how we’re going to end up, so why not begin right away? Why wait for our happiness?”
“I make you happy?”
With a groan, I pulled her into my lap. “Yes, you do. Very much so. Don’t go back to your place, Raven. Stay with me. Let me love you. Love me back. Please.”
When she didn’t reply, I tapped her nose. “Tell me what you’re thinking in that beautiful head of yours.”
“That I want this. More than anything.”
“I’m not your ex, Raven. I’m never going to hurt you that way.”
“I know.”
“Tell me.”
“What if, after all this worry ends, and we start living just a normal life where you don’t care that I’m out alone or late coming home from school, you realize it was a mistake to move so fast?”
I had to laugh. Leaning down, I kissed her, holding her face in my hands. “First off, I will never not care if you’re late, and I will worry myself sick every time you’re out without me. As for a normal life, I think we’re anything but normal. But I want that, baby. With you. I love you. You consume me, and it’s not because of the situation or the worry. I adore everything about you, and I want you in my life. Full stop.”
“Really?”
“I will always be overprotective. Worried. It’s part of who I am. My training and my past only heightened it. I worry about Sofia, my mom, my men, but the way I worry about you tells me how imperative it is to me that you’re in my life.” I rested my forehead on hers. “Stay, Raven.”
She slid her arms around my neck. “Yes.”
I pulled her tight to my chest, our mouths melding. She tasted of the sweetness of the cookies she’d eaten, the hint of coffee, and her. Raven.
I deepened the kiss, feeling the euphoria of the moment fill me. She was going to stay. I got to keep her. Love her. Protect her. She belonged to me.
Mine.
She shifted, and I lifted her so she straddled me. Our mouths never separated, the need to feel her lips on mine paramount. I groaned as she slid her hand under my shirt, drifting her fingers over my torso and running her hands up to my pecs. She whimpered as I ground against her, my cock hard and pressing. I slid my hand up her legs, taking her pretty skirt higher, teasing the soft skin of her thighs. I traced the edges of her lacy underwear, pleased when she widened her legs.
I broke from her mouth. “You want my fingers, Raven? You want me to touch you?”
“Always,” she gasped. “Please, Damien.”
I buried my head into her neck, kissing and licking along the elegant column, dragging my mouth across her collarbone as I dipped under the lace and found her slick and ready.
“Oh, my girl wants me,” I crooned, parting her folds and caressing her already hard little clit. She gasped, gripping the back of my neck. I strummed her, smiling as she began to undulate her hips, wanting more of my touch. I pressed my thumb to her nub and slipped two fingers inside, thrusting slowly.