Total pages in book: 37
Estimated words: 35961 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 180(@200wpm)___ 144(@250wpm)___ 120(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 35961 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 180(@200wpm)___ 144(@250wpm)___ 120(@300wpm)
After a beat, I let out a soft, “Okay.”
It’s a word that gives him more than permission to keep me safe.
It hands him a key…to everything.
Will he want to open that door?
Brayden
I can’t hold back any longer, not when her supple lips are so close to mine. With a feral-sounding groan, I crash my mouth to hers. There’s a need to claim this woman as mine that I can’t begin to explain.
All I know is when Savvy texted me earlier, I’d been gutted.
Savvy: Just saw our neighbors Clara and Casey on a double date with a couple of hotties. How cute are they?!
She sent me a picture, too.
I took one look at the guy sitting across from her and knew I could never compare to him. He was good looking, around her age, and ripped.
I’m just me.
When she came home, I wanted to know what I’d done wrong during our date last night.
Nothing.
I did it right.
And now I’m kissing this sexy woman. She tastes like perfection and sweetness. I want to eat her alive.
A small moan escapes her and it’s a maddening sound. One of my hands slides into her silky blond hair and the other finds her hip. There’s a sliver of exposed skin and I can’t help but stroke the softness there.
She’s so out of my league and yet she’s kissing me like I’m not.
It gives me hope.
Her hands slide up my chest, sending curls of pleasure tickling through my body. My cock is embarrassingly hard. She just turns me on that easily.
“I fucking love your mouth,” I whisper after a pause and a nip to her bottom lip. “I’ve been agonizing over tasting your pouty lips. I’m in heaven, babe.”
She laughs, breathy and soft. “You’re a great kisser. I’m right there with you, babe.”
Even though she’s jokingly calling me babe, it has me wanting to claim her as mine right the hell now. But I know she’s a bit skittish and if I start proclaiming how all-consuming my feelings are, she might rethink her decision to give in to kissing me.
I could kiss her all night.
I could kiss her forever.
When we’re both breathless, I pull away so I can look at her, needing to see how she’s feeling about all this. Her eyes are hooded, and her wet, puffy lips remain parted as though she’s still yearning for my mouth.
“I’m addicted to you,” I murmur. “I could stare at you all damn night.”
Her smile is breathtaking. “I’d rather you kiss me instead.”
I chase her words with another long kiss. Her tongue is flirty, licking and flicking, teasing me relentlessly. What else can she do with her tongue?
That thought nearly makes me nut in my pants. I force myself to not think about sex with this woman. A man can only handle so much in one night.
“Do you want to come inside?” she murmurs against my mouth.
“Yes,” I growl. “But not tonight.”
She groans. “Why not?”
“Because you deserve more than that.” I pull back and give her a crooked grin. “As much as I want to follow you into your house, and I really fucking do, I want you to have some space after this to think about what more might look like with me.”
“I’ve thought about it,” she huffs. “I need you.”
It’s beyond difficult to deny this woman.
“I need you too. Trust me. I’m hard as fuck right now.” I smirk at her. “But I’m not a halfway kind of guy, especially not with you. Before I dive into something I won’t ever come back from, I need to make sure you’re right there with me.”
“I am,” she argues.
But we both know she went on a date tonight.
She needs more time to think. I won’t rush this and have her regret it in the morning.
I step away from her and meet her with a firm stare. “I’m taking you on a date tomorrow night.”
Her eyes widen. “Do I get a choice?”
“Nope.” I dip down and give her a quick kiss. “Wear comfortable shoes and be ready to eat.”
I force myself to back away from her. She gapes at me in confusion.
“Brayden…”
“I’ll be back,” I say with a wide grin. “See you tomorrow, beautiful.”
That’s a promise.
“You and Casey.” Savvy pauses to sip on her Dr. Pepper as if she’s trying to make sense of a difficult calculus problem in Coach Long’s class. “Casey and you. Hmmm.”
I look up from painting trim in Gordon’s old unit and level her with a glare. “Why do you seem so perplexed?”
“She’s, uh, older.”
“Says the girl banging two guys her dad’s age.” As soon as I say that I regret it. Her dad died. I’m a fucking idiot. “Sorry. I’m just anxious about messing it up.”
“I’m not insulting you or anything,” she assures me. “It’s just you two are an unlikely pair. Have you slept together yet?”