Total pages in book: 106
Estimated words: 99949 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 500(@200wpm)___ 400(@250wpm)___ 333(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 99949 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 500(@200wpm)___ 400(@250wpm)___ 333(@300wpm)
His response was to pull me down for a long, sweet kiss that made my toes curl.
“I hear you,” Theo said with a smile when he released my lips. His hand was at the back of my neck so I could feel his finger tapping against my skin. He dropped his eyes but managed to lift them again on his own. “I have things I still need to tell you and I know you’re going to tell me that nothing will change how you feel about me, but I need you not to say that. Not yet. I have to make peace with myself about a lot of things, but I can’t do it alone. I need help. I need to be okay with not being okay for a while. What happened between us was more than I ever thought possible, but I’m still scared. I’m still waiting for that next slide to appear. I’m waiting for it knowing that no matter what I say or how loud I scream or how many lies I tell, they’re still going to break me. They’re going to do what they did in that place… they’re going to break me and actually make me wish for the briefest second that I was anyone but myself. I never want that second to happen again. Does… does that make sense?”
“Yeah,” I agreed. “It does. But you’re going to need to let me know when you’re ready to believe it… that part about nothing changing how I feel. And you have to promise me when that time comes, you’ll stop running long enough to listen.”
Theo studied me intently. I felt his finger stop tapping and begin sliding back and forth over the back of my neck instead. I completely understood what he was asking of me. Despite it being the truth that nothing would change how I felt about him, the words would sound empty and hollow to Theo until he made peace with whatever secrets continued to haunt him. But I also knew there was a good chance those secrets would have him running again and I needed to know that he’d stop long enough to hear me when that time came.
“Deal,” he said with a smile. He pulled me down so that my upper body was covering his. He held my eyes as he continued to caress my neck. “Promise me you’ll never stop chasing me, Lincoln,” he whispered desperately.
It was the easiest promise to make because it was the truth. I never would give up on Theo, no matter how fast or far he ran.
“Promise,” I breathed against his mouth and then I sealed the deal with a kiss that I hoped he’d remember if and when the next secret caught up with him.
CHAPTER THIRTY
THEO
“I gotta admit, I’m kind of starting to take it personally,” Lincoln muttered as we slowly weaved between the trees. He was holding my hand like he always did now. It’d been two weeks since the night of our first sexual encounter and from that moment on, neither of us had tried to hide our relationship from anyone in the house. Since everyone had pretty much already known about it, it hadn’t been big news, but Walter had suitably complained that now there were even fewer places for him and Lenny to “do some lovin’” because there was another couple who’d be “dinging each other’s dongs all over the place.”
I’d been embarrassed, mostly because Walter had hit the nail on the head. Lincoln had made it a habit to pull me into a room or corner or shadow inside and outside when I was least expecting it. His mouth would be on mine before I could even protest, not that I ever would have anyway.
There’d been one day when we’d been so caught up in our haze of desire that we’d walked in on Ford and Cam going at it in the big walk-in pantry in the kitchen. The men had been so far gone they hadn’t even noticed us, but all the moans and sounds of flesh slapping against flesh had sent Lincoln and me straight up to his room. I’d barely managed to get the door closed before he’d pinned me up against it and lifted me so my legs were around his waist. He’d proceeded to grind our bodies together, fully clothed, until we’d both come at nearly the same time. Lincoln had been forced to cover my mouth with his hand when I’d climaxed because it turned out I was a bit of a screamer when it came to getting off.
Not a good thing in a family with a teenager and two old men who couldn’t hear you when you sat next to them but somehow managed to comment on “strange” sounds coming from the third floor all night long.