Total pages in book: 91
Estimated words: 86828 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 434(@200wpm)___ 347(@250wpm)___ 289(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 86828 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 434(@200wpm)___ 347(@250wpm)___ 289(@300wpm)
“Feel how crazy you make me.” We moan in sync when he’s so profoundly seated that the crown of his cock knocks at my uterus. “How unhinged.”
His slow, steady pace drives me as wild as when he screwed me into oblivion.
“I’ve never been so hard.”
His hot breath gusts over my lips as his cock flexes inside me.
It is taking everything he has not to let go, and he’s only doing something as simple as looking at me while his cock is buried deep inside me. He doesn’t thrust his hips or toy with my clit that’s thudding like it hasn’t been stimulated multiple times today.
He makes love to me with his eyes until he coaxes every emotion I own to the surface.
Then he forces them to spill over with long, breathless orgasms, hushed praises, and the realization as to where my upset stems.
He’s due to fly out in less than forty-eight hours, and the remembrance of that is more devastating than being replaced only three weeks out from my wedding.
11
ZANE
“All of them?”
I twist away from the chocolate-ice-cream-stained bedding Kelsey is sleeping on before replying to Emma’s question with a hum. “Uh-huh.”
“That’s a lot of funds to process almost a week out from Christmas, Zane.” Her yawn alerts us to the early hour of our call. I could have waited, but I’m not known for patience. How I forced Kelsey’s deepest, darkest secrets out of her last night verifies this. “Your clients are required to pay your fee upfront to secure your services. It isn’t a down payment—”
“I know how my business operates, Emma,” I interrupt, my tone firm. “I’m just not feeling it right now.”
“Then maybe block out the rest of December and reevaluate after that?” She mistakes my silence as me mulling over her suggestion instead of ensuring Kelsey remains asleep after her hand’s creep across the mattress fails to find me. “You might feel different once the festive season dies down.”
“My decision has nothing to do with Christmas.” I hold my tongue before I say, And everything to do with the woman who was so raw and open with me last night I fell in love in under a second. “And things were never meant to expand this much. I made my fee exorbitantly high so I only needed to take on one client a year. Then greed took over.”
Since she can’t deny my claims—because they’re true—Emma remains quiet.
“This won’t affect your position. I’ll—”
“I’m not worried about my position. I’m just shocked. I thought your heart was too icy even for a Florida summer to thaw.”
I laugh. “I once thought the same. Then Kelsey showed up out of nowhere, teasing Santa, and everything changed.”
I realize I said my comment out loud when Emma murmurs, “Kelsey?”
There’s no leveraging my smile. “Yeah. She’s…”—my throat works through a stern swallow when I spot a pair of chocolate-brown eyes peering at me—“awake, so we’ll finalize this conversation later.”
“Zane—”
“Goodbye, Emma.” I disconnect our call before tossing my cell phone onto the bedside table next to Kelsey’s recently delivered iPhone. “Did I wake you?”
She shakes her head before she switches it to a nod. “I was cold.” My laugh rumbles louder than charity Santa’s call from the corner of Kelsey’s street when she murmurs, “That’s what I get for sleeping on ice-cream-smeared sheets.”
“It could have been worse.” A scent I’ll never get enough of fills my nostrils when I yank the bag of crushed candy canes I stored in the freezer last night from under the bedding. “This was digging into my back most of the night.”
I realize I’m not the only one becoming addicted to the shards of white crystal when Kelsey’s eyes bulge before she dives for the baggie of minty goodness I’m about to consume.
12
KELSEY
I’m loading sheets into the washing machine when Zane’s voice projects through the wall separating the bathroom from the laundry. “What do you mean the wedding is off?”
He sounds more upset than Peter’s family did when he announced the same thing. The only one who looked remotely teary-eyed was Peter’s mother. Valeria always treated me as if I were family. She’s kind and thoughtful, even going as far as to offer for us to wed at her family’s estate so my parents wouldn’t be financially decimated by a wedding that’s bill crept into six figures since Peter has so many extended family members.
“Ma, listen to me… That’s normal… Ma…”
Zane shifts his eyes to me when he spots me entering the living room, smiles to assure me he’s fine, and then returns to trying to calm down his mother, who sounds in full-blown meltdown mode.
“Cold feet aren’t reserved solely for your first wedding. They can occur at any time.” I slap my hand over my mouth to hide my smile when it becomes evident his mother didn’t hear the humor in his reply. “I’m not ashamed of you, Ma. I’d never—”