Total pages in book: 61
Estimated words: 57188 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 286(@200wpm)___ 229(@250wpm)___ 191(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 57188 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 286(@200wpm)___ 229(@250wpm)___ 191(@300wpm)
Her lips tugged into a smile that lacked any hint of humor or joy. “You haven’t, Brady. If you had any interest beyond sex you would want me to know about your life’s work. Your passion. Your business. That’s what normal people talk about when they care about someone. But you don’t and I’m a big girl, I can handle the truth. I don’t need to be told twice. Or three or four times, either.” She took two big steps to the right, just far enough out of my reach that I couldn’t touch her again, and then Toni walked away from me.
Too bad for Toni I had a few inches on her and in two steps I reached out and tugged her wrist. “Toni, stop,” I growled and pulled her back until our bodies were pressed together. The pressure in my chest loosened at the familiar position, chest to chest and hip to hip, when nothing else in the world mattered but me and her.
Her eyes widened and a gasp escaped between her pouty lips. I took advantage of the moment and fitted my mouth against hers, so hungry for a taste of her that I couldn’t breathe, couldn’t think straight. The moment our lips touched it was like I was home again. Everything in the world made sense and the ache in my chest disappeared.
She tasted like chocolate and strawberry lip balm and the moment her lips parted, I slipped inside her mouth, devouring every corner of her mouth. I laid claim to it because she was mine. She didn’t know it yet and yeah she kind of hated me right now, but the way she kissed me back told me it wasn’t too late.
Not yet.
Her arms snaked around my shoulders and she tattooed her body against mine, flicking her tongue against mine, nibbling my bottom lip while her fingertips played along my hairline, teasing the sensitive flesh and sending a shiver down my spine.
I deepened the kiss and she didn’t protest, didn’t pull away. Toni pulled me closer and opened her mouth to me, moaning as pleasure filled her body. My fingertips moved back and forth against her silky midriff and every shiver that stole through her, made my cock harden with need, with unsatisfied desire. I wanted this woman more than I wanted my next breath. I needed her.
Which meant I needed to make her see. I needed to make it right.
I pulled back slowly, pressing my forehead to hers. “I’m sorry I hurt you, Toni. It will never happen again.”
“I know,” she sighed and pressed one final butterfly kiss to my lips before she stepped back and sighed. Her gaze studied my face as if she was trying to memorize the details and then, without another word, she turned and walked away.
This time I didn’t follow her, didn’t call her back. I watched the slow and steady swing of her hips as she disappeared from view. She walked away as if nothing had happened, as if that kiss hadn’t affected her the way it had me when I knew that it had. I felt the intensity and the desire in her kiss. “Dammit,” I growled into the empty kitchen because what else could I do?
I didn’t know yet but I spent most of the night wide awake plotting and planning what I needed to do to make Toni see that she was it for me.
She was the right woman.
Chapter 28
Toni
Isat inside the exam room a nervous wreck, fidgeting with the hem of my black jeans as I waited for someone—hell, anyone really—to come in and tell me what I suspected to be true but hoped it was a gigantic mistake. I managed to snag the last appointment of the day on a Thursday and now all I could do was wait. And wait.
And wait.
“Ms. Stafford, how are you feeling?” The young doctor stepped inside the room with a bright smile and shiny black hair that made me feel dull and lifeless in my all black ensemble.
“Nauseous and exhausted, Doc. You have good news for me?” I held my breath as the doctor inhaled deeply and let it out slowly. Definitely not a sign of good news.
“I can’t judge the quality of the news for you, but we’ve done all the analysis and it looks as if you’re pregnant, Ms. Stafford.”
Pregnant. The word landed like an anvil in the room and it settled in my belly just as heavy. Pregnant. Of all the things in the world I imagined to be wrong with me—cancer, autoimmune sickness, exhaustion—pregnancy was near the bottom of the list. An oversight on my part, clearly. “Pregnant.” I said it like it was a foreign word that I couldn’t quite define.
“Yes. Close to three months based on hormone levels and your last period. Is this not good news?”