Total pages in book: 36
Estimated words: 33658 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 168(@200wpm)___ 135(@250wpm)___ 112(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 33658 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 168(@200wpm)___ 135(@250wpm)___ 112(@300wpm)
“Good,” he murmurs, easing my panties down my legs, and my fingers curl around the vanity again, with the edge of anticipation driving me wild. One of his hands slides up and down my thigh, even as his mouth finds my inner thigh, teasing me mercilessly.
“Jensen,” I plead, needing his mouth. Oh, I need his mouth. It’s been so very long since there was anything in my life that represented pleasure.
He laughs at my eagerness, low and sexy, the sound filled with the mischief of a man enjoying his power. He licks my clit, and the shock is bittersweet—just what I want and not enough. I arch my hips, my nipples aching as if they, too, feel his tongue. The moments that follow are a haze of desire, stretching minutes or hours; I’m incapable of knowing at this point. His fingers slide along the sensitive, slick seam of my body, his tongue flickering about, mimicking lovemaking with such skill that I ache for him inside me.
I’m undone in the best of ways, my fingers diving into his hair, but not gently. He’s teasing me, making me absolutely wild, holding me on edge until neither he nor I can possibly win the battle to wait. I tumble over the edge, my body spasming around his fingers, his tongue gently easing me to the other side.
My release is so extreme and so intense that I’m all but collapsing forward when he stands up and anchors me with his body and hands, one hand cupping my face. What surprises me is how little shyness I feel when we are all but strangers, and yet somehow, we are not.
“Layla,” he says, and then suddenly stiffens, his energy sharp, edgy. “Get in the shower now.” He flips on the light and starts to undress.
“What? I don’t—”
He leans in and kisses me. “Someone just came in the front door. Get in the shower and stay there until I tell you to come out.”
He tugs his shirt over his head, the sprinkle of blond hair across his broad chest making me gulp for air. He leans against the wall and reaches for his boots. Meanwhile, I can’t seem to move off the vanity, let alone undress. Somehow it had been easier with the lights out and passion on.
He picks me up and sets me on the ground. “Shower. Now.”
Right. Shower. I bend down and unlace my flat sandals, right as his pants fall to the floor. Good Lord, he’s commando. And he has abs fine enough to make grown women cry.
A knock sounds on the door. “Open up.”
Horror seizes me at the sound of Tad’s voice. Jensen dips his head under the water and then wraps a towel around his waist. He runs a hand over his head and smoothes the hair to his scalp before reaching for the door, eyeing me over his shoulder with a silent command in his stare. We can’t look like we were using the water for cover, or I assume we’re in worse trouble than we already are. With that understanding, I unzip my skirt, allow it to fall to the floor, then open the shower door, stepping inside, my bra intact, my panties out there where he put them.
I lean against the wall, passion quickly turning to fear. The bathroom door opens, and I hold my breath. Tad is here. I feel the menace of him as readily as I feel trust for Jensen. Time stands still as I wait for what will come next. Finally, there’s movement, a shift in the air, and the door shuts. I let out a relieved breath, but my worry for Jensen roars a moment later.
He's not one of them, but that’s a small comfort in a moment such as this one.
Chapter nine
Jensen
I’m pure testosterone, ready for confrontation as Tad hangs at the door of the bathroom, ready to kill him if he goes one step further. He’s mistaken if he thinks this plays out as the scene did back at the house, just because we’re in Zodius City.
When Layla had stopped breathing in that bedroom in her home, nothing had mattered but bringing her back. Saving Layla from the certain death I’m not sure she even remembers, created a vulnerability in me that Tad took full advantage of, or we wouldn’t be in Zodius City right now. And to some degree, I’m still a captive to her medical condition and the addiction they created in her, and that’s by design.
It's my leash, and hers, too.
But that leash has limits that Tad isn’t considering. Julian needs me and Layla alive for various reasons, while Tad is nothing but a goon. I’ll kill him and survive. He will not kill us and survive.
I eye the handgun at his waist, prepared to pull it and kill him if he steps one foot closer to Layla. His insistence on going inside doesn’t surprise me. They already know Layla matters to me; they’re too smart not to, and this is punishment for blacking out their surveillance.