Total pages in book: 103
Estimated words: 97071 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 485(@200wpm)___ 388(@250wpm)___ 324(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 97071 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 485(@200wpm)___ 388(@250wpm)___ 324(@300wpm)
“I do not have paladin guilt.”
“You’ve been lashing yourself so intensely since your crew sailed off that I’m surprised you’re not bleeding out on the floor.” She crosses her arms over her chest. Well, under her chest. Her breasts aren’t particularly large, but they’re very present, and they press becomingly against the thin fabric of her shirt and …
Gods, I’m staring at her chest again.
I almost take another step back, but that would be running from her, and I’m not capable of doing that. I don’t want to do that. “You don’t have another choice but to room with me.”
“For all the—” She rolls her eyes. “You might drive me batty, but that doesn’t mean I don’t want to strip you down and have my filthy way with you. For fuck’s sake, Bowen, you made me come without taking off any of my clothes. If I didn’t want you, I wouldn’t be here.”
“I’ve wanted you from the moment you stole that flask off my hip. That kiss in the forest was barely an appetizer. I couldn’t justify doing more while I was still your captain, but my ship is gone and we’re just two souls lost at sea.” I shrug out of my cloak and toss it over the chair situated next to the desk. “Never think I don’t want you, Evelyn.”
Her lips curve and her gaze heats. “You sea captains love your water metaphors.”
“Evelyn.” Over the course of a single day, everything has changed. I’d be a fool to throw caution to the wind and fall into bed with her. I don’t care. Everything is spinning out of control, and she might be a force of chaos adding to it, but she’s also the person I find myself turning to again and again.
I’m turning to her right now. “Kiss me.”
“It’s not a good idea.” Despite her words, she takes a step toward me. “The closer we get, the more it will hurt when it goes poorly. If you sleep with me, you’re not going to be able to hunt me.”
She’s not wrong and yet she’s missing one very specific point. I hold out my hand. “I was never going to be able to hunt you.” Even if denying that order makes me a traitor.
She takes my hand and allows me to tug her close, to wrap my arms around her. I’ll never get over how perfectly she fits against me, her body soft and giving and, fuck, I want her so desperately, I can barely hold myself still as she considers me.
“I know you weren’t.” She kisses me.
It’s even better than last time. Now I know the shape of her. I know the way she melts against me at the first stroke of her tongue. I know the feel of her body pressing into mine. I know …
It’s not enough.
I wrap my arms more tightly around her, and it’s as if I’m holding the world itself. That’s a wild thought, one completely unearned. It doesn’t change the fact that it feels true. Ever since Evelyn came into my life, she’s had me questioning things that I never thought I would question. And now that the truth has smashed my world to bits, she is the only thing that feels sturdy.
That thought is enough to make me break the kiss. “I’m sinking fast. I don’t want to drown you alongside me simply because I’m grasping for something that makes sense.”
“Bowen.” She tugs on my hair just short of sharply. “All of us are drowning. Every single one of us. Anyone who says otherwise is a goddamn liar.” She steps back. As much as I mourn the loss of her touch, watching her pull her shirt over her head and then shimmy out of her boots and pants is more than worth it. I’ve thought Evelyn was beautiful from the moment I saw her, but nothing could’ve prepared me for the sight of her naked, and her blond hair tangled around her face.
It turns out she does blush everywhere.
“You better say something, or I’m in danger of throwing myself into the bathtub and never coming up for air.” The blush stealing across her chest deepens, but she holds perfectly still, her eyes on my face even as I drink in the sight of her.
I am not a man who always has the right words, or even knows the right thing to do most the time. But I do right now. I cross to her and sink to my knees.
She lets out a nervous laugh. “What are you doing?”
“The only thing a man in my position can do when faced with a goddess. Worship her.”
“Bowen. You can’t say shit like that. If Aphrodite exists, you’re going to bring her wrath down on me.”
I catch her wide hips and tug her several inches closer. My mouth waters. I can’t stop myself from leaning down and kissing her dimpled thighs. Perfect. Everything about her is perfect. I guide one leg over my shoulder and open her to me. Her pussy is perfect, pink and practically begging for my mouth. “Do you want me to stop?”