Total pages in book: 30
Estimated words: 27657 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 138(@200wpm)___ 111(@250wpm)___ 92(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 27657 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 138(@200wpm)___ 111(@250wpm)___ 92(@300wpm)
I feel myself react, wetness flooding my thong. Oh God. I’ve never reacted this way to anyone before. I’ve been kissed, sure, but not for a while. I swore off men after a series of disastrous dating app attempts that resulted in multiple dates that were so boring I nearly fell asleep on my dinner plate. There had been absolutely no chemistry, even if I found the guy objectively attractive, and it was a waste of time.
But this…I don’t even have the brain cells to worry about how out of practice with kissing I am. It’s like he’s fried my brain and robbed me of any and all logic with just a few strokes of his tongue against mine.
Dylan’s tough, grumpy exterior should probably have sent me running for the hills…literally since there’s a range of them practically on my doorstep now. But instead, I can’t help but see all his prickliness as a challenge. A test I’m determined to ace. Because I’m sure there’s more to him than frowns and harsh comments and gruff, snappy words. I take the fact that he’s clearly annoyed by me as a total win. It means I affect him, it means I’ve already managed to find a crack in his hard shell.
But I never expected to get through those walls so fast. In all the thoughts I’ve had in the days since I saw him again, this scenario was not on the list of possibilities.
Dylan releases me, and immediately, I miss his touch. His panting breath puffs against my lips as he goes to draw away and sever the connection between us.
No! The last thing I want is for this to stop. It’s wholly unfair of him to reduce me to a puddle with just one kiss and then pull away. Undoubtedly, he’s going to turn around and leave, tighten all the security to keep that grumpy shield in place, and be even more standoffish and mean than usual. I won’t accept that.
He’s just proven to me that he feels this tug between us, that I affect him at least a little. I don’t care if he’s conflicted about that fact. He can’t hide from me now. And the idea my mind conjures up of him insisting this was a mistake, of him telling me this never should’ve happened…well it might just break my heart.
Not happening, grizzly bear, I think as he pulls away. I surge forward, grabbing the front of his shirt and yanking. He’s not expecting it, and that’s the only advantage I have because damn this man has more muscles in one arm than I do in my whole body, and he stumbles, joining me on the floor.
I give myself a split second to revel in my success, feeling pretty proud of the desperate move considering it worked, and then I’m closing the distance between us. Winding my arms around his neck, our knees brushing since we’re both kneeling now, I press my lips against his again. I kiss him hungrily, letting him know that I, for one, don’t regret his moment of weakness.
“Dahlia,” he groans against my mouth instead of kissing me back. The way he says my name—low and raspy and a little shaky like he’s right at the edge of control—makes me shiver.
“Dylan,” I whisper back, his name sounding like a moan on my tongue.
“Don’t say my name like that,” he warns, sounding like it pains him. One of his hands comes up to cup the back of my neck, threading my hair through his fingers. He holds me still with his grip on me, but he doesn’t pull me away from him.
“Why not?” I arch into him and brace my hands on his thighs so I can lean closer and kiss his neck, flicking my tongue against the thumping pulse point. I’m surprising myself as much as him with how forward I’m being, but I swore to myself that this was a new chapter of my life, a chance to figure myself out. That means not shying away from what I want. It means embracing my desire instead of being ashamed of it.
And, well, I’m so turned on that there’s a heartbeat pounding between my legs I’m literally desperate to ease.
“Because it makes me want to hear you scream it,” Dylan growls, tightening his grip on my hair so that I have to stop kissing him. I look up at his face, finding his eyes dark with dangerous desire. I shudder again, hypersensitive.
I am so on board with screaming his name. I open my mouth to tell him just that, but he interrupts.
“And that’s not the kind of thing I should be letting myself want, petal,” he grumbles.
Nope. Not letting him go down that road right now. What could be wrong about this? I want him. He wants me even if he’s fighting it. We’re both adults. I smile at him, running my teeth over my bottom lip as my thighs press together, searching for friction.