Total pages in book: 62
Estimated words: 57779 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 289(@200wpm)___ 231(@250wpm)___ 193(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 57779 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 289(@200wpm)___ 231(@250wpm)___ 193(@300wpm)
I feel the jolt of his body, the pull of our mutual pleasure draining us both in the best of ways. The world fades and returns to what feels much later. Our breathing is ragged, and when Ethan rolls me to my back on the couch, he orders, “Don’t move,” and pulls out of me.
I’m still breathing hard when he returns, still mindless, assuming, of course, he got rid of the condom. He lays back down with me and curls me closer, and when my leg slides over his pants, reality hits. “You never even got undressed.”
“And that really bothers you, obviously.”
“No, I—”
He laughs and kisses me. “Don’t lie.” He shifts us again, stands up, and then undresses. His body is all sinewy muscle, and he is just ridiculously perfect. “If you keep looking at me like that,” he warns, “there will be no rest for you.” He joins me on the couch again, and when he lays down next to me, him on his back, he curls me to his side, my head on his shoulder, my hand on his chest, fingers nestled in the dark, springy hair there.
It's an intimate moment that is unexpected and somehow comfortable. His heart thunders under my palm, and I wonder if he thinks the same thing, or if I’m living a fantastical moment I’ve created in my mind. “I should probably go. I leave tomorrow.”
A few beats pass, and he says simply, “Stay.”
Now my heart is racing, but logic is in place. What else is he going to say? “Really, I think—I should go.”
He rotates me to my back and leans over me. “Stay,” he says softly, and this time his eyes are warm and his voice warmer. “I don’t want you to go.”
“But you have—”
“I don’t have to do anything but convince you to stay. Stay,” he repeats.
My breath hitches, and I realize then that I’m on dangerous territory with this man if conversation replaces sex. I’ve lied to him, and I dislike how that makes me feel and how it most certainly would make him feel if he knew. And yet, I find myself saying, “Yes.”
His really perfect, full lips curve, his eyes lighting with approval. “That’s what I like to hear, baby.”
Baby.
Not Zoey.
I like it, a little too much.
He kisses me, a gentle brush of his lips over mine, before he lies back down and pulls me back to his shoulder. He doesn’t say a word, but I can hear him thinking. “Penny for your thoughts,” I whisper.
“Ask me that another time,” he says, “and I might answer. But not now.”
The reply is confusing in too many ways to count. He wants me to stay, but he doesn’t want to tell me what he’s thinking. He’s also suggesting there might be another time we are together, which is probably just wording, not reality. It’s not reality. It can’t be reality. Because I’m not Zoey.
“Penny for your thoughts,” Ethan says softly, his fingers caressing my arms in little circles that lift goosebumps on my skin while his question stirs terror in my belly.
“Ask me another time,” I say quickly, “and I might answer. Just not now.”
Chapter Eighteen
Iblink awake, sunlight splaying across the room, while my mind is one big fog-filled forest of nothingness.
With no sense of place, I blink again and become aware of the coffee table in front of me, the heat at my back, and the fact that I’m naked, with a powerful arm draped over me. Oh, my God. Reality rushes over me as last night punches into my mind. I’m in Ethan’s hotel room, and I never went back to mine. I also have a flight to catch. The only thing that keeps me from popping to my feet is the fact that I’ve already noted—I’m naked.
My mind is no longer foggy, but rather racing with my options, and I decide my only move is to just take the blanket with me.
I catch it in my hands and shift my legs to the side of the couch before I decisively stand up. The blanket catches on something and there’s a hard tug before it falls away, leaving me with no cover at all. I rotate, and gasp, as I find Ethan staring up at me, the shadow on his jaw dark while the light in his eyes reflects amusement, and a hot inspection follows. “Where are you going?” he asks.
My adrenaline could not be pumping harder, nor could my heart. “I need that blanket.” I tug it free of him and wrap it around myself, and while he allows me to do so, I have an all-new challenge. Now, he’s not just naked, but gloriously naked. Every inch of him is hard, sinewy muscle, one specific part of him is harder than the rest and standing at attention. I press my hand that holds part of the blanket to my face. “That did not go as planned.”