Total pages in book: 80
Estimated words: 75723 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 379(@200wpm)___ 303(@250wpm)___ 252(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 75723 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 379(@200wpm)___ 303(@250wpm)___ 252(@300wpm)
“Okay.” He does one of those side-kiss things that catches my hair and ear. He keeps his arm around my shoulders, and I keep listening to his heartbeat and deep breaths.
I need him. I seriously need this man, and not just for six months. I want to know him so I can need him more, and I want to need every bit of him with every bit of me. I want to be an us, and I want everything the agreement was supposed to keep us from wanting. What would it be like to think about forever with someone? Eternity? A family? Life, babies, love, the future, the hard and the good…just doing it all together.
It’s too much. I’m too exhausted to process any of those thoughts that honestly shock the hell out of me. I came in here because I wanted to talk, and part of me wanted to talk and also wanted this to happen, but I just thought maybe we could be more than friends and get to know each other and be open to keeping our options open in a life-is-too-short kind of way. I didn’t think I would be bombarded with whatever that thought was and those feelings that swelled within me to accompany it.
Morning is a better time. Sleep will fix my mind so I can tell what is just blissed out aftermath and what is real.
“You’re amazing,” Darius whispers sleepily right before I feel his breathing change, and then he’s gone, wrapped all around me and sleeping soundly.
My heart responds immediately, beating rapidly.
You’re pretty damn amazing too.
Chapter seventeen
Darius
I’m awake before Everleigh. I know I’ve overslept and that whatever meetings I had scheduled to conference into this morning have been shot to shit, but I’m not worried about it. Hans will handle it and say that I’m sick or something or busy with other things and will get back to it when I have a chance. He’s covered for me before, but not for something like this.
I wake up harder than when I went to sleep, and I’m not sure how that’s possible except maybe because of morning wood. I don’t want to scare Everleigh or have her think I’m a pervert just lying there awake with a big boner so close to her while she’s sleeping, so I slip out of bed and walk to the dresser to find a pair of boxers to put on.
After that, I make a quick detour to the bathroom, and I feel a little bit like a kid in the backyard searching for buried treasure and actually finding something because I score a small metallic packet out of one of the drawers by the sink.
I find Everleigh sitting up in bed with the sheets held to her chest when I get back into the bedroom, her cheeks a delightful and beautiful pink that the sunlight coming through the heavy drapes highlights with hues of gold. Her eyes glisten in that beam of sunlight, and she looks like a damn angel.
I hold up the packet. “Umm, I happened to find another one of these if you’re interested. I mean, if you’re not…sore or anything. We could also save it for whenever you want.” Her eyes get huge and immediately drop down to my waist. Well, not exactly my waist, but more like the massive erection testing the tactile strength of my boxers. “I was thinking maybe a shower might be a nice way to wake up.”
“I was right,” she whispers, licking slowly along her bottom lip. “You have a fabulous ass.” I turn around and ogle myself, which makes her laugh. I love the sound of her laughter. It’s so soft and pretty. Magical. Just like her waking up next to me in my bed. “And I think I lost because that, sir, is a very big rug burn.”
I reach around and rub at the tender spot on the small of my back, right at the top of my butt cheeks. “Ouch. You’re right.”
She wriggles her brows at me. “Come and get me and take me to the shower, and I’ll rub it better. With my tongue.”
“I’d rather use my tongue to make you come apart like a pro,” I tease her.
“Oh really? You’re the orgasm master now?” she quips.
The best part about going to bed naked is waking up naked. I walk over to Everleigh and peel the sheets away, claiming my prize, which happens to be Everleigh’s smart, lush mouth with lips that are sinfully kissable. Then, I sweep the rest of her up into my arms, too, and carry her to the bathroom and get the shower going. It’s a rich-person shower with an overhead spray, jets on the side, and a bench in there, you know, just in case showering is too much and you need to sit down for a break. After my surgeries, I often need to take a break because showering is often too much.