Total pages in book: 103
Estimated words: 100523 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 503(@200wpm)___ 402(@250wpm)___ 335(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 100523 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 503(@200wpm)___ 402(@250wpm)___ 335(@300wpm)
I really should stop perving on him. I should start adulting.
Now. I will do it right now.
I settle in on the couch and gesture to the cookies and the milk. “I have three different types of milk. Almond milk, oat milk, and two percent. We can see which one tastes better with cookies. It’s a milk and cookie taste test,” I say, and I’m reverting to my pre-sex plan.
I’d arranged my escape hatch so well I bought three types of milk, and planned this whole elaborate cookie taste test, so I wouldn’t have to face uncomfortable moments.
Only, I didn’t anticipate this one—the what happens next one. But here it is, awkward as hell, and I hope milk and cookies make everything easier.
With a wolfish grin, Carter grabs a cookie, then takes a bite. He moans as he chews. Then he sets the half-eaten cookie down on the plate a little defiantly. “Delicious.”
I blink at him, shocked. “You took it dry.”
“I’m that studly, Rachel.”
“You didn’t have any milk,” I add.
His grin widens. “I don’t like milk with cookies.”
I gasp, over the top. “You savage. How did I not know this about you?”
“Guess I’m packing a few surprises,” he says.
My gaze strays to his pelvis. “Packing for sure. Like your secret dick.”
A laugh bursts from him. “Secret dick, Rach? Does that mean the fact that I had a dick was secret? Because you say that like it’s a secret birthmark, a secret extra toe, a secret second dick.”
“I guess if you have two dicks, it probably is a good idea to ease a girl into that. So secret dick works if you have another one.”
“Do you think I’m hiding another dick from you?”
I shudder. “I hope not. I don’t think I could handle your two dicks. The single super-size one is enough for me. The secret super-size dick,” I say, and I’m smiling too, and then something dawns on me.
This is not uncomfortable at all. Not one bit. We’re Racheling and Cartering once again. He’s eating a cookie shirtless, and I’m taking one and dipping it in milk, and we’re joking about his dick.
This feels normalish.
When he finishes, he leans back against the couch cushions, stretching his arms over them, so at home here. “So, was this milk and cookie tasting part of your whole cover-up?”
Shoot. He does know me too well. Earlier, I wasn’t sure how to talk to him, so I protected myself by rambling. I’m still unsure, but this is also a new chance. I took a chance at sex. I should take a chance at communication. I need to know the score, and I’d rather learn it directly than dance around it.
I set down the cookie and face him. “I baked because I didn’t know what was going to happen tonight—if I was going to find the guts to tell you I’d been thinking about you like this, or if it was going to scare you off, so I wanted a parachute. I thought if we had a normal thing to do, then it’d be fine if you didn’t want…the same thing. The sex thing.”
“You saw me jerk off to you and you thought I didn’t want the sex thing?”
I shrug, a little helpless. “Carter, I don’t really trust a lot of my instincts with men.”
He’s quiet for a beat, his expression turning thoughtful. “But you trust me?”
“Of course,” I say instantly. “You know that, right?”
“I do,” he says. “Always have. I just want you to be upfront with me.”
Another thing that’s new? Believing someone. Trusting someone. Not second guessing every single thing. That’s a damn good feeling. “Okay. Here goes. I kind of needed some reassurance when you were touching me before—my breasts—that you wanted to, like really wanted to touch me. Because I didn’t want to second-guess it all the next day.”
His eyes pin me. “Don’t second-guess me, Sunshine. You can ask if I like something. And I’ll tell you the truth. But you need to know this—I wanted you. Only you. I still want you,” he says, the intensity of his voice a reassurance too.
“Maybe that was a sex lesson I needed to learn. That it’s okay to ask if you—your partner—likes something,” I admit, feeling vulnerable but needing to say this. He could read me when we were making out. I didn’t have to spell out my fears and I appreciate that. He sensed them and took care of me. But I can also ask for what I want, and what I need. That’s something I’ve never really done before. I’ve never felt comfortable doing it.
“It’s fun to ask for what you want. And yeah, I could tell beforehand, too, that you felt off tonight. I just had no idea if it was because, well, you’d done a dick review.”
I drop my face into the couch pillow, groaning. “I’ll never live that down.”