Total pages in book: 105
Estimated words: 100277 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 501(@200wpm)___ 401(@250wpm)___ 334(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 100277 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 501(@200wpm)___ 401(@250wpm)___ 334(@300wpm)
Rafe looked pissed. “I did not cut you out. I was following your lead. You barely said a word the entire ride back to your place.”
“Because I was trying to return us to friends, to where we’d been before we almost had sex. I wasn’t trying to throw you away!”
His head jerked back at my words.
Words that revealed too much.
Remorse filled his expression as he reached for me, but I retreated. Rafe curled his hand into a fist and lowered it to his side. His voice dropped to a low gravel. “I didn’t mean to make it seem like I was throwing you away. I was trying . . .” He squeezed his eyes shut for a second, and when he opened them they blazed with emotions that made my breath catch. “I hoped that if I pulled back, you’d see you missed me. Like I missed you.”
I gaped at him in shock. “What?”
He closed the distance between us, cupping my face gently in his hands. “I don’t want to fake this anymore when for me . . . this is very real, Star.”
“So you were playing games with me?” I whispered.
“No. No, I wasn’t trying to play games with you. You’re just so closed off to the idea of anything real that I didn’t know how else to get you to see that we have something. I thought if you missed me, it might change your mind.” Guilt flashed over his face. “But it was the wrong move with you and I’m so fucking sorry. I’m sorry if I hurt you. You are the last person I want to hurt.” He brought his forehead to mine, his hands sliding down my face to my neck and down to grasp my upper arms. “Star, I want this to be real between us.”
Blood rushed in my ears as a confusing mix of elation and anxiety whipped through me. “Casual?”
He lifted his head to give me a weirdly sexy admonishing look. “What do you think?”
“I-I-I think you know I don’t do relationships and that this is a bad idea. I can’t commit to anyone.”
“Or . . . you just don’t want to be disappointed by other people’s lack of commitment to you.”
I tried to pull away from him as I whisper-yelled, “Don’t psychoanalyze me, Rafe Whitman!”
His lips twitched. “I think you need a little psychoanalyzing, Star Shine Meadows.”
“You’re infuriating!”
“You’re perfect,” he answered seriously.
Warmth pushed through my earlier hurt at the tenderness in his eyes. “Rafe—”
His mouth cut me off as it crashed down over mine.
I moaned in surprise and then hunger as his tongue licked mine. His arms wrapped around me, crushing me to his hard chest, and in an instant, my skin was aflame with need for him.
Damn the man!
Rafe groaned as I met him kiss for desperate kiss and suddenly my feet were off the ground and Rafe’s hands were gripping my thighs as we moved backward. Then just as suddenly my ass was on the bathroom counter and my legs wrapped around Rafe’s hips as his hungry kisses intensified.
When his lips finally left mine, it was to trail magical kisses along my jaw to my ear. His voice was guttural. “I’m sorry if I hurt you, but know I missed you so fucking much.”
That should have been the cold splash of water I needed to extract myself from the situation, but Rafe’s mouth returned to mine for another head-spinning, scorching kiss. He was hard and we were grinding on each other like out-of-control teens. My hands explored his taut body over the soft material of his shirt and waistcoat and I desperately wanted to rip everything off him but was distracted from doing so when Rafe suddenly broke our kiss.
I panted for breath, my body trembling with need as I stared up at his lust-darkened eyes.
Then I gasped as his hands slid under my dress, coasting up my thighs as he held my gaze. His fingers curled into my underwear, and I let out another moan of excitement as he roughly yanked my panties down. “Rafe?” I was ten percent scandalized and ninety percent thrilled as hell.
He gave me a wicked smile and pulled my ass along the counter until I was almost hanging off it, and then pushed my thighs apart. He lowered to his knees and I whimpered in anticipation.
“We shouldn’t here . . .” I declared with zero real objection.
Rafe smoothed his hands along my inner thighs, gazing up at me with that cocky smirk. “I’ve fantasized about doing this to you for weeks. And someone should go down on their woman in this bathroom, because we sure as fuck know Hugo won’t.”
I let out a cackle of laughter, slapping a hand over my mouth to quiet it, but there was no need. Rafe’s tongue touched me, and as he licked his way up to my clit, I groaned as sensation spiked down all four limbs. Arousal tightened in exquisite need low in my belly as my heart pounded in my ears.