Total pages in book: 127
Estimated words: 127715 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 639(@200wpm)___ 511(@250wpm)___ 426(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 127715 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 639(@200wpm)___ 511(@250wpm)___ 426(@300wpm)
So okay.
The scene I’d set wasn’t original.
So maybe it was a bit goofy.
So it was also totally obvious.
It worked.
Splendidly.
I grinned.
Harry came back, and I gladly took in the show, until he lifted the covers and got in bed beside me.
He gathered me close, tangled us up, but his hands roamed, feeling an impossible mixture of still greedy, affectionate and soothing.
If he could do it, I could do it.
So I did.
“It was Sherise’s idea,” I blurted, throwing my girl right under the bus with this whole seduction scene.
His brows went up.
“Just to say, she came up with it because I was over waiting,” I pointed out the obvious.
He chuckled, and man, I loved to feel when he did that. “I didn’t miss that.”
“I sense you like control, but you know, a girl’s gotta do what a girl’s gotta do.”
“Was I complaining?” he asked.
“No,” I answered.
I didn’t think it was physically possible for him to pull me closer, but he did.
And he said quietly, “You were ready. I was ready. It happened. It was phenomenal. It’s gonna happen again, soon, and go a lot slower, and I know that’ll be phenomenal too. So it’s not all good. It’s more than good. In other words, don’t worry about it, sweetheart.”
“’Kay,” I mumbled, feeling like preening not only at his use of the word phenomenal, but also that it was going to happen again…soon.
That said.
“You hungry?” I queried.
“I honest to God couldn’t face another casserole.”
I laughed and snuggled against him. “I’ve got some finger foods planned. If you open the champagne, I’ll go get them.”
“I’ll go get them.”
Of course he’d offer.
New thermostat.
Doorbell camera.
Drawing me a bath.
So Harry.
I gave him a kiss and said softly, “There are a few finishing touches. Five minutes. Okay?”
He nodded, but he kissed me, and since it was a good one (like all of them), it lasted awhile before he let me go.
I slid out of bed, found my nightie (pink, with a stretchy lace bodice, a short scarf-hemmed, see-through skirt and matching string bikini panties—I’d bought it ages ago with the thought of using it on Stormy in a last-ditch effort to keep him, something I didn’t do, so now it was all Harry’s). I pulled it on, found the panties and slid them on too.
“The panties are moot at this juncture, baby,” Harry noted in a gruff voice from the bed.
I turned to him to see him watching me, his eyes again molten chocolate.
So…
Yeah.
My man could be naughty, what with thinking his woman would wander around the kitchen commando in a nightie with a see-through skirt.
“A girl shouldn’t be too easy,” I kidded, which of course made him burst out laughing, since obviously I was bottom-line easy, considering I essentially threw myself at him, without the throwing part, but adding rose petals.
I loved the sound of his laugh, so I was smiling as I went to the kitchen.
The dogs followed me around (I was preparing food, so they would, but I’d learned Harry’s pups liked company, if he hadn’t tired them out and they weren’t sleeping it off).
I had a plate full of strawberries, grapes, crudité, rolled cured meats, olives, cashews and almonds. I had another plate of toasted baguette slices and feta mixed with cream cheese. I nuked the spicy honey, drizzled it on the cheese, sprinkled the chopped pistachios on top, grabbed some napkins and the other plate and headed back to the bedroom.
I’d heard the cork pop while I was in the kitchen, and Harry had the champagne poured by the time I returned.
He was under the covers, but sitting up, his chest still a feast for my eyes while I put our edible feast on the bed.
I rounded it and got in beside him. Once I’d settled, he handed me my champagne.
“Should we toast?” I asked.
“What would your toast be?” he asked in return.
“Um…” I bit my lip.
His face grew wolfish, and, damn…
I didn’t know he had that kind of look in him.
But…
Nice.
“How about, to a great fuck and many more to come,” he teased.
I raised my glass, laughing. “I will totally toast to that.”
He grinned at me, we clinked, drank, and for my part, I watched closely as he reached for a feta piece, took a bite, then his eyes came to me and they warmed.
“Delicious, sweetheart, and this is perfect,” he said softly, tipping his head to the plates.
“Glad you like it,” I replied.
“I mean all of it, Lilly,” he kept at it. “All of it is absolutely perfect.”
Oh God.
My sweet Harry.
“Glad you like it,” I repeated, but this time it came out husky.
His gaze dropped to my lips.
I felt a rustling, heard a snuffling and looked to the side of the bed to see Smokey’s snout doing some doggie exploring.
“I know you love me, pooch, but I know you want prosciutto right now more than your next breath, and you can’t have any until Daddy’s done with it,” I told him as I reached out a hand to stroke his head.