Total pages in book: 74
Estimated words: 73042 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 365(@200wpm)___ 292(@250wpm)___ 243(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 73042 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 365(@200wpm)___ 292(@250wpm)___ 243(@300wpm)
My jacket is on the floor, but I’m still in my shirt, trousers, and tie, and right now the necktie seems to be choking me.
I loosen it, and she puts her hands over mine.
“Let me.”
With her long and delicate fingers, she slackens and removes it, setting it neatly on a bed table.
Then she unbuttons my first button, her fingers grazing against my flesh.
If possible, my cock grows even harder.
Everything about Raven Bellamy is so delicate. To touch her might shatter that delicacy, but I’ve already touched her, already kissed her. Already flicked one of those delicious nipples between my thumb and forefinger. I can’t wait to do it when nothing separates us. When I can see her beauty unencumbered by clothes.
But apparently she’s going to undress me first.
I’m not used to that. I like to get a woman naked. Perhaps it’s a control thing, but I like to see a woman in her nude and vulnerable state before I present myself.
With Raven? If this is how she wants to proceed, I’m all in. It scares me how much I want to give this woman everything. Even when it goes against my nature.
I’m not a gentle soul.
I never was, but after my grandfather molested me on my eighteenth birthday, any remaining gentleness got thrown out of me.
I don’t make love gently either.
Raven, though she looks so delicate and porcelain and perfect, asked me to use her. Use her up.
Fuck, does she even know what those words did to me?
Does she know what I’m capable of?
I spent seventeen years in Europe, and during that time I did a lot of soul-searching. But my ultimate conclusion was that I am a product of my upbringing. Some things about me I can never change. I had to make peace with that.
I had to come home, take my place. I had to do it for Savannah. For the memory of Mikey.
She finishes unbuttoning my shirt, slides it over my shoulders, and lays it gently next to my necktie.
And I’m done with gentle.
I want to see clothes strewn on the floor. I want to see bodies entangled on the bed.
“Stop,” I say on a growl.
She widens her beautiful eyes. “Am I doing something wrong?”
“Raven, I’m not sure you could do anything wrong.”
“That’s not true.”
“That’s not what I mean. You told me to use you. Use your body. So we’re done with gentle here.”
Her lips part, tremble just a touch. She stops it quickly, but I notice.
“So I’ll ask you again. Is this what you want? Because after this, I’m done asking. I will take from you. And I won’t stop.”
She nibbles on her lower lip for a split second before nodding and kicking off her shoes. “I’m sure, Vinnie. I’m so very sure.”
I grab her then, pull her to me, and press my lips to hers, shoving my tongue between them.
Another raw and ferocious kiss, and all that makes my cock throb harder.
I’m good with taking it slow. I’m going to savor every minute. I’ll undress Raven slowly, even though I want to rip her clothes off her.
Slow is fine. But I’m done with gentle.
I glide my hands under her shirt and pull it up, revealing inch by inch of her perfect skin. She trembles beneath my touch. Or maybe I’m the one who’s shaking. Either way, this is real and raw.
After I’ve stripped off her shirt, I toss it to the floor. Her chest rises and falls with each breath she takes.
I hook my fingers into the waistband of her jeans and meet her gaze. Her dark eyes are wide and full of fire. The intensity there sends a jolt straight to my gut. Damn, she has power. Raven has power she doesn’t even know about. She could bring me down in a minute, and I’d go willingly.
I pull down her jeans, and they join her shirt on the floor. She stands before me now in only a bra and panties, both lacy and white—innocent and provocative at the same time.
“Vinnie,” she whispers.
My name in her voice is like a spell binding me to her. It’s a plea, a confession, a prayer. It’s all of those and none at the same time.
“Raven,” I growl back, my voice heavy with longing. I find the clasp of her bra and snap it open. It joins the rest of her clothes on the floor.
Now she’s standing in front of me only in her panties, her plump breasts falling gently against her chest. She’s breathtaking, undeniably beautiful, but it’s not just her physical beauty that draws me in. There’s a strength about her in the way she carries herself. As if the storm of her illness made her stronger.
I lean down to kiss her just below her collarbone, trail my lips across her skin before I reach behind her and tug at the elastic waistband of her panties.