Total pages in book: 142
Estimated words: 131330 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 657(@200wpm)___ 525(@250wpm)___ 438(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 131330 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 657(@200wpm)___ 525(@250wpm)___ 438(@300wpm)
“I’m waiting,” I tell her. “I’ve got all fucking night.”
Aspen groans. “Fine,” she says. “We need to revisit the ground rules.”
My face scrunches in confusion. “Why? What’s wrong with our ground rules? We have them for a reason, and I don’t know if you were in there, but they worked fucking well.”
Her lips pull into a hard line, and she drops her gaze, studying my hands a little too closely. “You said you didn’t want me falling in love with you. Is that still true?”
My brows furrow, unsure of what she’s getting at. “Yes.”
“Then we need to adjust the ground rules.”
“What are you talking about, Aspen? Stop dancing around it and just say what you need to say.”
She lets out a heavy breath, and I hate the flash of nervousness in her eyes. She should know not to be nervous around me, especially after what we just did. “When you’re inside of me, no eye contact.”
“What?” I scoff, having to keep myself from laughing at the absurdity of that request. “Why the fuck not?”
“Because when you’re making me feel all these things, and it’s so damn good, I’m already on edge. But then you go and look at me, and not just a quick glance, you force me to hold your stare, and it’s too much. It’s electrifying, and it makes something that’s already there so much more intense. I don’t know if it’s because there’s already something there for me, or if it’s all just in my head, but when you look at me the way you do, especially when you’re inside of me and you’re just about to come, it makes me want something that you’re not willing to give. But when I look away, that connection breaks, and it’s fine, but I’m not going to lie, it leaves me feeling . . . shaky.”
I watch her for a second, already shaking my head before I even know what’s going to come out of my mouth. “No, fuck that,” I say, not sure if I’m about to fuck everything up even more. All I know is that the idea of not having her eyes on me when I thrust deep inside of her doesn’t sit well with me. “I don’t know about you, but for me, when your eyes are on me, I fucking love it. I can read you so easily. You’re an open book, Aspen. I see exactly how much you want it from the look in your eyes. It’s not your body language that tells me if you want it faster or slower, or the sound of your desperate pants, it’s those fucking eyes. There’s gotta be a compromise here somewhere, because losing that eye contact, that’s a hard pass for me.”
“Have I told you you’re impossible lately?”
“It’s come up once or twice.”
Aspen groans, and steps into me, dropping her forehead against my chest. “I hate this.”
“We can always stop,” I suggest, but the idea of never getting to sink inside of her ever again causes me physical pain.
“Not an option. You can’t just get a girl hooked on something and tear it out from under her a second later. We both agreed to this, and now we’re seeing it through. We already proved that we’re shitty people by crossing that line. We might as well make it count.”
“Fine,” I say, finally wrapping my arms around her and pulling her in hard against my chest, the reminder of my back-stabbing crimes making me feel like a piece of shit. “We try this again and limit eye contact, only looking away when it’s too much.”
“And?” she prompts.
I roll my eyes, but truth be told, I kinda like catering to her needs. “And I’ll work on not being an asshole and kicking you out like a bad one-night stand. But I’m not cuddling.”
“Get the cuddling out of your head. I never said anything about cuddling.”
“Do we have a deal or not?”
“Yes,” she groans. “We have a deal.”
“About fucking time,” I cheer, the sarcasm thick in my tone as I release my hold on her. “Now, I don’t want you getting confused for a bad one-night stand or a stranger off the street, but this time, I really am kicking you out of here. It’s almost two in the morning, and I’ve had to hear about your class schedule for the last four years. You’ve got a 9 a.m. lecture. You need to get home and get some sleep.”
Aspen scoffs. “Well, maybe next time you shouldn’t schedule your pussy appointment so late in the evening. It’s called being considerate. You should try it sometime.” She presses her lips into a tight line before her brows furrow. “Wait. Does this technically count as a booty call? It does, doesn’t it? Holy shit. I feel so used.”
“If anyone should feel used, it’s me,” I murmur. “Now get out of here before I have to physically drag your ass home.”