Total pages in book: 146
Estimated words: 143842 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 719(@200wpm)___ 575(@250wpm)___ 479(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 143842 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 719(@200wpm)___ 575(@250wpm)___ 479(@300wpm)
Gold, glittering streaks. Fireworks of pinks and blues.
I throbbed around his fingers as bliss streaked through my body.
Rolling and rolling and rolling.
He slowed though he didn’t stop, the man dragging the orgasm out because he knew exactly how to take care of me, just like he’d promised.
I chanted his name, no sense to be found, only the bright light that sparked behind my eyes and the sensation that swept me away.
Rapture.
Release.
A bittersweet sort of heaven that I knew would soon be ripped from under my feet.
We both had to know this wouldn’t last.
Before I could make sense of it, he crawled onto the bed and planted both hands on either side of my head.
He hovered over me as he angled down and took my mouth in a mind-bending kiss.
It was rough and demanding and in an instant had me spun up again.
He swallowed the needy sounds that continued to crawl up my throat as I continued to vibrate beneath him.
Ripples of pleasure that tingled and danced.
He kept me there until the aftershocks wore off, then he started to peck little kisses to my mouth.
“I told you I was going to have to gag you.” He left the tease all over my lips. I could feel his smile woven underneath.
And my chest expanded again, and I knew it was affection sprouting and looking for a place to take root.
It would be a mistake, falling for him.
But God, how was I supposed to stop myself when he eased back a fraction to gaze down at me, his hand soft where he set it on my cheek?
Tender as he whispered, “So fucking gorgeous, Hailey. I don’t think you know. I don’t think you have the first clue what you’re doing to me. The way you’re making me feel. The way I think you always have.”
A hint of uncertainty pulled to his strong brow, like he was trying to place where this feeling had come from.
I ignored the guilt that pressed at my ribs and brushed my fingertips down the scruff on the side of his face. “I think it’s you who’s ruining me.”
He smiled in that playful way. “Oh, darlin’…you’re all wrong. You are something I never expected.”
He took my hand and kissed across my knuckles.
My heart ached.
There was no question I was letting this go too far. This emotion that wound me in a fist and prodded me toward the type of pain I couldn’t take.
But I couldn’t let him go, either.
Not yet.
Not when he was looking at me like that.
I urged him up to sitting then climbed to my knees, totally bare and not even caring. I eased up between his legs that he had bent with his feet planted on the mattress.
Cody grinned as I reached for the hem of his shirt. “Just what do you think you’re doing?”
His voice was all mischief and seduction.
“I figured since I am naked, this is only fair.”
Except it wasn’t fair at all. Not when I peeled his shirt up and over his head and the man was sitting there with his chest bare, all those colors and designs dancing over the bristling muscle that ticked and flexed underneath.
The man so powerful.
Want trembled my thighs.
But he was more than this gorgeous exterior.
More than I’d imagined.
I’d thought him shallow.
A jerk.
So careless in his actions that he didn’t care who he hurt as he barged through his days seeking pleasure.
But I knew he was more than that. I could see it in his eyes and feel it whispering through his spirit.
I think I’d known it then, too, but I’d been so riddled with guilt that I couldn’t see through the pain.
I reached out and ran my fingertips over the clock that rested over his heart.
The disfigured hands set in a mournful cry that I couldn’t quite hear.
“Why does this sing of sorrow?”
If I wasn’t paying such close attention, I might not have noticed the way he flinched. The misery the connection caused.
I’d thought he’d retreat from it.
Deny it.
Only instead of pushing me away, he gathered my hand and pressed my palm flat over the tattoo.
His eyes swam in affliction.
“It’s not sorrow, Hailey. It’s choosing a path, wrong or right, and following it because you know it’s the only thing you can do. It’s making a choice for someone else. Giving them peace or joy or maybe time, even when it might mean the loss of yours.”
My spirit tugged in anguish for him, at the loneliness that was suddenly staring back.
I wanted to ask him what he’d meant, but he kept gliding my palm downward, over the rippling muscles of his abdomen.
My breath went shallow as I glanced down at where he was heading—toward his cock that was outlined by his sweats, pressed up high, so fat and thick.
Only the thin fabric separated us when he set my hand over his hard, steely length. Flames licked up my arm, and he moaned a seductive sound as I fisted my hand around him.