Total pages in book: 155
Estimated words: 146392 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 732(@200wpm)___ 586(@250wpm)___ 488(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 146392 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 732(@200wpm)___ 586(@250wpm)___ 488(@300wpm)
“They’ll wait. I made you a promise.”
She shook her head even as her pelvis seemed to tilt of its own accord, sliding over the hard edge of his erection, and it felt so damn good. It felt like heaven. “I’m not holding you to anything. It was a moment out of time. We’re back in reality now, and we should probably try to forget it happened.”
He frowned down at her. “Forget? Forget that we’re together now?”
How often had she dreamed he would say those words? That he would look at her and finally see her and know they were supposed to be together? Now. He picked now, just as she was starting to date and move on with her life. “No. I’m sorry, but I was supposed to go in and make sure we were ready for extraction. I was worried you would say too much and blow my cover. So I apologize if I gave you some false signals.”
“False signals?” If he was offended by her words, he didn’t show it. “Like the way your pussy is already wet and ready for sex? Like that false signal? You have a well-trained vagina there, Ward. Do they teach that in spy school?”
He wasn’t taking her seriously at all. “You should get off me.”
“No. I think this is a conversation best had with some real intimacy because I don’t think you understand what happened back there.”
It was clear she didn’t understand anything, but she’d made a plan and she was sticking with it. “I do. You were emotional. You thought you were going to die, and you clung to someone you’re comfortable with.”
A brow rose over his eyes. “You make me sound like a scared little boy. I didn’t cling to you. I had my tongue up your pussy. That’s not clinging. That’s a fucking mission statement. And don’t think we’re not going to talk about the whole weapons cache and all your badass knife skills. Baby, most of the reason I stayed away was because I didn’t think you could handle my needs. That was my fault. I didn’t talk to you. I should have, but I was worried if we tried and failed that would mean you were out of my life, and I couldn’t handle the thought. I decided that sex wasn’t worth our friendship.”
It wasn’t anything she hadn’t heard before. He’d always told her he thought she was gorgeous, but he couldn’t risk their friendship. She’d thought it was BS meant to keep her in his orbit for as long as he wanted her there.
Lou sighed. That wasn’t what she truly thought. What she’d always known was that it couldn’t work if TJ wasn’t all in. “And now?”
“It’s totally worth it. Let’s fuck, baby. Let’s fuck for a couple of weeks and then maybe I’ll be able to sit through a debrief without my balls aching.” He started to lower his head toward hers.
She couldn’t let him kiss her. She rationalized the earlier kiss. She’d been half awake, but if he kissed her now, it would mean something. “You can’t say those things to me.”
He stared down at her like she was speaking a different language. Or perhaps he’d expected her to fall at his feet the minute he touched her.
“Who else would I say them to?”
“Any of your numerous girlfriends.” That was better. It was a good reminder that TJ Taggart never kept a woman for long, and falling at his feet would make her look like a moron later on. She already hated the fact that everyone knew how dumb she’d been.
He shook his head. “There weren’t that many, and it’s not like you’ve been celibate, baby. I know you were sleeping with that dumbass at MIT, and I suspect you were having an affair that first year teaching at UT. So don’t pretend like poor Lou sat in the background waiting for TJ to notice her. I always, always noticed you. I dropped everything to make sure you were taken care of.”
This had been their problem for years. He didn’t trust her in his world. Even though she’d literally lived in his world since she was twelve. She sometimes thought she understood his world better than he did. “I didn’t need taking care of. I can take care of myself.”
“Can you? Because from the way you reacted to me eating your pussy like it was my job, I don’t think you take care of yourself very well.”
That wasn’t what she’d meant at all. “You can’t talk like that.”
“But I can,” he countered with a smirk she shouldn’t find so attractive. “I’m good at it. I think I’m way better at it now that we’ve gotten through our awkward phase. I’m feeling some things I’ve never felt. I’m going to be extremely possessive when it comes to you.”