Total pages in book: 72
Estimated words: 68033 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 340(@200wpm)___ 272(@250wpm)___ 227(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 68033 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 340(@200wpm)___ 272(@250wpm)___ 227(@300wpm)
“Somehow I thought that would be obvious.” Walsh took the steps necessary to bring him to her row.
“I’m not— My divorce isn’t final yet.” She took a step back and over into a row of peas. “Cam and I have lived apart for a year, but we still have a few months before things are final.”
Walsh followed her, stepping over a row of collard greens. He reached out to capture her hand. She tried to free herself, but he held firm.
“Stop running from me.” His soft words were an entreaty, a command, and a caress all bundled up in one unavoidable knot.
“I’m not running.” She knew it was a lie, but she couldn’t help it. “I just don’t think it’s a good idea for you to be here…yet.”
“And I’m tired of waiting,” he whispered, taking another step forward, using his index finger to tilt up her chin. “Don’t send me away again. I’ve missed you.”
She nodded, closing her eyes in the sweetest torture. His mouth brushed hers lightly, once and then again.
“Don’t do this,” she said, his breath hot against her parted lips.
His traced his tongue across her bottom lip.
“Do what?”
“That.”
She shook her head, helpless, sure that he was going to kiss her and certain that she would not be able to send him away.
Walsh dipped his head, hovering over her open mouth for a few seconds, and she breathed him in before he possessed her mouth completely. He nudged her lips open wider, dipping his tongue into her mouth. He groaned at the shy brush of her tongue against his. He slid his hands down to her waist, pulling her close until her body’s soft curves melted into the harder lines of his own. Desire simmered between them, a slow burn that steadily licked away at their control until there was nothing left but an open flame.
Kerris leaned into him, her hands plowing their way up his chest and around his neck. Lips, tongue, teeth, famished and feverish. She was lost in him, oblivious to the world, pulled into the vortex of a kiss deeper and hotter than any she’d had before. His large, warm hand slipped under her shirt, stroking the naked skin of her back. He left her mouth long enough to scatter kisses down her neck and into the open collar of her shirt, whispering across the bones.
“A year. You’ve made me wait a year.”
“Walsh, we—”
“And I’d wait another year, if I had to.” He firm lips curved against her mouth. “But don’t make me.”
“Thought I told you to take it slow,” Mama Jess said from the screen door.
Kerris tried to pull back, but Walsh trapped her against him, looking over Kerris’s shoulder at Mama Jess with both brows raised.
“I have been taking it slow,” he said.
“Didn’t look slow to me.”
“Why are you watching?” He laughed, pulling Kerris to his side and heading back toward the cottage.
“I gotta keep an eye on you with my girl.” Mama Jess frowned, but her lips twitched with a smile she wouldn’t give in to.
“I’ll take care of my girl.” Walsh looked down at Kerris, his eyes going a little softer and hotter. “Don’t you have a bingo game or something that would take you away from the house for a few hours?”
Mama Jess laughed outright, placing a hand on her hip and sticking a stern finger in Walsh’s face.
“Just because I’m out of the house don’t mean you gettin’ in, if you know what I mean.”
“All righty then.” Kerris stepped away from Walsh’s possessive grip, mortified. “Um, so bingo?”
“Yes, bingo.” Mama Jess narrowed one eye up at Walsh. He looked right back. “But I’ll be back.”
“And I’ll be here.” Walsh slipped his fingers between Kerris’s.
As soon as the door closed behind Mama Jess, Walsh pulled her close for another kiss.
“Hey.” Kerris protested, holding up a hand to push against his chest. “Let’s talk.”
“Talking’s low on my list right now.”
“Walsh, you can’t just walk in here unannounced and expect…”
“Expect what? That you missed me as much as I missed you?”
She moved behind the couch to put some distance between them. “You can’t just—”
“Please stop telling me what I can’t do.” Walsh frowned across the space she’d imposed between them. “What’s wrong? I thought you’d be happy to see me.”
“Walsh, I’m not divorced.”
“It’s only a matter of time.” He came around the couch to take both of her hands in his.
“Yes, time. Something I asked you to give me.”
“Something I gave you. A year’s worth. I’m done with it.”
“Oh, so that’s it, because you’re done?” She shrugged her slim shoulders under the thin cotton of the shirt. “You say time’s up, so forget what I want.”
“You want me to go?” Walsh’s knife-sharp words sliced into the silence she had no idea how to fill.
Kerris looked down at the floor, not sure what to say. Every cell in her body burned for him. Her hands still shook from that kiss, but she was paralyzed. Leave? Stay? She knew if he stayed, it would be the beginning of something she wouldn’t be able to stop, maybe ever. And if he left…the throb of loneliness would return. Even surrounded by friends, living a full life, missing him was a constant ache.