Total pages in book: 156
Estimated words: 157140 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 786(@200wpm)___ 629(@250wpm)___ 524(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 157140 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 786(@200wpm)___ 629(@250wpm)___ 524(@300wpm)
She looks at me with her lips drawn tight.
“You’re on a hammock, Cole. I’m walking a tightrope with you.”
Damn.
My jaw tenses and I work my brain, trying to find the right combination of words to patch what was once such a happy road we tread together.
“If the hammock broke, what do you think would’ve happened?” I ask.
“We would have hit the rocky ground and it would have sucked.”
“For me, yeah. I had you positioned so you’d land on me if anything collapsed. I wouldn’t have let you get hurt—I would’ve taken the blow—and it’s the same now.”
“Go ahead then,” she says quietly.
I sigh. “I know I fucked up. I shouldn’t have gone off and made you feel like an outsider, an intruder, whatever. You’re nothing close to that. You’re way too important. Anything that matters to Destiny and me matters to you, sweetheart. And I hope anything that matters to you also matters to me.”
“And the hiding? The Mr. Smith fake out?”
“I’m going to HR next week as promised. You’re right. I told you I’d handle it, and I’ll make good on my word. But if I have a talk with HR, can you handle a conversation with me?”
She bites her bottom lip.
“I enjoy conversations with you very much. You know that.”
I hold my arms out, waiting. She walks into them and I close them around her, swallowing a possessive growl as I inhale her scent.
“You smell goddamned glorious,” I blurt out. “And I missed you like hell. You can’t ever do this to me again.”
When she finally smiles up at me, I relax for the first time, relieved that there’s the slightest chance I haven’t ruined this beautiful thing we’re meant to be.
“I missed you, too. And I’m sorry.” She tilts her chin and stares up at me, so fragile I hate myself more for ever hurting her.
Growling, I meet her lips, taking her little mouth hard.
She melts into me, running her tongue across the seam of my lips. I deepen the kiss with heat pulsing in my veins, begging me to reclaim her body and never, ever let go.
Eliza holds on tight as her body fuses to mine.
When my hand skims down her ass, squeezing a handful of luscious woman, she pulls away from me and sucks in a ragged breath.
I savor it, seeing how sweetly messy she looks as she stumbles back.
Goddamn, I’ve missed this—her feel, her taste, her weight in my arms—as much as I’ve missed the scorching kisses and screaming red sex.
“Cole?”
“Yes, sweetheart?” I embrace her again, stroking her hair.
“Umm—you know all of those invitations I didn’t take you up on?”
I chuckle. “Are you trying to tell me you want to come home tonight?”
“...what I mean is, I’ve just missed you. And this.” She smiles, her hand caressing my thigh for a hot second before her fingers brush the bulge in my pants.
My cock snaps to attention, pulling like an angry animal.
“Eliza, come home,” I whisper in her ear.
“I don’t want to be away from you,” she whispers, more breath than words. “But there’s something you need to know.”
“What’s that?”
“You don’t need an invitation with me. With this. You’re always welcome.”
“Yeah?” My hand roams her ass again.
I fight the urge to push my hand between her legs right here. If I ripped aside her panties now, I know I’d find her soaked.
“Yeah. I’m exhausted, so let’s get out of here, but kiss me one more time first?”
How could I ever refuse?
She doesn’t give me a chance, though. Eliza comes up on her toes, pressing her mouth against mine with so much urgency it boils my blood.
Her little tongue sweeps mine, teasing and soft, tempting the beast inside me to snap its chain.
When we finally leave the lab, we do it hand in hand and mouth in mouth, intermittently slamming each other against the wall as we make our way to the nearest exit.
The town car waits for us outside.
We slide into the back seat, and I pull her into my lap, pushing my hand up her skirt and flicking her panties aside.
“I promised not to let you get hurt. You said you trusted me, right?” My thumb finds her clit and the pressure comes.
She tenses, moaning breathlessly. I don’t move in circles until she nods.
“I need a promise, too,” I whisper, pushing two fingers into her drenched pussy while my thumb quickens its pace around her clit.
“Whatever, yes. Whatever you want,” she says quickly, her eyelids fluttering.
“If you’re going to be in that lab until closing time, you text me so I can pick you up. So I can have this.” I’m snarling as she starts grinding against me, her pussy so needy, begging for her first release of many tonight.
My cock feels like a loaded gun. My pulse roars in my ears so hard it drowns everything else out.