Total pages in book: 197
Estimated words: 199143 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 996(@200wpm)___ 797(@250wpm)___ 664(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 199143 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 996(@200wpm)___ 797(@250wpm)___ 664(@300wpm)
“Don’t you dare,” she warned.
“You know what you gotta do, Cross!” someone shouted behind him.
“Don’t let her get away with that, man!”
Catherine tried to give her new husband a glare that promised certain death if he dared to ruin her makeup, or God forbid, spill some of that cake down her beautiful dress. “Cross, I swear ...”
“Swear what, baby?” He arched a brow, that white frosting still smeared a bit to the side of his mouth. If she wasn’t entirely terrified that he was going to ruin her makeup, she might have thought this conversation was comical. “That you smooshed a whole handful of cake into my face but now you don’t want me to do it to you? How is that a good lesson for you, huh?”
“It wasn’t a whole handful!”
“Because I dodged most of it.”
Okay, so that wasn’t a lie.
“But that’s only because I never get anything over on you,” Catherine said in a fast rush of words. He was closing in on her, after all. Only a few steps away with his hand still raised and ready to streak that cake all over her face. And he was probably going to do it with a laugh, too. “So I have to take my chances when I can, you know?”
“Right, baby. I’m sure.”
“Cross.”
Cross just grinned. “Hope you’re ready for the pictures of this to be hanging up on our wall for years, Catty.”
“Oh, my God, come on!”
“Just do it, Cross!” someone shouted.
Zeke, it sounded like.
Fuck him, too.
Catherine would make sure she got Zeke back at another time. She could hold a grudge like nobody’s business. He should have known better, frankly.
Her thoughts scrammed when all of the sudden, Cross came at her when he must have thought she was distracted. Self-preservation kicked in, and she turned as fast as she could in that huge dress to get away from the man coming her way with fingers sticky with icing. Unfortunately, the first thing she almost ran into was the cake table, and by the time she turned around to look for another way out, it was already too late.
Cross’s arm wrapped around Catherine’s waist, and he tipped her back before she even knew what was happening. Without warning, he dropped his head down, and his lips met hers in a fierce, hungry kiss that took her breath away. Catherine felt high, then. Like she was floating amongst the clouds with this man. The rest of the cheering room disappeared, and nothing else mattered. She wasn’t thinking about ruined makeup or icing in her face. The only thing that mattered then was the way Cross’s lips felt working against hers as his tongue darted into her mouth for a taste. She could still taste the remnants of the icing she’d smooshed on his face on the edge of his tongue, too.
Her eyes locked on his as he pulled away just a little bit, a sexy grin curving his lips in the sexiest way. Cross brought his icing-covered fingers in front of her face, and wiggled them back and forth. “Open up, babe.”
Catherine sighed. “Why do I even try?”
“Trust me.”
She parted her lips for him, and he slipped those two fingers in her mouth for her to take the sweetness right from him fingertips. She did just that, too, sucking his digits clean before he righted her back to her feet. Then, he used a napkin someone handed over to wipe the corner of her mouth and her lips with gentle pats that wouldn’t smear her lipstick.
All the while, he grinned like the fucking cat who had gotten the whole bowl of milk.
Smug bastard.
God, she loved him.
“Had a bit of icing from my kiss on your mouth,” he said, winking.
“You were never going to smear me, were you?”
Cross shook his head. “You said not to, babe.”
Catherine smiled.
She should have known. She made the limits; he always followed them without question. He was just amazing like that. Yet another reason why she loved him, really.
“Give me that napkin, let me wipe you, too.”
He handed it over; the crowd went back to clinging their glasses for another kiss.
They got what they wanted, too.
*
Cross POV
“If the couple of the hour would please join in the middle of the dance floor for the next song, please,” came a voice over the music. “Please clear the dance floor for Mr. and Mrs. Donati for their first official dance as a married couple, and then we’ll join them again a little later.”
“Think that’s supposed to be you, man,” Zeke said.
Cross gave his best friend a look. “You think, smartass?”
Zeke simply grinned, and slapped Cross on the back. Someone else shoved Cross on the shoulder, forcing him away from the group he’d been talking to, and onto the dance floor. The last time he saw Catherine, she’d been helping a little girl fix the bow on the top of her head. Now, he found her parting the crowd on the other side of the dance floor.