Total pages in book: 137
Estimated words: 138683 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 693(@200wpm)___ 555(@250wpm)___ 462(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 138683 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 693(@200wpm)___ 555(@250wpm)___ 462(@300wpm)
Where my heart had gone haywire and the dirty ideas in my mind had spun out of control.
Tension thickened the air, and everything felt too full and tight.
“Gorgeous, yeah,” he rumbled, but those eyes never strayed from me.
Lightning flashed, illuminating the room in a strike of energy.
His aura glowed within it.
The warmth now a slow-burning fire.
He edged closer.
The man was all dark Viking and sexy manipulations.
Seriously, he made my mind mush.
“How was your night?” I rushed.
“Long. Couldn’t wait to get home.”
“Right. You have to be exhausted.”
“Not really,” he rumbled in that low voice.
“Oh,” I peeped. Brilliant, I know.
Milo took the last step until he was a towering shadow that eclipsed me, his big body vibrating with this severity that knocked every rational thought from my brain.
“Don’t like leaving you here by yourself night after night.”
My mouth went dry, and every drop of blood in my body raced to forbidden locations. I felt like I could step forward, disappear into the man, and I might get lost and never find my way back to sanity.
I wouldn’t mind staying there forever.
“I can handle myself just fine. I already told you I’m used to being alone.”
He angled down, his breath a hot wisp over my cheek.
Honey and the woods and the fall of summer rain.
A needy sound slipped between my lips without my permission.
“I know you can take care of yourself, Tessa, but that doesn’t mean I’m not goin’ to worry about you.”
“Well, that’s what good fiancés do.” I struggled for light.
“Well, I do plan on treating my girl right.” His delicious mouth tweaked into a half smile.
Snap. Crackle. Boom.
My tongue raced over my parched lips.
I searched for space because at this rate, I was seriously going to make a fool of myself.
Climb him like a tree, like I was aching to do.
I took a fumbling step back and hit the long pane of cool glass.
Milo erased that space, too.
Like maybe he couldn’t stand the distance.
I gulped as my belly flipped, and that sweet spot between my thighs throbbed.
Was he thinking the same things as me? What it would be like to run his hands over my body? Tear my clothes off like a wild beast? Take me?
With Karl over and done with, every sordid fantasy I’d kept tucked away of Milo had been unleashed and had taken on a very vibrant new life.
Heat burned up the bare space between us, and I could see the way his chest was jutting with each panted breath.
His jaw was clenched in restraint, and his eyebrows slashed downward in severity.
But his lips—they were plump and soft and full and, oh my God, was this mountain man going to kiss me?
His big palm went to the side of my face. The contact sent chills scattering far and wide, and I was most definitely getting lost in this fantasyland that I wanted to make my home.
Stake a claim in it.
Discovered terrain never known before to exist.
Tessa’s territory.
It had a really nice ring to it.
A frown dented his brow. Close to pain. “Are you ready for tomorrow?”
Oh.
Right.
That’s where this severity was coming from.
He was worried about the visitation with his kids.
I so got it, and I refused the disappointment that wanted to sprout up between the hope.
I met his fierce gaze through the shadows. “I think it’s likely that’s what really woke me up. I’m pretty nervous, honestly.”
His nod was tight. “Me, too.”
“Do you think we can pull it off?”
“I do.” He stated it without question.
Like it was fact.
And his hand was slipping farther up my jaw, his fingertips just dipping into my hair.
“Is it wrong I’m excited for you to meet them?” His smile was almost shy.
I gulped. “No, because I can’t wait to meet them, either. I just hope they like me.”
“Don’t think it’s possible for someone not to like you, Tessa.”
“Oh, I’ve had a few foes in my life. Third graders can be total bullies. Terrifying, if I’m being honest.” My voice was a wisp of light.
A deep chuckle rolled from his chest. “That so?”
I nodded frantically.
Gah.
Why was he tucking me closer?
Another slow roll of thunder rumbled the sky, driving the intensity between us. Waves of vapor that was completely intoxicating.
He hesitated for a second before he murmured, “I was afraid to hope before you came here, Little Dove, and now…”
My fingertips found the spot where his heart hammered at his ribs.
Violent yet steady.
“I want to help you find your joy, Milo. I’m not sure I’ve met anyone who deserves it the way you do.”
“You hardly know me, Tessa.” A warning tolled in his gravelly voice.
My blunt nails scraped at his chest. “I don’t need to know the details to know you, Milo. I don’t need any of it to feel who you are.”
A flash of guilt speared through his expression before he urged, “And if it comes to gettin’ on the stand and testifying to that? Taking an oath that’s a lie?”