Total pages in book: 99
Estimated words: 100680 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 503(@200wpm)___ 403(@250wpm)___ 336(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 100680 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 503(@200wpm)___ 403(@250wpm)___ 336(@300wpm)
“Oh my God. Do they?” she asked breathily as he gave her other nipple the same treatment.
“Yep.”
“And how do they do that?”
“By giving them rules, then spanking them when they don’t obey.”
“Maxim!” She slapped her hands down on his chest. “Stop kidding around.”
“I wasn’t kidding around.”
“You cannot tell me that every Malone man spanks his woman.”
“Hmm. Why can’t I?”
“Because . . . because that’s nuts. Your brothers . . .”
“Yep. My brothers are all over that. Where do you think I learned it from? And my cousins. Rainbow, if you think I’m nuts, you want to meet the Texas Malones. There’s not a sane one there, well, except Alec and West maybe. The rest of them still think it’s the Wild West in Texas and that they should be able to shoot anyone that comes onto their land who they didn’t invite.”
She grinned and shook her head. “Now I know you’re making things up.”
“I swear that I’m not, baby. I’d take you there to show you, but then they might try to steal you from me. A couple of them still don’t have their own women. I wouldn’t want to tempt them with you.”
“I’m not going to tempt anyone.”
He glared at her. “Are you wanting to add to your punishment?”
“What? What punishment?”
“The one you’re owed for not calling me to help you with that box. For carrying the box on the bus and then into the apartment building on your own.”
“That’s nuts! You can’t punish me for that!”
“Sure I can. I was going to have you come in here and bend over, so I could pull this dress up over your ass and give you a quick, hard spanking. But then I got distracted by these. And what a distraction.” He ran his tongue over the tip of one nipple. And then, he had to give the other nipple the same treatment.
“I had it handled. I’ve taken care of myself for a long time.”
He drew up to stare down at her. “But the difference is that now you don’t have to.”
19
Aston stared up at Maxim in shock. “Wh-what?”
“I’m not sure why your family isn’t around, but from what you’ve said, I gather that you aren’t close for a good reason. And you don’t seem to have any decent friends, so before now you’ve had to take care of yourself. But now you have me.”
You don’t seem to have any decent friends.
Ouch.
But it was true, wasn’t it? And the truth was . . . she’d cultivated things that way. Because letting people close had never ended well for her.
“So you had to do it all on your own.” Leaning in, he sucked one nipple into his mouth.
Holy. Fudge. Balls.
She swore she could feel that in her clit. And it felt damn good.
“And now you have me, and I’m going to look after you.”
How . . . how had this happened? She had no idea that meeting him all those months ago at the swimming pool . . . that sharing snarky remarks back and forth . . . that getting into the elevator that day would lead to this.
To this gorgeous, sexy, caring man lying on top of her on her uncomfortable sofa, telling her that he would look after her. And meaning it.
“I’ve never had that,” she told him hoarsely.
She waited for the barrage of questions. Things she couldn’t answer. Would he get mad at her silence?
“And now you have.”
Holy. Crap.
Was he trying to kill her? To turn her into a ball of mush? Because he was succeeding. She had to blink rapidly to keep the tears at bay. How had she gotten so lucky as to meet this man?
“That wasn’t supposed to make you cry, baby,” he said worriedly.
She shook her head. “I just . . . I’m so glad I didn’t tell you that you should claim your ego as the ninth planet in our solar system and take your rightful place out in the stars.”
He threw his head back and laughed. She grinned. She loved it when he laughed. He was always so darn beautiful, but when he laughed like that . . . he was the most beautiful thing she’d ever seen.
And she just hoped that she could hold on and never let go.
After he quietened, he lowered his mouth to hers. The kiss started off soft and sweet. But it soon deepened, getting hot and heavy.
Lord, the man could kiss.
“Fuck, baby, your lips are so soft and delicious.” He moved his mouth down her neck and chest. “All of you is soft and delicious.” He took as much of her breast in his mouth as he could and sucked.
Far. Out.
She moaned, arching up. Wanting more. Needing it.
He moved his mouth to her other breast and did the same. Her mind swum, her breath coming in fast pants.