Total pages in book: 25
Estimated words: 22583 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 113(@200wpm)___ 90(@250wpm)___ 75(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 22583 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 113(@200wpm)___ 90(@250wpm)___ 75(@300wpm)
I can’t hold it in anymore. I slide my hands up to her cheeks, my palms all callused and rough and probably too big for her delicate face. I make her look at me.
“Listen,” I say, and my voice comes out gritty as a back alley. “I can’t wait another second.”
She blinks. “For what?”
I can feel myself flush, embarrassment boiling under the skin. “To make you mine.” Confusion enters her gaze as I fight to find the words, to admit what I need to admit. “You’re the only person I’ve ever wanted to wake up next to. The only person who makes this place feel like a home. The only person who’ll ever own my goddamn heart.”
She just stares, lips parted. I can see the pulse racing in her throat. I press on because, if I stop now, I’ll never finish.
“Every day, I get a little crazier. You’re in my head all the goddamn time.”
She makes a little sound like she wants to speak, but I barrel right through.
“I don’t want just your body,” I tell her. “I want every goddamn part of you. The smart, stubborn, back-talking, all of it. I want you here. With me. Not just tonight, but every night. And I want the entire world to know you’re mine.”
My hands are shaking, which is the most humiliating thing that’s ever happened to me, but I refuse to let go of her. I frame her face in my hands, thumbs stroking along her jaw because I don’t know what else to do with the energy trying to break out of me.
She’s not saying anything, and I start to panic. Did I fuck this up? Did I come on too strong? My mouth keeps going, desperate to fill the silence.
“I know you’re independent. I know you don’t need me. But I fucking need you, Natalie.”
I swallow hard. “So, if you’re in, I need to know. Because I’m all the way in, and I can’t go back.”
Her eyes shine in the dim light. She’s trembling, but not from fear. She bites her lip, hard, and I want to do it for her, want to taste her. I can’t stand it.
I tip her chin up, bring my forehead down to hers, and breathe her in.
“Say something,” I whisper, but it comes out more like a threat than a plea.
She laughs, shaky and wild. “You’re a fucking idiot,” she says. “I love you, too.”
I am a goddamn idiot. I should’ve started with those three words. “I love you more than life itself,” I mutter as she grabs my shirt and fists it tight, dragging me down into a kiss that burns every doubt out of my system.
She’s in. I can feel it all the way down to my bones.
I let myself breathe for the first time all day. And I kiss her like I’m never letting her go.
She looks right at me, tears streaming down, mouth twisted in something between a smile and a grimace. I reach to wipe her cheek and she grabs my wrist and holds it, anchoring both of us to the moment.
“I’ve been waiting for you to say that,” she whispers, voice raw and sharp as a new blade. “I thought if I said it first, you’d run.”
I’m so stunned I can’t even move. This is the part where I’m supposed to be in charge, supposed to take her apart and put her back together. Instead, I just stand there like a fucking idiot, letting her feelings wash over me in waves. “The only running I’ll be doing is straight to you.” I drag her even closer. She’s crying, and I want to fix it, but she’s also laughing, which soothes me all the way to my soul.
She presses her palm to my chest, right over my heart, and I know she can feel how hard it’s pounding. Maybe she’s always known. Maybe she’s known longer than I have.
She drags me down into another kiss, and it’s so different from the others, I almost don’t recognize it. Less hunger, more reverence. Like we’re learning each other all over again, cataloguing every taste and sound and gasp. It’s enough to make my knees buckle.
She pulls back and presses her forehead to mine. We stand there, breathing the same air, not moving, not talking. Just being. I run my hands down her arms, feeling every muscle, every scar, every line of her. I want to sink into her and never come up for air.
“Kiss me,” she breathes against my lips, and I groan her name as I peel her blouse off, desperate to get my hands on her skin.
She shrugs out of her shirt, lets it fall to the floor, and stands there in a pale pink bra, lace so soft it’s practically see-through. Her nipples are hard, dark against her pale skin. I can’t stop staring.