Total pages in book: 103
Estimated words: 96850 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 484(@200wpm)___ 387(@250wpm)___ 323(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 96850 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 484(@200wpm)___ 387(@250wpm)___ 323(@300wpm)
For several beats, Madden appeared almost shaken. Like he didn’t know how to handle hearing so many good things about himself at once. Appearing at a loss, he bent forward and slowly kissed every inch of her scar, top to bottom. “Since we’re sharing secrets, when it came time to go back to Ireland, I . . . thought of you. I couldn’t leave you.”
She looked down at him sharply. “I don’t understand.”
“I didn’t want to go back to the home I’d left behind, but I could have. I could have, if not for you. I stayed because once I’d been near you, that’s where I belonged.” His mouth dragged up her stomach, kissing as he went. “Something was always there, even when I wouldn’t allow myself to have you. My heart brought me back and brought me back to you until you were old enough to decide on me too.”
“I love you,” she said, haltingly, her lips and scalp tingling with the shock of his revelation. “I love you and I don’t know what’s going to happen. The kids are gone.”
“I know. Elton told me.” He pulled her in close to his chest and she went, lifting her arms and wrapping them around his neck. “I’m sorry, Eve. I’m so sorry.”
She nodded, rubbing her cheek on his bare skin, deriving comfort from his heat. “My sister said she wants to come back to Cumberland to be close to me, though. When she’s had her time in North Carolina and recovered some more. That’s something, at least. Isn’t it? I don’t know where they’ll live, but I can figure it out.”
“We can figure it out.”
After a moment, Eve nodded. “Okay.”
“But, Eve . . .” Madden pulled back slightly to scrutinize her face. “Is Cumberland really where you want to be? If it is, good. We’ll make anything work, you and me. I just want you to know you have options. You are not shackled to this town.”
The thought of living anywhere else—and not in a make-believe scenario—was scary. But it could have been a lot scarier if this man’s bare skin wasn’t pressed to hers, his blue eyes radiating so much love it could fill the deep end of the ocean. His nearness, his affection, his willingness to join her in her weakest moments and transform them into moments of strength were an armor she’d refused to accept until now.
“I’ll think about it,” she said finally.
Madden nodded, his attention falling to her mouth and holding. Music and the muffled croon of Veda’s voice started to filter into the office, the band obviously starting their second set. The din of the club—voices and laughter—wove together with the music to make a full, beautiful sound around Madden and Eve. And Eve knew her lover’s body needed relief. She could sense it while wearing a blindfold. His breath started to get shaky, and his skin seemed to be stretched tighter than usual across his abs. Nipples swollen. The fly of his jeans at a prominent angle, his hips pressing the bulge tightly to the couch, his pupils expanding to hide a significant amount of blue.
It was going to take next to nothing for Eve to be ready.
She was already turned on from being onstage. Now her horny, hulking husband was kneeling in front of her with no shirt, visibly aware that she wore nothing but tight boyshort panties and stilettos, his forehead starting to shine with sweat.
“Eve.”
“Yes?”
“If a meteor hit this club right now”—he gripped the sides of her underwear, waited for her subtle hip lift, then ripped them down to her feet, throwing them aside—“it still wouldn’t keep me off this pussy.”
She blinked at him. “How do you want it?”
“Licked.” He pushed her knees open and breathed a curse. “Every sweet inch of it.”
Confident beneath the worship in his eyes, Eve settled her ankles on the breadth of his shoulders. Slowly. One at a time. “Can I leave on my shoes?”
“Please leave on the shoes,” he said raggedly, tugging her butt to the edge of the couch, squeezing her open knees. “God, it’s already wet. God.”
Eve beckoned him down for a long, breathless kiss. “You took me so hard last night, I probably taste like you,” she said against his ear, her voice almost drowned out by the music. But he heard it. He definitely heard her, because he groaned his way down to her breasts, sucking them eagerly in turn while his thumb traced the seam of her sex, dragging moisture up and back and over and around her clit, teasing her so thoroughly that she was whimpering by the time his tongue parted her flesh and rubbed firmly against her entrance. Rubbed and rubbed until her hips began to writhe, to seek friction.
“Madden.”
“Be patient. I’ve waited a long time for this.”