Total pages in book: 164
Estimated words: 156728 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 784(@200wpm)___ 627(@250wpm)___ 522(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 156728 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 784(@200wpm)___ 627(@250wpm)___ 522(@300wpm)
His hand closed around her wrist in silent warning. Not roughly. Not painfully. Just an immovable grip that stopped her exploration before it could fully begin.
“Don’t.” The word came out strangled.
The raw vulnerability in his eyes was enough to make her comply. But withdrawing her touch wasn’t enough for him.
He released her wrist and pulled away, putting distance between them as he moved to sit on the edge of the bed.
The silence stretched until her need to understand him became too much to bear. “Do you ever let other people touch you, Jack?”
His shoulders went rigid.
For a long moment, he sat there, body tense, hands noticeably fisting at his sides. Then he moved off the bed.
She regretted her words, but couldn’t help her curiosity. “I’m just trying to understand you.”
“Don’t,” he said, pacing the littered carpet. “You’ll only find ugliness inside.”
Shadows moved in the darkness as a ghost from his past seemed to slip between them. Flames cast his tormented face in an amber glow as his hands opened and closed at his sides. His breath came fast and shallow.
Daisy stayed silent as she waited, unsure what would happen next. She feared any words would only drive him further away.
He continued to pace, the cavernous room shrinking around him like a wild animal caged. Window. Fire. Window. His footsteps barely audible on the thick carpet. His reflection flickered in the dark glass, but other than that, he wouldn’t look at her.
Suddenly, he ripped open the balcony doors and stepped outside, as if trying to escape the claustrophobic space.
Daisy flinched at the sudden abandonment. Voices and music carried from below, reminding her exactly where they were and shattering the illusion of closeness she’d foolishly woven like some protective shield.
He returned as suddenly as he left, the look in his eye enough to startle her into stillness.
Not desire, though he looked as though he wanted to devour her. Restraint. Anger. Raw desperation.
“Jack?” When she said his name, his eyes closed as if suffering in pain that somehow accompanied the most pleasant ecstasy.
He looked at her then, with renewed determination. “I want more of you.”
Daisy swallowed. Her hand drifted to her own throat, seeking the comfort of her locket that wasn’t there and finding only her rabbit-quick pulse. “How much more?”
“Everything. As much as…” He seemed to struggle with his own greed. “All of you.” He paused, then asked, “Scared?”
The weight of his question after such a confession made her response both terrifying and exhilarating. She let the truth settle between them, considering everything he could possibly be asking.
“Daisy,” he asked again, softer this time. “Are you scared?”
“Curious,” she finally said.
The breath left him as if he’d been punched. He moved fast—his hands wrapping around her ankles and pulling her flat to the center of the bed.
He climbed over her, blocking the firelight, hiding his face in shadow.
His hands found her wrists. Pressed them into the pillows above her head, grey eyes burning in silent command.
Stay.
Then his mouth descended, not with the unhinged haste he’d kissed her before, but with purpose and an urgency that couldn’t be ignored.
Her knee lifted, resting against his hip, welcoming his weight as it settled over her. He kissed her deeply, thoroughly, his tongue stroking hers with a rhythm that made her toes curl. But he didn’t linger.
His lips traced a path down her throat, as if on a mission now. His mouth moved lower. Into the hollow between her collarbones. Across the swell of her breast, pausing to draw her still-sensitive nipple into his mouth briefly—making her gasp at the memory as much as the reignited pleasure.
She kept her arms where he’d placed them, fingers curling into the pillows, nails biting into silk, silently obeying his command as his mouth lay claim to her body as no one else ever had.
He continued his descent to the ladder of her ribs. Then the soft plane of her belly, where her muscles jumped and fluttered. He licked the dip of her navel, tongue swirling slowly before moving on.
Lower and lower, until his broad shoulders pushed between her thighs, spreading her wide to accommodate his frame. His breath washed hot across her swollen flesh, and Daisy realized with sudden, acute awareness just how wet she was.
Slick evidence of her arousal coated her folds, the sweet musk of her desire making her cheeks burn. He waited for an excruciating eternity, looking at her with devastating proximity.
The ache at her core spread to her lungs as he stared into her with those darkening grey eyes, and she tried to breathe.
His cool breath teased her dewy curls.
“Jack, please,” she begged, mortified.
“Please, what?”
“Touch me—” She broke off, beyond coherent speech, her hips lifting in silent supplication, as his hungry mouth closed over her sex, licking deeply.
A single stroke from entrance to clit, his tongue flat and warm, he gathered the wetness that pooled at her opening and groaned, the sound a deep, masculine rumble that vibrated against her sensitive flesh.