Total pages in book: 75
Estimated words: 71403 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 357(@200wpm)___ 286(@250wpm)___ 238(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 71403 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 357(@200wpm)___ 286(@250wpm)___ 238(@300wpm)
“You have a really sweet family,” he tells me.
I shrug. “They have their moments.”
“It’s amazing, how quickly I felt at home with them.” He nudges my side. “Even Heather likes me.”
“Better enjoy it while it lasts,” I tease halfheartedly.
“Is there something on your mind?”
I shrug again. “No.” I slip a bit on my next step, right myself, then add, “I mean, other than everything.”
“I know, right?” He chuckles lightly. “It’s been a huge rollercoaster of a day, hasn’t it? Lots of big rises, and then fast and unexpected—”
He missteps on the next stone and goes tumbling.
I reach out and grab hold of him by the shirt, then yank to keep him from falling.
Our bodies stay in place, his suspended by the fistful of his shirt I’ve grabbed, which brings our faces close, as the Gulf waves rage and hiss around us.
“—falls,” he finishes, peering into my eyes.
“I don’t want you to go,” I blurt out.
His face twists. “What?”
Then my grip on him slips.
I adjust my footing to keep a good hold on him, then lose my own footing, too.
I guess we were closer down to the water than either of us realized, because after the most serendipitously painless tumble a few feet off the slippery rocks, River and I crash into the water like it was there to gracefully catch our falls the whole time.
I burst out of the water with a gasp. River, too, beads of water flying from his hair like gems in the sunset as he searches for my eyes through the haze.
“What the fuck just happened?” he shouts with a laugh.
“I don’t want you to go,” I cry out over the water.
“Finn!” He comes close to me, gripping my body, legs kicking under the water. “Who said anything about going?”
“As soon as they replace the director. That could be in a few days.”
“Or a few months,” he says.
“And where will that leave me? … Or us?” I definitely sound like a frantic lover now, clinging to the scraps of whatever I can salvage of this fleeting connection. This is me at my least attractive. Max-level desperation. “I swore I could be okay with anything. I told myself to be happy for you. But the truth is, I’d lose my mind wondering what we could’ve been if we’d just had more time together. What if I’m what your life’s been missing? What if you’re the real deal and I just … just let you go back to your life in LA?”
“Finn …”
“I can’t do that, River. I can’t let you go.”
“Finn!”
“I’ve already let go of so much in my life. I have to fight for you. I have to fight for you to stay. I have to—”
He shuts me the hell up with a kiss.
The gentlest kiss that has ever shut me up at full rage.
It’s unsettling, actually, how fast River is able to take control of my rollercoaster and steer it right back onto the tracks with just the softest touch of his lips to mine. In our ears, the shattering of our breaths compete with the sea. All I know anymore is the feeling of his mouth as his firm lips entwine with mine, breaking apart my anxieties, replacing them with the insatiable yearning for more of what he’s so generously giving me.
I fucking love the way he kisses. It’s so sensual, yet so commanding. I’m completely at his whim. He tilts his face one way, and I oblige him. He tilts his face the other, and my lips are caught by surprise again and again.
Our hips have found each other under the water. His cock grinding against mine. Hands settling at the small of our backs, as if to encourage the less-than-gentle reunion of our bodies. Insurmountable pressure is building up so fast beneath our waists, it’s a wonder we can pay attention to anything else at all, let alone the soft touch of his lips.
Maybe that’s just a testament to how damned effective of a kisser he is.
And how much of a sucker I am for those kisses.
“Guess I forgot to mention,” he says between breaths we take as our lips refuse to stop kissing, “a little idea I had,” and kissing, and kissing, and kissing, “that I need to talk to your dad about …”
“What …” I breathe between kisses. I swear I’m trying to pull away enough to have an actual conversation, but I’m addicted to the way his lips feel on mine. “… idea?”
“I plan … on ending … my rental agreement.”
He’s gotta drop this on me right now in the middle of our kissing and make me cry? “What the … fuck?” I moan against his lips. “Already …? I thought—”
“… because I plan to make your dad … a really great offer … to buy it,” he finishes.
That ends the kissing at once.