Total pages in book: 39
Estimated words: 35875 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 179(@200wpm)___ 144(@250wpm)___ 120(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 35875 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 179(@200wpm)___ 144(@250wpm)___ 120(@300wpm)
"What? When? Why?"
"Because you've always been my ghost." His breath pelts my skin. "Christ, Madison. I shouldn't have felt the way I did. It was so goddamn wrong. But after you disappeared, you haunted me. So I looked for you. I knew you emptied his safe and drove out of town. I hoped that meant you were where you wanted to be." He sighs. "I should have looked harder."
"You didn't know."
"I should have. The longer you were gone with no trace…" He sighs again. "I should have looked."
"Jack." I lick my lips, suddenly nervous in a way I don't think I've ever been. "Have you…um…you've been single for seven years, haven't you?"
"I've never been in a relationship, Madison."
"Have you d-dated anyone at all since I disappeared?"
He lifts his head, his gaze tangling with mine. Before he even opens his mouth, I see the truth written across his gorgeous face. "You already know the answer to that question, baby," he says quietly. "It's the same reason you haven't dated anyone since we met, isn't it?"
"I…I…" God, why does it feel like I can't breathe?
"Isn't it, baby?"
"Yes," I whisper, my voice a mere scrap of sound.
The truth lands loud between us anyway. Jack shudders on top of me, something wholly possessive flaring bright as the sun in his eyes.
"You've always felt like mine, haven't you?"
I nod, my mouth bone dry.
"That's why you belong in this bed," he growls. "That's why you're marrying me. And that's why this shit between us won't ever end, Madison. You're mine, the same goddamn way I'm yours." His lips crash against mine, his kiss a vow, a claim. A brand.
I cry out against his lips, arching beneath him. He rocks his hips into mine as he devours my mouth, his erection gliding against my clit with startling accuracy again.
"Jack," I gasp, clinging to him.
"Does that feel good, baby?" He breaks from my lips to kiss his way down my throat again. "You like when I'm all over you, don't you?"
"Yes." I pull his hair, trying to push him lower. I want that wicked mouth around my nipples. They ache so damn bad right now. And I'm done denying that this is what I want. He knows the truth now, and he's still right here, still touching me like I'm priceless. Still whispering to me like I'm the best thing in his life. I'm not crazy enough to tell him that I'm not. If he wants me, warts and all, then I'm his.
He chuckles, lifting me slightly to drag my shirt and bra up my body. I shiver beneath him as he lays me back, his wild eyes raking over me. Maybe I should feel shy or embarrassed—no one has ever seen me this naked before now. But it's impossible to feel anything but desire with the way he's looking at me like I'm something he wants to devour.
"Fuck," he growls, reaching out with a shaking hand to run it down my belly. "I can't wait to see this growing with my kid, Madison."
"Jack," I groan, trying to press my legs together. Except…I can't do that with him between them. "Do you really want to get me pregnant or are you just saying that?"
His eyes flash to mine. He holds my gaze as he reaches between us. I hold my breath as he pops the button on his pants and then releases the zipper.
"Eyes on the prize, Madison," he orders, reaching inside his pants.
My gaze drifts down, my heart pounding against my ribcage.
"Oh my god," I whisper, heat coursing through me in waves when he pulls his dick out. "Jack, I…you…" He's a monster. And I'm a virgin. Sure, I have toys and I've used my fingers, but he is neither of those things. He's going to split me apart at the seams. "Virgin."
His lips kick up into a smirk that's far too sexy. "You asking or telling, baby?"
"Telling," I gasp, my voice strangled.
"You should be asking too."
"Why?" I frown at him, trying to think through the desire coursing through me. "I don't care if you're a virgin, Jack. You aren't less worthy of me if you aren't. Your life didn't start the day you met me. I'd never think it should have." No one is more or less worthy of love because they have or haven't had sex. That's ridiculous. He's a decade older than I am. It's wild to assume that he should have the same experience I do when he's lived years longer than I have. We're not the same in a lot of ways. Of course we have different experiences.
"Maybe it didn't," he says, his smirk growing. "But I was too goddamn busy to bother, Madison. And then I met this pretty little angel I couldn't have and no one else would suffice. My hand has been busy, baby."