Total pages in book: 103
Estimated words: 97875 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 489(@200wpm)___ 392(@250wpm)___ 326(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 97875 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 489(@200wpm)___ 392(@250wpm)___ 326(@300wpm)
“A lot of things.” He sounded dazed. “All at the same time.”
“Hmmm?”
“Skylar, you’re . . .” He trailed off with a swallow, raking a hand through his hair. “I’ve never seen or touched or tasted anything better than you. I want to go back and erase everything but you. That’s mainly what I’m thinking.” He paused. “The other is I want to get in that bed with you and sleep, because somehow, I know I’ll sleep even better holding you than I would after a doubleheader. But I’m afraid you’re not going to let me do it forever. I’m afraid to get used to it.”
He’s as defenseless as I am. “Get in here, Redbeard.”
He laughed, pained. “Not this time. I’m feeling all vulnerable and shit.”
It hurt not giving him the answer he wanted in that moment. To erase all doubt. But she wasn’t ready to take that leap yet and taking back any promises later would be worse than leaving him hanging now, wouldn’t it? “What are you going to do?”
Robbie traced the outline of Skylar’s body with a conflicted gaze. “Jesus. I don’t know. You look so soft in there.”
“I am.”
“Baby.” He raked his hands down his face. “No. I’m playing the long game. So, yeah. Guess what? You rest. I’m going to work on making your family fall in love with me while you decide what you want. While you consider me.”
“I will,” she said, her heart pumping even as her body continued to come down from its climax. “I am.”
Did she really mean what she was saying, though? Or was she just shaken from what they’d experienced together?
No.
No, she was grappling with feelings for this man, but logic was the issue. Knowing his history. Still not quite ready to trust him with her heart, the way she could obviously trust him with her body. Even if she was beginning to wish she could. Beginning to wonder.
“Do you have a game plan to make them fall in love with you?” she managed, heart lodged in her throat.
“Not yet, but there will be alcohol involved.” He raised an eyebrow at her. “Is your dad going to take one look at me and know I just blew his daughter’s mind?”
Where was the lie? “You might want to put on a shirt, at least.” Her face heated. “There are handprints on your shoulders.”
Robbie looked at the prints in question and waggled his eyebrows. “My goal is to have some identical ones on my ass by tomorrow.”
“The schedule says maybe.”
“Right,” he said dryly, pulling on a shirt and finger combing his hair. When he seemed prepared to leave the room, he just looked at her, his smile fading. “Are you sure you’re feeling okay after what happened at the lake?”
“After you . . . did that to me on the bathroom floor?” Skylar buried her face in the blanket, a little giddy from the drop of adrenaline and the freedom to be so honest with him. “I don’t even remember what happened at the lake.”
“That’s nice.” Robbie shivered as he backed toward the door. “Meanwhile, I’ll have nightmares about it for the next five decades.”
Halfway out into the hallway, he stopped.
Strode back to the bed and leaned down, drugging her with a kiss. A long, soul-searing kiss that closed her eyes involuntarily and squeezed the region south of her throat.
Oh dear.
“Consider me, Skylar.”
Chapter Twenty-Three
Wipe the grin off your face, fool.
Robbie physically did just that on his way to track down Doug, dragging his palm downward over the lower half of his face. But damn, it wasn’t easy to hide the satisfaction of having finally given Skylar an orgasm. A good one, too. She hadn’t seen the intensity of it coming, if her unblinking eyes and flushed skin afterward were any indication, and all he wanted to do was get between those legs and give her more. Wanted her to chain-smoke pleasure until she was addicted to his body.
He realized he’d stopped walking halfway down the hallway, his dick telling him to go back. Go get in bed with her. With a wave of determination, though, he kept going. Because Jesus, he hadn’t lied about feeling vulnerable. Had any of the women he’d blown off felt this way about him? I hope not. It was tough business wanting to mean something to a person and not knowing if they were interested in more than sex. If they were willing to give a relationship a shot. The ache was heavy. Unrequited.
As he walked through the living area and out onto the back deck, he spied Doug sitting in an Adirondack chair, staring out at the line of trees with a frown, hands limp and resting on his bare knees. Moved to silence by the same woman for a very different reason. Robbie couldn’t help but feel responsible for forcing the family to make a breakthrough in the middle of their sacred yearly visit, although the fact that Skylar nearly drowned saved him from too much guilt.