Total pages in book: 98
Estimated words: 92899 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 464(@200wpm)___ 372(@250wpm)___ 310(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 92899 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 464(@200wpm)___ 372(@250wpm)___ 310(@300wpm)
And then his hands reached up and grabbed handfuls of my shirt to pull me in closer. The kiss deepened, and my blood roared.
How was it possible for this to be so good again? I’d replayed our other kisses so many times, I’d convinced myself I’d overblown them in my memory.
But I was wrong.
The grip I had on the back of his neck loosened so I didn’t hurt him, but the moment I eased up, he pulled me closer and made a frustrated sound in his throat. “Don’t fucking stop,” he urged against my lips.
My fingers slid through his hair as I pulled him into another kiss. This time, our tongues dueled, and I realized he didn’t seem to have any hesitation about kissing another man.
Absolutely nothing was holding Tommy back.
They say a peacefulness follows any decision, even the wrong one, and fuck was that true. Once my lips were on Tommy’s, once my hands were molding the trim muscles of his body, it was impossible to regret it.
I kissed him with reckless wonder. With months’ worth of pent-up frustration. With a consuming need to brand myself on him permanently the way he’d done to me. And with the knowledge, deep in my soul, that our parting was inevitable… so I was going to take everything he had to give. I’d soak in enough of his greedy fingers, his hot mouth, and his harsh moans of my name to last me a lifetime. I’d enjoy every fucking second of the ride for as long as it lasted.
Tommy moved one of his hands down my chest to my stomach and then my hard cock. I jerked back in surprise while simultaneously groaning at his touch.
“Please,” he whispered, his breath warm against my lips. “I want you so fucking bad, I can’t sleep at night.”
“Tommy.” His name came out like a sigh of surrender, a warning, a plea all rolled into one.
“If you don’t want me, I’ll let it go,” he said. His forehead rolled against mine. “I promise. It will be the hardest fucking thing I’ve ever done, but I don’t want to make you miserable. You have to tell me if you don’t want this.”
I closed my eyes. With his hands on my skin and his body so close I could feel his heat, I had no concept of self-preservation. So I told him the truth.
“I want this,” I admitted, my voice barely audible. The confession felt like jumping off a cliff. “I’ve wanted you since that first night in Hawaii. Even when I thought you were married, even when I hated myself for it.”
Something blazed in Tommy’s eyes—triumph, relief, pure desire. “Fuck, Foster—”
“It can’t be more than this,” I added quickly, the words coming out harsh and desperate. “Sex. Hooking up. Whatever you want to call it. When SERA is over, you’re gone. I know that. You’ll be at your fancy job, and I’ll be back in Majestic, dealing with lost hikers and small-town bullshit.”
His hands moved back up my chest to my face. “Eight weeks.”
“Seven and a half.” I nodded once. “And then it’s over. No long-distance bullshit. No promises we can’t keep. You go to your city life, and I go home. Alone.”
His thumb traced my cheekbone, and I saw something flicker in his eyes—hurt, maybe, or disappointment. But then he nodded. “What if we—?”
“No.” The word came out harder than I meant it to. “I can’t do maybes with you, Tommy. I can’t do hope. I’ve been down that road before with guys who lived somewhere else, and it nearly broke me.”
Tommy’s face darkened. “Matthew.”
He had no clue. Matthew leaving had been a paper cut. The brief flash of pain that came from ripping off a Band-Aid.
Losing Tommy—after a single fucking evening—was an aching wound that hadn’t healed.
I swallowed hard. “This is all I can give you. Take it or leave it.”
“I’ll take it,” he said, his voice rough with want. “I’ll take it, Foster.”
Tommy’s thumb stroked across my cheekbone, his eyes were dark with promise, and I shuddered out a breath.
“This is such a fucking bad idea,” I said, even as my hands came up to rest on his waist. My fingers immediately snuck under the hem of his shirt to touch the same warm, golden skin I’d dreamed about since Hawaii.
“Maybe.” His smile widened, and for the first time since Hawaii, I saw the full force of Tommy’s charm directed at me. “But I’m tired of good ideas. They got me engaged to the wrong person and working a job I hated.”
Before I could voice any more doubts, Tommy rose up on his toes and kissed me again.
It was nothing like the desperate, hungry kisses we’d shared moments before. This was slow, deliberate, a question and an answer all at once. His lips were soft and warm, moving against mine with a confidence that made my knees weak.