Total pages in book: 160
Estimated words: 151097 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 755(@200wpm)___ 604(@250wpm)___ 504(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 151097 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 755(@200wpm)___ 604(@250wpm)___ 504(@300wpm)
That is the way Ocean kissed me.
What he made sure I could feel with each press of his mouth against mine.
“Mmh,” Ocean moaned as he finally pulled away. My lips were swollen and numb, and I was panting for breath I couldn’t quite catch. “Real sweet, baby. Real sweet. The next time you kiss me, do it just like that.”
A little indignant and self-conscious from his words, I wiped my mouth of our shared spittle. We’d gotten a little carried away. “I know how to kiss, Ocean.”
“But you’ve never kissed anyone the way you just kissed me, have you?” I shook my head before I could even consider denying. Ocean pecked me one last time. “And you never will.”
I didn’t have shit to say to that, so I nodded and tried to recall what we were discussing before.
I wanted him to fuck me.
No, that wasn’t it.
But I wasn’t wearing panties, and all he had in the way was a belt, a zipper, and his boxers. It’d be so easy, so quick. A few seconds, and he could be stretching me out. I could feel his thick dick trapped between my ass cheeks, and I gave a teasing wriggle.
Ocean groaned, his body shuddering against me from the restraint it took to keep from taking more than a kiss. “Shit, Coby,” he grumbled. “Why are you fucking with me?”
“Because as it turns out, I don’t like you very much,” I said while grinding my ass on him. “You’re not who I thought you were.”
Ocean’s dark chuckle as he clutched my hips and matched my rhythm. “Ditto,” he returned as we dry humped one another. “At least, one of us can say they’re not disappointed.”
He moved to kiss me again, so I gripped his jaw firmly to stop him. “The proposal?”
“Five years,” he blurted with his gaze stuck on my lips. “Give me five years.”
My smile fell as my brows pinched curiously. “Of what?”
I already knew he wanted to marry me, but it felt like he was asking for more.
“Us,” he said, confirming my suspicions. “Marriage. You.” He slid his hands up my thighs until they circled my waist. I liked his hands on me more than I should. “Be my wife for five years and never want for anything ever again. I’ll even pay whatever the fuck you want for every year we’re together. When the five years are up, you can divorce my ass.” Another one of those infuriating smirks appeared. “If you want to.”
Never before had I ever thought I’d agree to a relationship with a guaranteed expiration date. I was an incurable romantic, always dreaming of forever. Then again, I’d never met a man like Ocean Kilpatrick and knew that I never would again.
It was that gut feeling and the sharp pang of regret already settling there that made me say, “If I marry you, I have conditions of my own.”
“I’d be disappointed if you didn’t.” He held me tighter and kissed my shoulder. “What are your conditions?”
“Hunter.” Ocean merely raised a brow as if he wasn’t shocked that she was a condition, just surprised that she was my first. “I want to see her. I can only imagine what she’s thinking and how scared she is. I won’t do that to her. I need her to know that I’m okay.”
Ocean considered me for a very long time before he finally said, “You may see her.” My heart leapt at the thought of being with my best friend again. “After the wedding.” It plunged again.
I didn’t even try to hide my panic. I let it pour from me in crushing waves. “I can’t get married without her, Ocean. If you say I have to, then my answer is no. And I don’t just want her at the wedding. I want her to be my maid of honor. You’re asking for a lot. I can’t do it without her.” Squaring my shoulders, I stared down the heir of the Fola while attempting to bend him to my will. “Hunter is non-negotiable.”
Ocean stared at me for a long, long while, and just when I thought he’d refuse or threaten me, something like pride entered his eyes, and he shrugged. “If you want Hunter at the wedding, you’ll have her. I’ll make sure she has a front-row seat. Anything else?”
“My brother lives.”
Ocean’s answer came even quicker than my agreement to marry him. “Absolutely the fuck not.”
“Then my answer is no.”
“Coby—”
“No!”
“Who the fuck you shouting at?” he barked back.
Goosebumps rippled over my skin, but I refused to back down. I owed Roshaun that much. “I can’t be with the man who took my brother from this world. I don’t know what made you decide marrying me was worth three million dollars, but I do know it doesn’t matter. Nothing good that lives inside of me will survive if you kill him. It’s him or me, Ocean. It’s that simple.”