Total pages in book: 84
Estimated words: 79587 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 398(@200wpm)___ 318(@250wpm)___ 265(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 79587 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 398(@200wpm)___ 318(@250wpm)___ 265(@300wpm)
“Uh…what?” Mattie asked, frowning. Was he saying what she thought he was saying. “Practice what?”
“Practice kissing, of course.” Grath said it as though what he was suggesting was no big deal. “I’m assuming there’s more of this fucking misty-toe weed hanging around, since it seems to be a holiday thing for you—right?”
“It’s mistletoe,” Mattie corrected him. “And yes, there’s probably more of it—people hang it up a lot during the holidays. And since this is Christmasville, everyone celebrates to the hilt.”
“Good—then we should practice how we’re going to kiss the next time we have to stand under some,” Grath said practically.
“Uh…um…” Mattie didn’t know what to say. Was he actually suggesting this? Saying they ought to kiss more, when she’d promised herself she wasn’t going to kiss him ever again?
“Come here,” Grath rumbled and before she could get her thoughts together, he was leading her to a bench by the side of the path. He seated himself on it and drew her in to stand between his wide-spread thighs. Despite the fact that he was sitting and she was standing, they were still almost eye-to-eye.
“Now what?” Mattie asked. She could feel her cheeks getting hot with a blush and her heart was pounding. Were they really doing this? She ought to stop it—shouldn’t she? But she didn’t want to. She—
“Now we practice,” Grath rumbled. “Should I make it more gentle? Like this?”
And cupping one big hand behind her head, he drew her towards him and kissed her softly, his mouth meeting hers gently—almost teasingly—in a way that made Mattie’s heart slam against her ribs. She wanted desperately to grab him and deepen the kiss but she forced herself not to. She couldn’t help kissing him back though—he tasted so good and his warm, spicy scent was making her dizzy with desire.
At last, Grath pulled away. His midnight eyes half-lidded, he murmured,
“Is that more like it, baby?”
“M-maybe,” Mattie stammered. “A…a little more like it I guess.”
“You kiss me this time,” Grath suggested. “Show me what I’m doing wrong.”
Mattie knew she ought to refuse—ought to say there had been enough kissing and they needed to get to the Bake-off. But somehow she found herself leaning towards her Protector instead.
She put her arms around his neck and slipped her fingers into his hair and Grath groaned.
“Gods yes, baby! Like that—makes it look like we’re really a couple,” he rumbled.
“I guess it does, doesn’t it?” Mattie murmured. And then she leaned in and kissed him.
This time, Grath let her take the lead. She could hear his rumbling growl of approval but he didn’t try to take over the kiss—though he did part his lips when she pressed closer to him.
Before she knew it, Mattie was slipping her tongue into his mouth, exploring him as he had explored her earlier. She was deepening the kiss, her fingers carding restlessly through his wild black hair as she pressed herself against his big, hard body.
For his part, Grath put his arms around her waist and pulled her to him. His big hand stroked over her shoulders and hips possessively as he hungrily kissed her back.
Too much! a little voice in Mattie’s head was shouting. This is too much and you know it!
But she couldn’t seem to stop—wouldn’t have stopped—if her cell phone hadn’t started ringing incessantly with the ring-tone Mattie had programmed in for her mother.
“Wait!” she gasped, pulling away from the passionate kiss. “I…I have to get that. It’s my mom!”
Grath let go of her—reluctantly, she thought—and she was able to disentangle herself from the big Hybrid and grab for the phone, which was shoved in her pocket.
“Yes? Mom?” she answered breathlessly as she pressed the button.
“My goodness, Mattie—have you been running? You sound all out of breath!” her mother exclaimed.
“Huh? Uh, no. I mean, yes—trying to get to the Bake-off on time!” Mattie panted.
“Well I hope you’re almost there because I just got a call saying they want all the contestants there a half hour early,” her mother said.
“What?” Mattie looked at the time on her phone. They really were going to have to run! “I gotta go, Mom!” she exclaimed. “I’ll talk to you later!”
“I’ll see you at the Bake-off judging!” her mom said. “Go win that prize, Mattie!”
“Thanks—I’ll try.” Mattie clicked off and looked at Grath, who was frowning in apparent concern.
“Did we do better with the kissing that time?” he asked.
Mattie shook her head.
“Not really, but we don’t have anymore time to, uh, ‘practice’ now. We have to get over to the Civic Center immediately.”
“Too bad we decided to walk instead of taking my ship,” he growled. “But come on—we can still make it.”
“I don’t know…” Mattie looked down at her high-heeled boots in dismay. “I don’t think I can run in these things—especially not in the icy snow!”
“Come up here, then.” Taking her hand, Grath helped her stand on the bench, then he turned and crouched in front of her. “Get on my back, little girl,” he commanded. “And let’s go.”