Total pages in book: 74
Estimated words: 69910 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 350(@200wpm)___ 280(@250wpm)___ 233(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 69910 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 350(@200wpm)___ 280(@250wpm)___ 233(@300wpm)
“Maybe?” Apollo sounds hopeful.
I suck in air like a hiccup. Fragile. That’s how I feel. Like how I felt when my dad confessed everything to me. No, that was bad. This is different—a different kind of fragile. More like the pieces being glued back together and held tenuously instead of being shattered apart. My life, my wishes, my heart being reassembled.
“Not maybe. For now, I’m firm on that,” I tell him.
“For now?”
“If I can find my mom, I want to live near her. If she’s here in the States, then I want to do more than just visit. I want to be close by, so we can rebuild our lives.”
“You know I can go anywhere in the world, right?”
Right. He has money. That does make sense. I let out a small squeak. I don’t know what it’s supposed to pass for.
“You just have to say the word, and I’ll be there, trying to rebuild our friendship,” he adds.
I’m still clinging to his shirt. I want a friendship, but I also want more. I want this. I don’t want past Apollo. I want present Apollo. This gorgeous, handsome, solid, dependable, kind, creative, and unbelievably sexy man with the most unbelievably beautiful heart.
“What if I say the word now?”
“You’d have my friendship now, too,” he tells me with a small smile.
“What if I want to kiss you?” I ask.
“I just—”
“What if I said I was sure it wasn’t a mistake? What if it wasn’t a mistake the first time?”
“That’s a big what if,” he says.
“Okay, not what if. It’s not. It wasn’t. Will you kiss me now?”
“Is it a definite sure?”
I’m beyond certain, and he can see that. It shocks both of us, though it’s not as shocking as the fact that I realize I’m close enough to smell him. I don’t know where it comes from, but all of a sudden, his scent is everywhere. He smells like he just stepped out of the shower. I want to put my face where my hands are. I want to breathe him in. I want him to be without his soft old vintage T-shirt. His pants too. My body heats up, and my face feels like it’s five million degrees. I want him without clothes on, and I want to stare and blush and say fuck the blushing, and then I want to put my hands and mouth all over him. I want to learn him with my fingers. With my tongue. With other parts of me.
Yeah, that would be a definite sure.
But I know he needs it to be said out loud, not just locked in my head, since a blush doesn’t mean anything. Even if he can see my nipples piercing through my shirt—holy shit, I hope he can’t because that’s mortifying—it’s not words.
“It’s a definite sure,” I confirm.
He cups my face, and all my nerves go from nervous to straight-up hot spiking adrenaline.
I want a bruising kiss. I want a kiss hard enough to erase the past. I want a little bit of pain and all the pleasure, a promise, and no more apologies. I want us both to forget about all that and create something new. I think that can only come from the kind of kiss that is so hard it nearly involves teeth. All burning passion that comes with half a fraction of violence.
But this kiss? This kiss is slow. His lips barely brush mine. They don’t part, and mine don’t either because I’m not going to be the random fish kisser here.
How is it possible that the world’s most G-rated, closed-mouth kiss can be this hot? How can it give me everything I want and more?
The pad of his thumb traces my lower lip while I stand there, shocked. It’s like he’s painting me into existence or assuring himself this is real, and then he leads me again in the slowest, hottest, and sweetest kiss. This time, I’m ready. This time, I know it’s going to be everything I need.
CHAPTER 16
Apollo
Her kisses are wild. They’re all passion. Like they come from the bottom of her scrotum. Err, I mean sternum. My brain is scrambled, and I can’t think.
“I haven’t done this in a while.” Her teeth sink into my bottom lip.
“Yeah, me neither.”
“Okay, that’s okay. That’s good.”
“Okay.” I reach for her shirt just as she grabs my hands and thrusts them under it, her motions quick and jerky and desperate.
“I…I’m on the pill,” she mumbles.
Her shirt goes flying. It leaves her body just as quickly as my soul leaves mine. That’s what her kiss does to me. In a good way. I think it doubly leaves me when I look down and study the bra she has on. It’s not a regular color. It’s freaking tie-dye. Wait, no, it’s not. That’s not what it is. It’s ombre. Yes! Score one for me.