Total pages in book: 87
Estimated words: 82367 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 412(@200wpm)___ 329(@250wpm)___ 275(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 82367 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 412(@200wpm)___ 329(@250wpm)___ 275(@300wpm)
“Bryn.” His name slipped from between her lips on a sultry moan.
“I do love the way you moan my name, lioness.”
She screeched and lowered herself in the hot water, attempting to hide her body from the man who stepped from the shadows of her afternoon-lit room.
“You can’t be here.” Water sputtered from her mouth as she wrapped her arms around her breasts, trying to keep them under the water and hidden. Her legs tightened together, like her attempt at hiding would block her from his view.
How long has he been there? How much did he see? Could she just die and forgo ever having to face him again?
Bryn prowled around her and she gulped as she took him in.
He made her mind think of nothing but body parts intertwined. Sweaty skin. His stubble turning her skin red from how it abraded her tender flesh.
Behind her, he braced his hands on either side of her, long tanned fingers gripping the edges of the tub which held her. A tub that was far too small to keep her hidden from his view.
“Then scream for help.” He lowered his head so she could see it in her peripheral. Strong jaw, covered with that dark bristle she wanted to touch once more. “Call out and have someone come.”
“You’d get in trouble and would be in trouble for compromising me.” She shook her head. “I’m not ruining your life like that.”
“You are killing me, lioness. You should be worried about your virtue. Unmarried. Naked. With a man leaning over you, greedily taking in all God graced you with.”
She tried to curl tighter even as she sank until her lips barely hovered above the waterline.
His arms closed in tighter to her.
“Your virginity should be your concern, not what it would do to my life.”
Cold seeped back into her bones as the reality of the situation smashed into her. He was leaving. And despite knowing this from the start, it was harder and harder for her to be okay with it because her feelings for him were deepening the longer she spent with him. She didn’t care about her virginity. Her future had been decided for her, but this man didn’t deserve to have his life ruined. And it made her angry. Unreasonable? Perhaps. But this entire journey they were on together was different and unique. Logic had long vanished.
Bitterness coated her tongue and she wished it would leave her alone. “Because you can run away to America? Hide from responsibility?”
That square jaw tensed as he took a deep breath. “I don’t hide from my responsibility, baby. I’m pointing out that you should think about yourself, not others.”
“Isn’t that what I’m doing?”
His gaze dipped to her lips and back to her eyes. “By sitting in a tub with a man near who’s hungry to lay his eyes on the curves you have, to watch the water sluice down your petal-soft skin?”
Was it her imagination or had his voice gotten deeper?
Emboldened by the bone-deep trust she had for Bryn, knowing he would never force himself on her, she unclenched her legs in the tub and sat up enough that the tops of her breasts broke the surface of the water.
He sucked a harsh breath, the sound unfurling something deeply feminine within her, making her long to arch her back and purr. It was a heady feeling, being able to pull such a needy groan from the man behind her.
“I know I’m safe with you, Bryn. You won’t take it, not even if I offered. And you told me I had to get used to a man looking at me. Why not do it with one who could simply walk away?”
His heavy gulp echoed in her ears followed by a low string of words she didn’t understand.
Like it was the most natural thing in the world, she picked up her cleaning cloth and added her soap to it before running it over her arms.
“Have you given any thought to who you will set me up with?” She rinsed off her arms then lifted one leg free of the water. His knuckles went white at the motion. “I really liked Remington and Piers. You trust them and I think they would be kind with me.”
“You seem to like taunting me, lioness. Talking about allowing men who I will kill if they touch you the opportunity to settle between your thighs.”
Bryn reached out with his right hand and dragged two fingers up the inside of her leg, which she still had exposed for washing.
Heat slammed her, body slickening with preparation for something. For him.
His darker skin made her paleness even more prominent, and she swallowed. Hard. He didn’t stop until he got to where her leg once again disappeared under the water.
“Like I’m going to allow them the pleasure of watching your skin flush as your arousal grows.” He stroked away from the waterline, the heat from his body surrounding her in a way that made the water seem almost cold by comparison. Then he reversed direction again.