Total pages in book: 88
Estimated words: 84673 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 423(@200wpm)___ 339(@250wpm)___ 282(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 84673 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 423(@200wpm)___ 339(@250wpm)___ 282(@300wpm)
The billionaire's jaw clenched. He fucking knew it. This whole crying bout clearly had everything to do with fucking Humbug, and despite having Farica's advice ringing in his airs—-
Think knight to the rescue, not chest-beating caveman.
Cajole, don't command.
Sweet and soft, instead of rough and hard.
Yeah, well, to hell with all of that.
Kady only had her first inkling of no longer being alone when the bed dipped, and she found herself rolling to her back—-
And then she saw a bare-chested Slade looming over her, his shirt in one hand.
She immediately sat up, tears drying in her confusion. "S-Slade?"
"You're wearing his shirt," he bit out.
She stared at him dumbly. "What?"
"If you don't have enough clothes, then take mine, dammit." His arm shot out, thrusting his shirt at her.
She looked down, unable to understand why he was so adamant about her changing into his shirt. "I don't—-" Her gaze absently fell to what she was wearing, and she stopped speaking. OH. She thought about telling him that she hadn't realized it was actually her male cousin's shirt she was wearing and not Eric's, but instead she heard herself mumble, "Sorry. I didn't...realize."
"Bullshit."
She wanted to ask him if he were jealous, and if he said yes, then...didn't that mean something? Shouldn't it?
But the words remained locked in her throat.
She could never ask them, knowing that another girl had already asked the same thing, and how that same girl had fallen to pieces at Slade's answer.
"Shit." Slade immediately regretted his outburst when he saw that tears had once again started trekking down Kady's cheeks. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you cry again."
She shook her head, wanting to say that it wasn't him at all, but it was just so hard to speak.
"Please, baby." He cupped her face. "You're killing me here," he said raggedly. "I hate seeing you like this and not fucking knowing how to fix things."
Love me.
Slade's desperation grew as more sobs shook her body. "It's the shirt. Is that it? If you still want to wear his, then it's fine—-" He managed not to gag at the fucking concession. "You can wear another guy's shirt. It's not like I can stop you if you really have a thing for bugs—-" He heard her choke out a teary giggle. Finally. He swiftly scanned her face, and the tension inside him eased a little when he saw that the tears had stopped falling. For now at least.
But...
"So it really was the shirt?" he couldn't help asking one last time.
Her lips trembled. "Oh, Slade." How could this gorgeous man be so wonderfully, incredibly dense?
"What?" Something about the way she was looking at him made the billionaire feel defensive.
She shook her head. "It's..." Not the shirt. "But..." I can't ever tell you the truth.
Slade stared at her, bemused as fuck. "Dammit, Kady. It’s butt?" Where the fuck was all this anal talk coming from, and whose ass were they even talking about this time?
Oh my God. She couldn't believe she had made him so horribly misunderstand her again, and helpless laughter slipped past her lips. She couldn't really blame him, and the fact that he was still here, visibly and unbelievably on edge for her—-
Caring for her, even if he didn't love her—-
Couldn't she be satisfied with that?
Just so she could stay with him?
Slade stiffened when Kady suddenly took his hand.
"Instead of making me change into your shirt—-"
He inhaled sharply as she guided his hand down to the hem of the shirt she was wearing.
"Maybe you can help take this off instead?"
Fuck.
The rigidness of his form turned into something else in an instant, and he was hard all over for an altogether different reason. Her eyes sought and pleaded with his, her parted lips tempting and seducing him, and goddammit, he could feel his control slipping by the second, lust fraying his self-restrained to its last, tenuous hinges.
"Kady." The billionaire's voice was strained. Almost begging.
"Slade." And so was hers. There was just no mistaking the trembling appeal in her voice this time, no way to pretend she didn't know what she was begging him for.
And it was for him.
To fuck.
Her.
"Please." The small hand resting over his tightened. "No more savoring."
FUCK. FUCK. FUCK.
"I want to belong to you."
And just like that...almost as if God had snapped his fingers, and just like that, everything that held him together - his control, his common fucking sense, everything that was telling him not to do this - it was all fucking gone.
Just as their first kiss incinerated everything that had once stood in their way, those six words similarly took over, rationality yielding to passion, carnal desires of the flesh burning the memories of Penny's pain and Kady's tears into the darkness of oblivion.
His mouth locked with hers. She fell against the bed. His weight pressed down over hers.