Total pages in book: 144
Estimated words: 138522 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 693(@200wpm)___ 554(@250wpm)___ 462(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 138522 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 693(@200wpm)___ 554(@250wpm)___ 462(@300wpm)
Gabe groans and pulls me against him because I can’t seem to move. A moment later, I’m sitting on the railing again, and he shudders and quakes before I feel his muscles relax, his head buried in my neck. I reach up and cup his head, holding onto him, when I could let go. I could make this the end, but for reasons I can’t explain, I know it’s not. I feel it. We don’t end here and I can’t remember why I thought we should, why I thought we were a problem.
He picks me up and my legs wrap his waist as he starts walking, and in a few steps, I’m on my back on the couch, with him over the top of me. “How do you feel about pizza and conversation before we do that all over again?”
“I should—”
He kisses me, silencing me with his mouth before he orders, “Don’t say go. You’re not leaving, and if you try, I swear I’ll find some damn window that actually opens in this building and throw your clothes out.”
I laugh. “That’s a little extreme.”
“All right then. I’ll tie you up to my bed. I think we’d both enjoy that. Don’t you?”
Tied up.
I don’t like being tied up and with reason, and yet, I’m not telling him no. “I’m claustrophobic. I don’t do well when tied up.”
He winks. “I’ll keep your mind on my tongue and my fingers. Think about your pizza order. I’ll be right back.” He stands up and it’s then that I realize that he hasn’t even undressed.
I sit up and grab a blanket behind me, pulling it around me. Gabe walks to the bar, tosses the condom in what I assume is a trashcan and then walks toward me, that lion tattoo drawing my gaze, telling a story I’d like to understand but will probably never know. He didn’t even take his pants off. He’s not going to tell me about his mother.
He sits down next to me. “There’s a pizza joint I love around the corner. Frank’s. Ever tried it?”
I pull the blanket tighter around me. “No. I haven’t.”
“Well then, you’re in for a treat. What do you like on your pizza?”
“Cheese. I’m simple like that.”
“Cheese it is, then.” He grabs his phone and punches in a number. “Hey, Frank. A large pizza, half pepperoni and half cheese.” He listens a minute and looks at me. “I’m living on the wild side tonight.”
The wild side.
And he didn’t even take off his pants.
I cut my gaze and will myself to stop thinking about this. Why is this bothering me so badly? Why? I don’t know, but I want my clothes. I try to stand up and Gabe catches my arm. “Thanks, Frank,” he says, ending his call and setting his phone on the table. “What’s wrong? What just happened?”
“I want to get dressed before the pizza gets here.”
His eyes sharpen on my face. “You regret being here.”
“No,” I say quickly. “I don’t. I just—” I stop again, not sure what to say. I don’t like lies and he’s now arching a brow.
“You didn’t even take your pants off,” I say. “That feels weird.”
“I didn’t take my pants off,” he repeats.
“Yes. It feels weird. I want to get dressed and then maybe it will stop feeling weird.”
“I have a better idea,” he says and he stands up and the next thing I know, he’s lowering his pants and stepping out of them. He tosses them on the couch beside him and then presents himself to me in a pair of black biker-style underwear that hug his thighs, and other important parts of his body, rather nicely. “How’s this?” he asks, holding his hands out to his sides. “No more pants.”
I start laughing. “I can’t believe you just did that.”
“Believe it, sweetheart. Of course, I might shock the pizza delivery person, but it’ll be worth it.”
“Worth it? Worth it how?”
“Because now you won’t feel weird when I do this.” He sits down next to me, pulls me to him and drags us down on the couch, leaving my blanket behind, my naked body pressed to his. His hand between my shoulder blades, molding my naked breasts to his chest. “Do you feel weird?”
“No,” I say, feeling warm and wonderful instead. “But what about the pizza?”
He shifts us, rolling us to our sides, his hands sliding under my hair to my neck. “We’ll just make out like school kids until it gets here. We’ll fuck later. After we eat and you tell me all your secrets.”
My secrets.
He doesn’t really want to know my secrets.
I don’t really want him to know my secrets.
I decide to kiss him before he doesn’t want to kiss me again. I press my lips to his, letting him know that I’m all in. Let’s make out like school kids.