Total pages in book: 88
Estimated words: 87573 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 438(@200wpm)___ 350(@250wpm)___ 292(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 87573 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 438(@200wpm)___ 350(@250wpm)___ 292(@300wpm)
I tied off the horses to a low-hanging branch and laid out a blanket. I sank back into the soft grass. Whitt dropped down next to me once Bunny was sort of satisfied. Trouble eyed her reproachfully, as if asking for extra snacks was beneath her.
“Well, this is going better than I thought,” he said.
“You’re a natural. I’m going to get you boots and take you riding when we get home.”
He winced. “Maybe not that good.” He wrapped an arm around my waist and tugged me in tight against him. “But I like trying new things with you. Living in the moment.”
“And you had to remind me to do it. I must be rubbing off on you.”
He kissed the top of my head. “You are in all the best ways.” He ducked his head to meet my gaze. “You know that, right? That you’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me.”
My breath caught at the admission. “What?”
“Maybe I’m moving too fast, but it’s been two months, Eve, and I’m more smitten than I was when we started. I don’t want to scare you.”
“I’m…I’m not scared.”
And it wasn’t a lie.
“No? Then, I can tell you that I want this. I want you. I want all of this with you. I’ll go at whatever pace you need me to go at, but this is it for me. You’re it.”
I wanted to accept that. Why couldn’t I just accept the truth?
“But you don’t even know me.”
“I know that you’ve been unfairly treated by every person around you. That you have the biggest heart and loyalty to the people who matter in your life. That you’d do anything for your sister. That you are entirely selfless when it comes to your own wants and needs. You put everyone and everything before your own desires and close yourself off to keep your heart safe and secure.” He tipped my chin up until I looked into his eyes. “I don’t have to know every single thing about you to know and want you.”
My throat closed at those words. At the reality of them. He saw me. Really saw me. I wasn’t sure anyone else ever had. I’d kept myself behind bars so that I wouldn’t be hurt, so that no one else would have to deal with everything I was dealing with. I didn’t want to be a burden, and I wanted more for my sister than the hand she had been dealt.
And most of all…I wanted him.
I wanted him like I had never let myself want anything.
The cool girl who had never let herself get attached dissolved.
Suddenly, I was the little girl who had wanted so desperately to be loved that she offered the world ammunition to use against her. The girl who’d wrapped herself in body armor instead of glass. The girl whose soft heart still yearned for connection before she discovered it was impossible.
“Yes,” I said even though there wasn’t a question.
“Yes?”
“I want this,” I told him. “I want you. I want to be the kind of person who can accept what you’re offering.”
“I’m not going anywhere, Eve.”
My fingers trailed through his dark hair. “Good. I like you right here.”
“But I want more, too. I can’t deny that I want all of you.” He rubbed his nose against mine. “I want to be more than your date…more than a sort of boyfriend.”
My heart trembled with fear. The armor turning to glass and shattering at the admission. I was done pretending that I didn’t want that, too.
“You are,” I told him, drawing his lips to mine. “Whatever words you want to use. You’re mine, and I’m yours.” The words came out breathier than I’d intended.
My emotions mingled with desire. We were alone on the trail, far from the rest of the world, with only the horses for company.
We reached for each other at the same time. As if we were of one mind. So synchronized in that moment that we didn’t even need words.
My pants were shucked off to the side. Whitt’s jeans came unbuttoned. His cock already hard and ready for me. I took him in my hand, and he hissed softly at the pressure. He pumped himself once, jerking for more friction before settling himself between my legs.
Our eyes met, and a sizzle passed between us that I’d never felt before. We hovered in that space. Longing— something that had always been ephemeral and transient in my life—now took up permanent residence in my heart. An ache for this man that tattooed itself across my skin. As ingrained in me as the cherry blossoms on my hip, the peonies on my shoulder, and Gram’s writing on my bicep.
“Whitt,” I whispered.
He pressed his lips to mine, quick and decisive. “Mine.”
“All yours.”
Then, we fit together. It had felt better than each time before. As if Whitt were a mind reader, running his hands down my body, knowing exactly where to touch and kiss and what speed to help me reach that pinnacle. But this time, it was as if he’d reached inside of me, and instead of him reading my mind, we shared a connection, a link. Every touch, every thrust, every kiss was an awakening.