Total pages in book: 81
Estimated words: 83171 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 416(@200wpm)___ 333(@250wpm)___ 277(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 83171 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 416(@200wpm)___ 333(@250wpm)___ 277(@300wpm)
“Then why use them?”
“It’s hard to explain.” Not that hard to explain, actually. I don’t take unnecessary chances.
But if I look further inside myself, I see the ultimate truth.
It’s a barrier.
A barrier between my partner and me. I don’t want to get too close, so I don’t.
“Try.”
“I’m not sure. It’s kind of a…” I close my eyes. I can’t lie to her, yet I’m not ready to tell her the truth. A few seconds later, I open them and meet her gaze. “We’ve done enough talking for one night. I owe you a climax.”
Surely that will get her off this topic.
But I’m wrong.
“I don’t want you to sleep with anyone else while you’re sleeping with me.”
Not an issue. Rarely do I have a sexual relationship with more than one woman at a time.
“I told you. You’re the only one I’m sleeping with this week. I haven’t fucked anyone else since I started fucking you.”
“Good,” she says. “Keep it that way.”
“Skye—”
“If I’m your”—air quotes—“‘girlfriend,’ I deserve to be the only one in your bed.”
I stare at her. She’s asking for something no other woman has ever had the guts to ask from me. I’ve always been up front with women about my expectations.
I can’t help but admire her in this moment. She’s making a demand—a demand that, for all she knows, could signify the end of whatever this is between us.
The problem? I don’t want it to end. I haven’t gotten what I want from her. Perhaps, when she finally submits to me, I’ll have had enough of her and will be willing to let her go.
God, even the thought seems foreign.
What have I gotten into?
I’ve never made a guarantee like the one she’s asking for. Even though my MO is to be sexually involved with only one woman at a time, I’ve never made that promise.
I already know, though, what my answer is.
“Okay.”
Her eyebrows shoot up.
“You’re surprised,” I say.
“A little.”
“What kind of man do you think I am, Skye?”
“That’s just it, Braden. I don’t know what kind of man you are. You refuse to talk about anything personal. You’re intelligent, obviously. You’re an excellent businessperson. You do some charity work. But that’s all I know other than what magazines report.”
“You know I love oysters.”
“For God’s sake, Braden.”
I sigh. “You know as much as anyone else does. Isn’t that enough?”
“No, it’s not, especially if I’m”—air quotes again—“your ‘girlfriend.’”
She’s not wrong. What bothers me more, though, is that I want to open up to her. To show her who I truly am.
“Fuck,” I say through clenched teeth.
I grab her breast and thumb her nipple over two layers of fabric. I lean into her and can’t stop the words from flowing off my tongue.
“You want to know about me?” I rasp into her ear. “Here’s all you need. Since I laid eyes on you, I haven’t been able to think about anyone else. Your mouth, your tits, your curious and controlling nature—everything about you beguiles me. Since I first fucked you, all I can think about is fucking you again. You’re all I think about”—I bite her earlobe—“and it…perplexes me. Not much perplexes me, Skye. You’re like a narcotic. I hunger for you.” I inhale. “God, I love how you smell—like apples and sex. You taste even better. You want to be the only one in my bed? You don’t even have to ask. You’re the only woman I want right now. The only one.”
A low growl vibrates from her throat.
I scrape my teeth along the outer edge of her ear. “Now, let me give you that climax.”
Chapter Thirty-Three
I lift her tank top over her head and throw it on the floor. Then I unhook her bra and discard it as her breasts fall against her chest. I cup them, knead them, and then I bury my nose between them, kissing them and thumbing her nipples.
My admission to Skye has every cell in my body humming, every thought in my mind turned to mush.
All I do is feel.
How much I want her…
How much I desire her…
How much I need her control…
How much I…
I nibble the tops of her breasts and then finally take a nipple between my lips and suck. She inhales sharply.
“So beautiful,” I say against her flesh.
“Braden, please…”
“Please what, baby?”
“I…I want to come.”
She has no idea that I want that climax as much as she does. “You will.” I bite a nipple.
“Oh!”
“You like that?”
“Yes. God, yes.”
“Good. I could suck and bite your tits all day.” No lie there. And yes, she likes pleasure-pain. Good. Very good. I nibble on her other nipple and then raise my head again. “On the other hand, that paradise between your legs is even more beautiful.” I slide down her body, grasping her sweats, and glide them over her hips and legs.
I spread her legs. “God, yes. So beautiful.”