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)
“No.” She shakes her head vehemently. “Of course not.”
I don’t reply right away. I will take Skye at her word, but I can’t help but wonder… Does she consider for a moment that I’m trying to sabotage Addie? Does she think I’d resort to such pettiness? Because it is pettiness. Addison and I have a history—a history that is mostly negative.
I drain the rest of my Wild Turkey. “Addison is a troubled woman.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“I think you know.”
“No, I really don’t.”
“Don’t you? You’ve been working with her for more than a year. Isn’t it clear that she has to be the center of attention? And when she’s not, she sprouts claws?”
“I see your point,” she says. “Can you tell me more about her?”
I pour myself another Wild Turkey. “Nice try.”
“I don’t understand. Why won’t you talk about your time with Addison? You were both young. Surely it couldn’t have been that horrible.”
“‘Horrible’ is too tame a word.”
Try scandalous. Terrifying. Shocking.
Try the one thing in my adult life that truly scared me.
She swallows. “How was she in bed?”
I stay silent. I can’t answer that question. First, Skye doesn’t actually want to know. No woman who ever asks that question of a man about another woman truly wants the answer, no matter what it is.
Second, I won’t go back to that place. Not for anything or anyone. Even Skye Manning. Even with that pleading look in her beautiful eyes, her lips parted in that way that makes me heart gallop.
“Tell me, Braden. Please.”
“Why do you care?”
“I just…do.”
“For God’s sake, Skye. We were kids. Neither one of us knew what the hell we were doing.”
“So you did take her virginity.”
“Who said that?”
She doesn’t answer.
That question didn’t appear in her mind out of thin air. Someone planted it there. Addie? All these years later, she’s going to violate my confidence? Or someone else? Which means Skye’s been making queries she shouldn’t be.
I advance toward her. “Why does any of this matter to you? Do you want to know if she was better in bed than you are?”
No response.
“Do you want to know about all my previous lovers? There are a lot of them, and I won’t apologize for anything I did in the past.”
She trembles. “I’m not asking you to.”
“Then exactly what are you asking, Skye?”
“I…don’t know.”
“I’ll tell you what you’re asking. You want to know how you compare to Addie, to everyone I’ve slept with.”
Rather, she thinks she wants to know, but she actually doesn’t. I take a long drink of my bourbon and get ready to give her all she’ll get out of me tonight, including an admission of gratitude to one woman in my history.
“I’ll tell you only this. I’ve never cut a business trip short for any woman. Never…until now.”
I move forward until only inches separate us, but I don’t touch her. “You challenge me. You perplex me. And damn it, Skye, you fucking infuriate me. You want to know how I feel about Addison Ames? Honestly?”
She nods shakily.
“I’m grateful.”
“G-Grateful? Why?”
“If it weren’t for her, I wouldn’t know you.”
“Braden, I—”
“Shut the fuck up.” I slam my lips down onto hers.
She opens instantly and accepts my tongue. I denied her a kiss earlier, and I meant to deny her the rest of this night.
But damn it… The sheer challenge of this woman. Her beauty and her candor. Her utter audacity.
She spreads her legs, straddles my thigh, and grinds against me.
Fuck. I kiss her harder, letting her seek friction against me, but only for a moment. I’m not yet ready to let her climax.
After a few moments, before she gets too far toward her goal, I break the kiss, turn her around against the kitchen island, and brush her slacks and panties down her hips.
“Braden… Christopher. And Annika.”
“This is my house, not theirs.”
“But…”
“Quiet!” I roar, fumbling with my belt buckle. I unzip my pants, free my rock-hard cock.
Then my dick is inside her, pressing like a steam engine between her closed thighs and into her tight channel. God, she feels perfect. Wet and wonderful and perfect.
She cries out.
I grab her hands and place them flat on the marble countertop. “Don’t move,” I command.
I thrust into her again and again.
I’ve chosen this angle on purpose. She won’t get the friction she needs on her clit. Yes, I’m still denying her an orgasm, at least for this moment. Still punishing her, but this time, it’s not for stealing a piece of mail.
It’s for getting inside me. Taking me to a place I never wanted to go. I cut a fucking trip short for this woman. She’s trying to become a part of me, whether it’s conscious or subconscious on her part.
Doesn’t matter. She’s doing it.
And I’m angry. Angry that she means so much to me in so short a time. Angry that she makes me want things I have no business wanting.