Total pages in book: 224
Estimated words: 215705 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1079(@200wpm)___ 863(@250wpm)___ 719(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 215705 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1079(@200wpm)___ 863(@250wpm)___ 719(@300wpm)
I cup her hand where it rests on my cheek. “I’m not worried about my head. This is about us. It’s about us leaving for the Hamptons with you knowing that I want to know you beyond fucking, though plenty of fucking is just fine by me.”
“I do know, Reid. I knew when you left me here alone this morning.”
“You don’t know,” I say. “Not after what happened in my office today, but you will by the time this weekend is over.” I lean into her, a hand on the wall, one on her face, while my cheek presses to her cheek, my lips near her ear. “But when I do finally get you alone this weekend, I will own you, Carrie West, and I’m going to make you like it.” I stroke her hair back from her face, forcing her gaze to mine. “You don’t get to run, and I don’t get to push. We’re seeing this through. We’re seeing where this goes.”
“Are you sure you want to do that?” she challenges. “Maybe it’s you who’ll get owned.”
“Own me, baby. If you can,” I say, heat pulsing through me just thinking about the battle for control before us. “Consider that another invitation. I’m looking forward to you trying.”
I link my fingers with hers again. “Now.” I start walking backward, down the foyer of my apartment. “Let’s got to my bedroom where we will not fuck, no matter how badly we want to fuck. That’s for later.” I turn to walk forward and pull her to my side. “I still can’t believe you didn’t look around.”
“Thankfully I had to get to work, so temptation couldn’t kill me, and as it turns out, I won’t have that problem this weekend either.” We start up the stairs. “We won’t be here.”
“We’ll be back sometime this weekend,” I say. “If we finish up with Grayson tonight or even tomorrow morning, we can stay or go.” We enter the bedroom and I motion for her to follow, before heading to the closet by way of the bathroom. “Have you ever been to the Hamptons?”
“I have,” she says from behind me. “A couple of times, but never for pleasure.”
I flip on the closet light. “Then we should stay. I’ve considered buying a place down there, for business and pleasure.” I grab a suitcase and set it on the stool against the wall.
“The business side of things is why I think it’s hard to go there for pleasure,” she says, leaning on the doorjamb. “Everyone is floating in money, and there are all kinds of expectations. That’s not a vacation. That’s a normal day at the office.”
“I’ll show you the pleasure side when we’re there. You just have to step outside the plastic world which exists here, too. Do you have anything you need to pack at your place?”
“I packed for the weekend.”
“Did you bring the emerald dress?” I ask.
“Do I need a dress?”
“You might,” I say. “Actually.” I close the small space between us, catching her waist with my hands. “You need that dress.”
“You liked the dress?”
“It got me cuffed and obsessed, so yes. I’d say it’s safe to assume I liked the dress with you in it, which will make me want to take you out of it. Wear it this weekend.”
“Why? So you can try to work me and the dress out of your system?”
“I already tried that,” I say. “It didn’t work. I’m done trying to work you out of my system. I’m keeping you.”
“If I let you.”
“I’ll convince you.”
“Good luck.”
And just that easily, I am hot and hard and tangling fingers into her hair. “You really know how to make me want to fuck you, woman. But I won’t. Not yet. We need time to go get that dress.” I kiss her and set her away from me. We’ll wait until later, but the cuffs are going in my suitcase.
Chapter thirty-five
Carrie
Once our car arrives to take us up to our chopper, Reid and I head downstairs. I toss my bag in the trunk of the black sedan and I listen as Reid instructs the driver to pick us up at the front of my building. Reid motions me toward the sidewalk. “Let’s go get that dress.”
I laugh. “You really are determined.”
He drapes his arm around my shoulders and we start walking. “We’ll have a do-over,” he says. “I brought the cuffs.”
“You aren’t cuffing me, Reid,” I promise him, “but if you want me to wear the dress and cuff you again, I’m in.”
“Quid pro quo,” he says. “This for that. It’s my turn but I’m willing to work for it, and I’m pretty sure we both have a few ideas as to how I could do that. My tongue on your nipple. My tongue on your—”
“Stop,” I warn.
He laughs, a low sexy, masculine sound that tingles along my nerve endings, as he says, “Until you don’t want me to stop.”