Fighting to Breathe Read online Aurora Rose Reynolds (Shooting Stars #1)

Categories Genre: Alpha Male, Angst, Contemporary, New Adult, Romance Tags Authors: Series: Shooting Stars Series by Aurora Rose Reynolds
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Total pages in book: 67
Estimated words: 63100 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 316(@200wpm)___ 252(@250wpm)___ 210(@300wpm)
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“Christ,” he growls, putting his arm around my waist, pulling my back to his front until my body curves into his.

“Austin,” I hiss his name and try to wiggle free, but his arm just tightens around me. I finally give up out of frustration and exhaustion, and fall asleep trying to ignore how good it feels to be in his arms.

I wake up feeling hot, too hot, with a heavy weight pressing down on me. It takes a moment to remember I’m still in bed with Austin, but we had changed positions sometime during the night and now his body is now half on top of mine, his arm around me, his thigh over both of mine. I tilt my head back and look at the clock, seeing the red numbers reading a few minutes after six. I’m still tired, but had slept better than I have in a long time. I debate with myself on how to get out of bed then flip half the covers off causing Austin to grumble something, scoot back slightly, take his thigh off mine, but then wrap his arm tighter around me pinning me in place. My eyes start to feel heavy while I lie listening to the sound of his soft snore in my ear, and before I know it, I’m out again.

The feel of rough hands moving up the backs of my thighs, over my backside, then settling above my ass has my eyes blinking open. “Baby, you gotta move,” is growled, and my heart begins to beat hard and my stomach knots. My legs are on either side of Austin’s waist, my core close to something thick and hard, my cheek pressing to his hair-covered chest. Realizing where I am I fly backwards, getting my feet tangled in the blanket, and fall off the bed onto my ass.

“Shit,” leaves his mouth, and he somehow manages to pick me up as if I weigh nothing and brings me back onto the bed setting me in front of him and running his hands over me. “You okay?”

I nod. I’m okay. My ego, not so much. I feel my face heat to a hundred degrees and I watch as a smile twitches his lips, then a roar of laughter shortly follows as he falls backwards onto the bed.

“It’s not funny,” I huff then think about how crazy I must have looked and cover my mouth as uncontrollable laughter bubbles up the back of my throat.

“Baby, that shit was funny as hell.” He laughs harder, making me pull a pillow from the bed and shove my face into it as I laugh loud, doubling over from the force of it. “Are you sure you’re okay?” he asks after his laughter has died down and I have taken my face out of the pillow.

“Yeah, I’m fine.” I lower my face slightly, averting my eyes from his.

“What time is it?”

I look at the clock and feel my eyes grow in size. “Holy crap!”

“What?” His head turns and he looks at the clock. “It’s only ten.”

“I haven’t slept past six in forever,” I mumble, knowing he did that somehow, he made it possible for me to sleep.

“You needed to sleep. I wasn’t gonna wake you, but I need to piss.” That reminder has my face, which had cooled, heating right back up again. It also makes me wonder how long I had been asleep on top of him, with him awake, before then.

I watch him get out of bed, pick up his jeans off the floor, and put them on, my eyes training on the large bulge in his boxers before it’s covered up by the worn out denim material. Then he opens the door and slips out of the room. I sit there, wondering what the hell is going on in my head. My mom just passed away and I have an ache in my chest that I can’t seem to get rid of, but I also have this undercurrent of happiness flowing through me. It feels strange to be sad and happy all at once, but that’s what I’m feeling.

I can’t remember the last time I laughed like that, laughed so hard my stomach muscles hurt from doing it. Getting out of bed I grab my sweater from my chair and wrap it around me then dig through my drawer to find a pair of my cashmere socks that go up to mid-thigh. When the door opens again, I steel myself from looking at Austin until he growls, “You’re not wearing those out there.”

My head swings to him, and I frown and ask, “What?”

“The socks.” He shakes his head and his mouth turns down in the corners. “You’re not wearing them out there.”

“Why?”

“Dick is still here.”

“I haven’t forgotten that, Austin.” I roll my eyes and stand up after adjusting the soft material.


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