Total pages in book: 138
Estimated words: 130307 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 652(@200wpm)___ 521(@250wpm)___ 434(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 130307 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 652(@200wpm)___ 521(@250wpm)___ 434(@300wpm)
“I can take Coconut,” Ava offered, reaching up her hands for the white cat.
Chloe blinked out of her daze and smiled, handing off the fluff ball. “Make sure you shut the door behind you, okay?”
Ava nodded and walked carefully toward the back door.
When she was gone, Chloe turned her wide, glossy gaze back to me. “Did you hear that?”
“I did.”
“She laughed.”
“She did.”
“It was so sweet,” she whispered. “It was…”
I couldn’t respond, but I nodded, my throat tight with emotion.
Chloe covered her mouth, shaking her head for a moment before sucking in a long, deep breath. Then, she turned to assess my situation.
“I really am sorry,” she said. “I will make sure this never happens again.”
She reached for the cat in my lap.
Which should have been fine, would have been fine — if in the process of scooping the orange terrorist up, her hands didn’t slide right over my fucking cock.
But they did.
I sucked in a breath I couldn’t let go of at the first graze of her warm hand, the thin pajama bottoms I wore doing absolutely nothing to shield me from the touch.
Then, the cat wriggled out of her grasp, doubling down on the fact that it was not ready to leave my lap.
“Nacho,” Chloe scolded, and she attempted the scoop again.
This time, when she rubbed her hand along my crotch, my cock started to wake.
Fuck.
I ground my teeth together, closing my eyes and thinking about anything that might quell that natural reaction — insects, freezing cold ice, roadkill.
But the cat slipped out of her grasp once more, and Chloe toppled in her attempt to wrangle the thing before it could dig its claws into my couch.
Which left her half-straddling my lap, one knee on the couch cushion next to my thigh, and one hand propped behind my head, those perfect, round, full breasts squarely in my face.
Fucking hell.
“Oh, God, sorry!” She squeaked the words, scrambling off me and leaving her sweet scent behind. She smelled of crayons and chai and sugar.
Once she was standing again, her hands dove for the cat with new determination.
But the cat scampered off before she could grab it.
Which left her grabbing me.
“Oh!” she exclaimed, and I clamped my hands around her wrists to stop her from trying to do anything else.
If this woman so much as grazed my cock again, I was going to have a hard time not throwing her over my shoulder and having my way with her.
The cat on my shoulder flicked its tail, as if it were deeply entertained by the whole show. Chloe’s face was redder than I’d ever seen it, and she had her eyes squeezed tight, her face pinched up in embarrassment.
I held onto her wrists for longer than necessary, probably just to have some sort of control in that moment.
She peeked one eye open and then the next. “I’m so sorr—”
“If you apologize one more time,” I threatened, but the warning died on my lips, because suddenly, I was very aware of everything.
How the room suddenly felt smaller.
How I could hear her breathing through the silence.
The way my words had softened her.
The way she melted into me.
The way her nipples grew hard beneath the stupid fucking fleece pajamas she wore.
She was still close enough to smell, and I still had my hands clamped around her wrists, and she still had her wide eyes on me, her lips peeling apart slowly as her mouth fell into a soft o.
Every breath she took was shallower than the last.
My nostrils flared.
She swallowed.
“What?” she asked, and fuck, I’d never heard a one-word question sound so goddamn sexy in my life. It was just a breath, warm and dizzying when it met my mouth. “If I apologize one more time, what?”
It felt like a dare.
An invitation.
It felt like she wanted me to follow through on that threat.
Like it turned her all the way on.
And fuck if my cock didn’t jump with the desire to grant her wish.
But what was left of my common sense forced me to close my eyes, and I let out a hot breath through my nose before releasing her hands.
I didn’t dare look at her again. Maybe because I didn’t want to see disappointment.
Maybe because if I did, I’d cave.
“I’ve got Nacho!”
Ava’s voice made both of us jump, and Chloe snagged the tabby cat from the back of the couch before all but running away from me toward her pool house. She didn’t chance a glance over her shoulder.
When she was gone, I cursed, and Chef Patel peeked around the corner with a smirk.
“Don’t,” I clipped, standing and angrily flicking cat hair off my clothes.
Arushi raised her brows and sucked her cheeks in like she didn’t know what I was talking about, dipping back into the kitchen without a word.
Once the cats were wrangled and hands were washed, we all sat down for what I was sure would be the most awkward dinner of my life. Fortunately, Chef Patel agreed to join us at my request, and she carried the conversation with Chloe, allowing me to brood and eat my vegetables in silence.