Total pages in book: 76
Estimated words: 71679 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 358(@200wpm)___ 287(@250wpm)___ 239(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 71679 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 358(@200wpm)___ 287(@250wpm)___ 239(@300wpm)
Need. Hunger. I’m like a shark in the water, a shark that is sloppy, uncoordinated, and half drowning. I push forward anyway, and the fact that I’m a good swimmer saves me from my own body. This isn’t a cramp. Or yes, maybe it is. A whole-body cramp that paralyzes my limbs.
I swim into Leon’s open arms, and they close around me. Opening up to me. Pulling me in. Holding me. He’s warm—all of him. I lower my head to his shoulder and lick the droplets there, along the column of his neck. He hisses near my ear as I wrap my legs around his waist, cradling his hard length near my aching center.
Too many clothes. Too many layers in the way. Is this even real?
His hand supports my shoulders, and he kicks, keeping us both afloat. His body is wrapped around me, and I can feel how twisted and irregular the skin is on his palm. I lean into his touch, wanting more while I try to stop my heart from wrenching in half again. I wish I could save him. I wish I could build a damn time machine or find a portal or a wormhole or something science-fictiony and go back and undo all that for him. All the pain, all the suffering—suffering I can’t even comprehend. Sadly, I can’t, but I can give him now. I can give him good memories and laughter and love. I don’t know much about love, but I’d like to learn. I’d like to create something with him, something so good that it obliterates the bad, one step, one memory, one moment at a time.
He kisses me, the kiss to begin and end all kisses and the kisses in between. He’s magic. The force of this is like the beginning and the end of the world. Our lips crash together, and I devour his mouth. I love the taste of salty water. The lake is freshwater, but it always tastes a little bit like salt. And lake muck. But it’s good on Leon. So, so good. Sign me up for more lake muck. His tongue parts my lips, and he’s all fire, searing through me.
I moan against his mouth and rock against the hard bulge that’s pressing up against my crotch. I whimper and mewl into his mouth. Using the water to float away just an inch, I reach down and palm his hard-on through his boxers. He’s huge and so freaking hard that it’s like gripping iron.
And then, we both promptly sink.
“Mrpphffhhhhhhh!” I shriek as my nose fills up with water.
I let go of his neck and regretfully tear my lips from his, inhaling too much lake water while I push to the surface. We both come up sputtering.
“Sorry!” Leon gasps. “It’s hard to kiss and swim at the same time. It’s even harder when you…uh…do that.”
I fling water off my face with my hand and laugh even though my nose is burning. I can taste even more lake gunk now, and it’s not so good on its own. Not so good at all. “Take me to the beach then. I want you to fuck me into the sand.”
“Gah!” He coughs, probably more from what I just said than the need to clear his throat of lake water. “Jesus, Darby.”
“Is that a good Jesus, Darby, or a bad Jesus, Darby?”
“I don’t…I don’t know. We…this is…there isn’t any going back if we do this. I’m still your boss, and we’re still kind of just fake married.”
I roll my eyes at that. “Right.” He doesn’t say anything. “I’m honored that you’re worried about those things, but right now, I just want you. I don’t want my complicated, broody, handsome boss, and I don’t want my fake husband. I want you, Leon Montague.”
“But I’m all of those things.”
“Okay, I want them all then. I’m also on the pill, so we don’t need to worry about condoms, and even though I’m majorly scared of getting sand shoved up my hoo-ha or my ass crack and having major chafing issues, I’m willing to take that risk because I’ve never had beach sex and everyone makes it seem so hot. And, I really, really want to have beach sex with you.”
“It’s quite irresponsible. It would change everything.”
I tread water, spreading my arms out in small circles in front of me. I don’t want to push Leon, and I’m not just saying crazy things because my body might wither up and die if I don’t kiss him again. But I need him. I freaking need him like air and lake water and the sun and the sky out here. I don’t need him like breaths since I can fundamentally make myself happy and depend on myself. I’m okay alone. But he’s like the cabin. Like the lake. My happy place. A place that I cherish so, so much. When I’m not here, I want to be here. The cabin and I have a unique relationship. It shelters my family and me, and we care for it in return. Maybe this is a bad analogy, so I’ll stop now.