Total pages in book: 137
Estimated words: 138683 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 693(@200wpm)___ 555(@250wpm)___ 462(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 138683 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 693(@200wpm)___ 555(@250wpm)___ 462(@300wpm)
She pushed out one of those teases she usually played, except when I shifted to look at her from over my shoulder, there was nothing remotely comical on her face.
It was just the hope cut in the stark angles of her gorgeous face.
Cheeks flushed and that smattering of freckles striking in the rays of light.
My chest tightened.
A red-headed flame.
The sun rising on a darkened day.
“Never said I didn’t want you.”
“Then take me.” She said it so simply. “Let’s see where this goes.”
Autumn’s face flashed through my mind.
Every oath that I had made.
I promise you always, baby.
Always.
I squeezed my eyes as guilt came stabbing through, as gory as a slasher flick.
I propped my hands on my hips and turned away like it could keep Tessa from seeing the corruption that clawed through my spirit.
I roughed a frustrated hand through my hair.
I felt her move slowly.
Caution and care.
She must have been two feet away from me when she whispered, “Talk to me. I’m right here.”
Agony cleaved me in two, and I gulped around the sorrow as I let go of a little bit of myself. “I haven’t been with anyone since she died, Tessa. Haven’t touched anyone. Kissed anyone. Not until you.”
Tessa exhaled a shaky sound, this woman the first who’d made me let part of that go. One who fucked with my mind and made me break the oath I’d made.
My whole life, Autumn…I promise…it belongs to you. Nothing can change that. Not time or circumstance.
Misery burned a hole in me. It terrified me that Tessa might be the only one who could fill it.
Her fingertips slowly drifted down my back.
An embrace.
Support.
A friend who’d come to mean too fucking much. “I’m sorry you lost her.”
“You don’t have to feel sorry for me.”
I could almost feel the pinch of her brow, the gravity of her breath. “Hurting for you and feeling sorry for you are two different things. And I hurt for you.”
She hesitated, then whispered, “But everyone deserves to be touched. To be loved.”
I turned to face her. “Not me.”
But I’d taken her affection and used it up, anyway.
Her lips tipped down at one side, tenderness full in the soft twist of her mouth, red locks of hair flaming around the sharp lines of her face.
“You’re wrong, Milo. You deserve happiness. Joy and peace and safety. Pleasure. All the things you’ve been giving me.”
Affection burned through her expression.
So intense, I swore it was scorching my skin.
“I don’t deserve any of those things.”
Hurt flashed through that unrelenting gaze.
A gaze that could see all the way to the hidden places inside of me.
“Even if you think you don’t, I still need you to be safe. What happened last night? I refuse to let you get hurt again because of me.”
“I’ll be careful,” I promised. “Need you to be, too, until we find out what’s going on.”
Who was responsible for this.
“I don’t even know what Karl wants.” She bit down on her bottom lip.
If it was him?
I knew exactly what he wanted.
I couldn’t help but slide my palm to the side of her face, my thumb tracing over the freckles beneath her eye. “You, Little Dove. He wants you.”
Tenderness overtook her features, and she let lightness weave into the heaviness that had saturated our conversation. “Well, he obviously cannot have me, since I’m engaged to you.”
“Obviously,” I told her, going for a grin that likely cracked.
She angled her head. “How about I call in today and help you with the treehouse? Remy and Scout are going to be ready to play in this thing before you know it.”
Air puffed from my nose. “Sounds like you just want to keep an eye on me.”
Honestly, I didn’t want to let her out of my sight, so it wasn’t going to take much for her to talk me into it.
Her eyes widened in feigned offense. “Who, me? You think I’m some kind of schemer?”
“Positively diabolical.” A grin tugged at my mouth.
“Well, it fits because if I catch you trying to pick up one of those heavy pieces of wood, I’m going to make you pay for it later.”
She winked at me and wiggled her hips.
Tiny Tease.
I grunted. “Don’t tempt me, Tessa.”
“Um, last night, you gave me my first orgasm that I didn’t give myself. I’m pretty sure it isn’t me who is doing the tempting.”
Surprise bound with the hunger, and I snatched her by the back of the neck. “What did you just say?”
Her eyes rounded in surprise, and I had to stop myself from devouring that mouth all over again.
“Yeah…well…Karl,” she stammered. “It wasn’t like I was having any of those with him.”
“And before?”
Redness filled her face in a way I’d never seen it, embarrassment lighting her up, though she tried to joke, “Oh, I was saving that V-card like it was going to be something special. But we know how that turned out.”