Total pages in book: 96
Estimated words: 89183 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 446(@200wpm)___ 357(@250wpm)___ 297(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 89183 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 446(@200wpm)___ 357(@250wpm)___ 297(@300wpm)
She was about to turn to face him when he whispered in her ear, “No, like this. Just like this.”
He put his hands on her hips and shifted them, shifting her, lifting her so that she was over him and able to take him inside. Oh, this was wicked. Beautifully, perfectly wicked with both of them covered by the blankets as she rode him, her back to his front, his hands on her hips, moving her, directing her for both their pleasure. The greatest pleasure anyone had ever known. Surely, there was nothing better than this.
She gazed up at the midnight sky above, inky black with a few stars twinkling as if just for them. With his heart beating against her back and her name on his lips, they both came apart at the same moment. One body, it seemed. One heartbeat. He turned her face as she was about to cry out and captured her cry with his kiss. A deep, passionate kiss that only bonded them further.
In that moment, he was everything.
Everything she’d ever wanted.
CHAPTER TWELVE
Malcolm woke the next morning to find Josie standing beside the bed, holding a mug of coffee. “We need to go soon, or we’re going to be late to meet Mari at the bookshop to brief her on our progress.”
He took the mug and put it on the side table, and then he took her hands in his and pulled her onto the bed. “Not so fast.” Then gave her a proper good-morning kiss, the way she should have woken up in the first place. He thought he might’ve convinced her when sixty seconds later, she was kissing him back just as passionately.
But then she withdrew, pushing back up to standing. “Seriously, we really should get going in a few minutes.”
He sat up in bed, the covers falling to reveal his bare chest and pool around his hips. “Is everything okay? You’re not regretting last night, are you?”
She shook her head, her color going slightly pink. As if their kiss hadn’t been enough of a reminder. “No, of course I’m not regretting any of it. It’s just that I want to make sure that nobody finds out about… this.”
It shouldn’t have grated so much to have their lovemaking reduced to this. After all, that was the way he’d looked at it his entire life. As something fun, something pleasurable. But not particularly world-changing, when all was said and done.
“Okay,” he said, the word coming out grumpier than he intended.
Of course she picked up on it. “You don’t want anyone to know, do you?” She looked confused. “I mean, wouldn’t it just get more complicated if your family and friends though that we were an actual couple?”
“Right.” But it didn’t feel at all right. “It’s fine.” But it didn’t feel fine at all.
What felt fine was having Josie in his arms. What felt fine was laughing with her. What felt fine was working together to clean up the manor house cottages so she could run her reading retreat. Hiding the fact that they were together, even if just for a little while, felt anything but fine.
Obviously sensing that he was better left to himself at the moment, she said, “I’ll just finish getting my things together while you hop in the shower and get dressed.”
He was ready fifteen minutes later, and they headed off on foot to the bookshop. He kept wanting to grab her hand. Kept wanting to hold it. Kept wanting to stop and kiss her on the path, the way he had yesterday. They hadn’t been worried about anyone seeing them then, had they?
He was being a grumpy git again. And she was right. It would just get messy if his family found out. Messes were bad, he knew that. He was all about efficiency. About right action. It was just that he’d always been the one wanting to keep things on the down-low. Josie had surprised him by being the first to say what was obvious, that was all. What they’d agreed on already.
He actively worked to shake off his mood.
They were soon walking through the door of the bookshop. Mari smiled and greeted them, but she definitely looked less calm than usual.
“I take it you’ve had a very busy couple of days,” he said after they hugged their hellos.
She nodded. “It’s been a madhouse in here. It’s fantastic, of course, because I can always use more business. But I had no idea a bookstore could ever be this busy.”
Malcolm could feel the stress she was trying to hide. He had so much experience with business owners who expanded. Had she taken on more than she could handle? He loved and admired Mari for her go-getter attitude and entrepreneurial zeal, but he knew better than anyone how taking on too much too soon could cause stress.