Total pages in book: 12
Estimated words: 11290 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 56(@200wpm)___ 45(@250wpm)___ 38(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 11290 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 56(@200wpm)___ 45(@250wpm)___ 38(@300wpm)
6
JON
Iggy stood and grabbed my hand, nearly tipping the table. Without sparing a glance at the diners around us or the poor servers who would have to deal with our aborted meal, he dragged me down the narrow corridor back to our train car.
Once he’d yanked me through the door to my suite, which was fractionally closer, he shoved me against the closed door. “Tell me this is real. Tell me you truly want this.”
Before I could say yes, fuck yes, he added, “Tell me you’re not going to have regrets,” in a broken voice.
Emotion vibrated off him. Fear, concern… love.
Iggy didn’t lie. He didn’t change his mind when it came to the things that mattered most in his life. If he said he’d been months without sex, he had been. And if he said I had his heart…
I brought my hands up to caress the sides of his face. “I have been in love with you since you were nineteen years old. I would say eighteen, but I actually hated you a little at first. You were a spoiled brat with a big mouth.”
Iggy’s laugh sounded like a sob. “You still think that about me.”
“True.” I smirked. “But when you turned nineteen, you finally had the body of a man to make me forget.”
He lunged forward then, crushing my mouth with his. I made an embarrassing sound, the kind someone makes after two decades of wanting something he couldn’t have.
The kiss was every-fucking-thing. Power and raw hunger, tenderness and delicate care, and jaw-dropping love in every single breath.
His lips were firm and warm, and he tasted of crisp gin and lime. I wanted more of it. I wanted to sip at his lips and swallow entire moments of this.
My hands gripped the front of his dinner jacket, the fabric smooth and familiar against my fingers. How many times had I fantasized about this while smoothing his lapels?
“Don’t hurt me,” I croaked against his mouth.
Iggy pulled away, suddenly worried he was physically harming me. It took only a glance at my face before he realized what I’d meant.
“Hurting you would be like cutting out my own fucking heart, Jon. Don’t you know how much I love you? How I want to spend my life with you? How I want to make you happy?”
The words washed over me then, clearing away the last of my fear. I wanted him as much as he seemed to want me. So what the hell was I waiting for?
I lurched awkwardly toward him, intent on another searing kiss. The noise he let out as our lips came together again was feral, like an animal finally released from a cage.
His body was a coiled spring, but his touch was tender and reverent. The way his thumbs skimmed my jaw, his nose brushed my cheek, his knee gently nudged my legs apart so he could get closer.
The cold wood of the door against my back had turned warm. The dim lighting was soft and intimate. The slight movement under our feet felt exotic and a little wild. We were somewhere in the sub-Saharan night, alone together on the brink of a new adventure.
Our best adventure.
As his hands moved, sliding my jacket off my shoulders, I realized I was the happiest I’d ever been. Finally, we were here together without the job between us. We could be equals. Partners.
Lovers.
For once, I pulled off his jacket without a single care for where it ended up. I yanked his shirt out of his trousers and shoved my hands underneath, relishing in the feel of his hot skin.
“Want you so much,” I admitted into the side of his face.
“Thank fuck,” he said on a laughing exhale. “I’m scared to death of disappointing you.”
“The infamous playboy is afraid of letting me down in the sack?” I teased.
“I’ve never made love before.”
Iggy had the ability to stop my breath. I stared at him while my brain slotted so many details into place. The careless attitude toward sex. The lack of serious relationships. The many times he’d only half-teased about wanting to be with me.
I’d never taken it seriously.
Until now.
“I love you,” I said, surprising myself as much as I’d surprised him. But it was the raw truth, and I no longer wanted to deny it, deny him. “And I’m sorry I didn’t believe you at first. I wanted it too badly to believe it could be real.”
Iggy’s eyes filled with tears that didn’t spill. “I’ve waited my whole life to hear those words from you,” he whispered.
I moved him toward the bed and lowered him onto the crisp, white bedding before taking my time removing every single piece of his clothing.
I’d done this for him a million times, but this time was so different. Every touch held twenty years of unspoken affection and a lifetime of love to come.