Total pages in book: 106
Estimated words: 101398 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 507(@200wpm)___ 406(@250wpm)___ 338(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 101398 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 507(@200wpm)___ 406(@250wpm)___ 338(@300wpm)
Wordlessly, Bennett takes my hand and walks us down the hall. I expect him to go to the kitchen or the living room, or even outside for some fresh air, but instead, we walk deeper into his old farmhouse, straight to his white bedroom.
“Bennett, what are we…”
“I don’t know about you, but I want a shower more than just about anything.”
A small puff of surprised air leaves my nose. “Yeah. A shower does sound nice. Do you want to go first, or do you want me to—”
“I want us to go together,” he interrupts, pulling me into his arms and then walking us backward to shut and lock his bedroom door.
“Ben…”
“I don’t want to be alone, but even more than that, I want to be with you.”
“I want to be with you too.” I don’t know how long I’ve ached and longed and dreamed about what it would be like to be truly with Bennett Bishop, but hell, I’m out of patience. Out of willpower. Out of everything but the acute, throbbing need I have for him.
The sound of my dress zipper sliding down my back is the only audible answer I get. The only answer I need.
Bennett walks me gently backward, thumbing the straps of my dress off my shoulders until it falls to the floor at my shuffling feet. We walk over it, his body heat directly engaged with mine as he guides me into the bathroom, and my lace bra rubs against his tanned, hair-sprinkled chest now that he has the top four buttons of his shirt undone.
The silence makes it all the more erotic, my heaving breaths and our racing hearts creating a soundtrack to the moment.
Bennett’s mouth finds mine just outside the shower, and it’s not long before his tongue finds mine too. I don’t bother to withhold access, and I don’t stop my back when it arches my stomach into his.
He feels good and real and so fucking manly I can hardly stand it. His hands are gentle, but the skin is rough with work and life and experience. He’s confident, but he’s not cocky, and the word rush isn’t in his vocabulary.
I feel like the most amazing creature in the world as he cherishes the skin of my chest and neck along the lines of where flesh meets bone.
He pauses briefly to reach in and turn on the water in the shower, but as he comes back to me, he cups the sides of my face in his hands with reverence. His movements are poised and measured as he kisses the skin of my cheek and my nose and then both of my closed eyelids too. A gasp takes all the rigidity out of my neck, and my head falls back at once.
Bennett unclasps my bra with ease, his artist’s fingers nimble in every way they need to be. As it slides down my shoulders and the cold air of the open bathroom hits my breasts, my nipples peak into points and brush directly against his chest.
“You are so perfect,” Bennett says then, his voice filled with awe. I think he’s talking about my body, given the nature of his timing, but when he keeps going, his true meaning hits me square in the chest. “I’m sorry it took me so long to realize. I’m sorry I treated you so poorly. But most of all, I’m so sorry I ever thought it would be a bad idea to know you…to let you in.”
My next breath shakes so badly, I know it’s only a matter of time before I can’t find air at all.
“You’ve changed our lives, Norah. You’ve changed them so much for the better.”
My voice is a whisper—it’s all I can manage. “I feel the same way about you. The things I thought mattered before? They don’t matter at all. All the things I should’ve said? I’m going to make sure I say them now.”
Bennett grabs my hip with one hand and my face with the other, sealing our lips in a kiss I’ll remember for the rest of my life. It’s passion and pain and every raw emotion this life has to offer. We’re intertwined in each other as he steps us under the spray of the water, and my underwear comes off in a rip.
My chest moves up and down in huge heaves, the feel of Bennett’s every muscle against me reminding me of the first and only other time I used this shower.
“Last time I showered in here,” I murmur softly, “I got so lost in thoughts of you that I made myself come.”
Bennett’s grunt of approval runs through my entire body as he lifts me into his arms, and I wrap my legs around his waist. I’m not entirely sure when he got rid of his pants, but I know for sure they’re long gone when his cock presses at my entrance.