Total pages in book: 144
Estimated words: 138522 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 693(@200wpm)___ 554(@250wpm)___ 462(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 138522 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 693(@200wpm)___ 554(@250wpm)___ 462(@300wpm)
“I don’t even know what that means, Gabe.”
“I’ll show you,” I promise. “It, this, is all about you being present. Being right here with me.”
“I am.”
“No. You’re one foot in the door and one foot out. You’re always halfway in your mind, building a wall between us because of him.”
“I don’t think of him when I’m with you.”
“He’s conditioned you to think of him even when you don’t think you are.”
“No, I—”
I lean in and brush my lips over hers. “I’m going to make you forget him. Even if it’s just right here, right now, with me, and he’s back in the morning. One night at a time works for me until he’s gone.”
She catches my hand and instead of denying that I’m right, she whispers, “What if he won’t ever go away, Gabe?”
“He will. I promise you. He will. I’ll make sure he goes away. I won’t leave room for him.”
“And when you’re gone?”
I cup her face. “I’m not going anywhere. You’ll figure that out. That’s another promise.” I close my mouth down on hers, my tongue stroking deep, and I let her taste how much I mean my words. I let her taste how much I want more of her, more of us. I let her taste how naked she’s made me when I haven’t even started undressing, and I never let anyone do that to me.
“I want you in my bed,” I murmur, parting our lips. “This bed. Any bed I call mine, I want you in it.” I don’t wait for her reply. I scoop her up and start walking, carrying her down a long hallway that leads to the master bedroom where a motion detector automatically turns the lights to a dim glow.
I close the space between us and the bed and stand with my back to the bed, settling her on the ground, and pulling my shirt over my head but leaving my pants on. “Undress for me.” I caress her naked breasts and then sit down, a challenge in my eyes.
I want her trust.
I’m asking for it now by asking her to dare to be naked, right here, right now, with me watching.
Her eyes meet mine, and I see understanding and a hint of trepidation in her eyes. She’s walled herself off. She’s made herself believe she’s less than the other women that were in her husband’s bed, and I’m not going to let her feel that any longer.
My gaze lowers and rakes over her breasts, lifting slowly until our eyes collide again. “You’re beautiful. Stunning. Everything I want in a woman. It’s just us here. It’s just me. Undress for me, Abbie.”
Her eyes warm and while that trepidation isn’t gone, it shifts and changes, a mix of desire and arousal. She kicks off her shoes and then reaches for the waist of her leggings. My cock reacts, thickening, hot and hard, and not because she’s undressing, but because I know how shut off she is, I know how she protects herself and no matter what we’ve done before now, now matters. Now is a shift between us. It’s not me taking. It’s me asking. It’s her giving freely.
She slides down her leggings, her long slender legs driving me wild, and when they’re down, she kicks them aside. Next comes the tiny black thong she’s wearing that’s barely a thong at all. She catches the silk straps with her fingers and slides them down her hips, the sweet spot between her thighs driving the urgency in me that I bank. This isn’t about me. This is about her.
She’s naked now. Naked in ways I know she never intended to be with me and yet, in a few shorts days, she’s here, she’s willingly vulnerable and I want more. “Come here and kneel in front of me.”
She laughs awkwardly. “You want me to—”
“Yes,” I say firmly, meeting her stare. “I do. I want you to trust me that much, but you have the control, Abbie. You can say no. This isn’t about my control. It’s about yours.” I stand up and I walk to her, a lean away from touching her, but I don’t. “When you let me have control, that’s about you controlling me, not me controlling you. You made that decision. And when you trust that much, when you let me have control, you’re free. It’s your escape. I want to be that safe place where you escape.”
“I’m not falling for you, Gabe,” she whispers.
My lips quirk. “Then just come for me, Abbie. I’ll settle for that tonight.” I back up and sit down. “Come here and settle on your knees.” I wiggle an eyebrow. “I promise if it hurts, it will hurt so good.”
She laughs and closes the space between us, her hands on my knees, her chin tilted up, a smile in her eyes. She’s comfortable again, back inside her limits just in time for me to take her out of them again. I catch her chin in my hand. “What do you think I’m about to do to you, Abbie?”