Total pages in book: 18
Estimated words: 17451 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 87(@200wpm)___ 70(@250wpm)___ 58(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 17451 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 87(@200wpm)___ 70(@250wpm)___ 58(@300wpm)
“You’re a success,” I murmur.
“At forty, I can retire,” he agrees. “Though the idea of retiring makes me feel bleak. What the hell for? What about you, Bella?”
“What about me?”
He raises an eyebrow as if to say, Everything. I want to know it all.
I shrug. “I’ve always loved painting. Ever since I was a kid. Actually, that’s sort of why I’m here …”
Grief tries to close my throat. But his intense eyes become patient.
“My grandma was the one who introduced me to art. We always said we’d go to Italy together. To travel, to paint, to live. But then she … and before she passed, she made me promise I’d come here.” I laugh nervously. “So here I am.”
He stands, walks around the table. Reaches down and takes my hand with surprising gentleness, though I can feel tension beneath the surface.
He pulls me to my feet and into a hug. I slip my arms around him. Melt against him. Hugging a stranger shouldn’t feel this natural, but somehow, he doesn’t feel like a stranger.
He feels like the answer to everything.
“She would be so proud,” he says passionately. Kisses the top of my head. Warm treacle slides all down my body. “So, so proud.”
“Thank you,” I whisper.
He moves his hand down my back, to my hips. He shudders as if stopping himself from grabbing my ass.
I lean back in his embrace. His expression shows the war he’s fighting within. He doesn’t want to be the guy who kisses the grieving girl.
I put my hand on his chest. His heartbeat pounds heavily. “Your heart is going crazy,” I murmur.
“It hasn’t stopped doing that since the moment I saw you,” he growls. “That second, Bella—I knew you were different. I knew you were going to, no, already had changed me.”
I gasp. “But we’re—”
“Strangers? I know. But I don’t give a damn. It’s the truth. And you feel it too.”
He moves his face closer to mine. “I’m certain you do, too.”
I stand on my tiptoes, nodding.
“Say it,” he snarls. “Don’t just nod, beautiful. Say the words.”
“I feel it,” I whisper.
But—
More thunder. Like fate interrupting my words.
I need to tell him before this goes too far.
But then he kisses me.
He groans and pulls me against him. His huge manhood pushes against my belly. An outline of hunger and need. His hands slip down to my ass, picking me up.
Some wild instinct makes me wrap my legs around him. He handles me like I weigh nothing. Pushes me against the wall and angles his hips so his manhood presses between my legs.
It feels like I’ve been waiting my whole life for him.
Who cares if I’m twenty-three and have no experience?
I won’t let nerves ruin this.
I won’t.
But when he carries me to the bigger table, lays me down, I make a noise. A gasp he can read. Like he can read every single thing about me.
He stands over me, trembling all over. His hand glides up my thigh, sending tempting signals to my sex. But he stops before going all the way.
“What. Is. It?” He speaks like an earthquake is splitting him down the middle. The civilized half warring with a being of pure possession.
I blurt the words out before I lose my cool. “I’m a virgin.”
4
ALEX
My cock floods with more tension. Somehow.
She’s the miracle girl. Making my heart beat with more emotion than it has in my entire life. Now, my body is aching all over, consumed with need.
“A … virgin,” I growl.
She leans up on her elbows. Hasn’t stopped breathing hard since we started kissing. Her chest rises and falls in a frantic tempo of temptation. Her big, juicy—fucking virgin breasts—make my shaft burn.
“I know,” she whispers. “I’m sorry if you thought this was a one-night-stand sort of thing, okay? But I can’t give you what you wa—”
I grip her leg. Hard. The hem of her dress falls away to show her pink underwear … half light pink, half almost black from where she’s soaked the material with her naïve wetness.
“You’ve already given me what I want,” I snarl. “The moment I saw you, you gave it to me. I’m glad you’re a virgin.”
She whimpers. Fuck. It takes every ounce of self-control I have not to tear my huge dick from my pants and drive it into her virginal slit. Open her up, make her feel how badly I want her.
But it’s her first time.
I need to chill. A little. As much as I can when her thigh is hot as hell against my hand and her whimpering breaths tell me she wants more.
“You … are?” she murmurs after a long pause.
“I don’t want anybody else touching you. Seeing you like this. Hearing those hungry, fucking perfect moans. No, Bella. This is all for me. Only for me.”
I slide my hand up her leg. Heat swells between her thighs, tempting me closer. I groan as I try to go slow. Be gentle. But these hands were never made for softness.