Total pages in book: 107
Estimated words: 100086 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 500(@200wpm)___ 400(@250wpm)___ 334(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 100086 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 500(@200wpm)___ 400(@250wpm)___ 334(@300wpm)
She finished the story she’d been absently reading and looked down to find Hadley sleeping soundly. This is how it could be. This is how it’s supposed to be.
Olivia sat on the edge of the bed, staring into the darkness. A truth stared back at her that she’d been doing her damnedest to ignore.
She was in love with Cillian O’Malley.
It had snuck up on her somewhere around the time he offered his help without expecting anything in return, and how he’d been interacting with Hadley only solidified it. Though he obviously didn’t spend much time around kids, he didn’t patronize her daughter or dismiss her, and he didn’t so much as blink at the kind of help a toddler offered. He’d been so incredibly respectful of Olivia’s boundaries and careful when interacting with her in front of Hadley.
Not to mention the sex was out of this world.
She traced the floral pattern of the bedspread. Her heart might be all tangled up in him, but that didn’t mean she had to do anything about it. She snorted. Right. Because going through life alone and playing the martyr was so much more attractive than finding a man who’d actually be a partner—one who’d love both her and Hadley.
Getting a little ahead of yourself, aren’t you? You don’t even know how he feels.
No, she didn’t. But a few times today she caught him looking at her with some indefinable expression on his face, and she couldn’t help feeling that he was as caught off guard by the thing growing between them as she’d been. Yeah, he’d wanted to take her out, but a date and riding in to whisk her off to his out-of-town fortress to keep her safe were two different things.
He hadn’t hesitated.
She double-checked on Hadley—still sound asleep—and carefully moved her to the Pack ’N Play. Just because she realized she loved him didn’t mean she had to tell him right away. They had time. Hopefully. If she said anything right now, it would look like she was responding to the fact that he’d brought her here or, worse, that last night had gone to her head.
She wandered back downstairs, and stopped in the doorway when she caught sight of him. He’d changed out of his wet clothes at some point since she went upstairs, and was now frowning at his computer just like he had been most of the day. “Trouble?”
“Troublesome, for sure. My father is going to blow a blood vessel when he finds out.” He sighed and closed the laptop. “But I’m not going to get any more done tonight, and the conversation can wait until morning.” He set it aside and held out his hand, just like he had last night, in a silent command for her to come to him.
Since she was only too happy to obey, she walked over and slid her hand into his, letting him pull her into his lap. “Have I said ‘thank you’ recently?”
“It might have come up.” He stroked a hand down her back. “Hadley’s asleep?”
“She fought it hard, but she’s out like a light now. I suspect her bath in the form of helping with dishes had something to do with it.”
He chuckled. “It’s tiring work.”
She waited, but he didn’t seem like he was going to do anything other than rub her back. As good as it felt, she had her epiphany rattling around in her head, preventing her from totally relaxing against him. She straightened. Though she wasn’t willing to start throwing around four-letter words, she could show him how she felt. “Come on.”
He let her pull him to his feet and lead him down the hall to the powder room. It had a fancy pedestal sink and little else, but it was more than big enough for what she had planned. More importantly, it had a door that locked and a massive mirror that went almost floor to ceiling. She locked the door and pushed Cillian until his back hit the wall across from the mirror. His gaze jumped from her to the wall behind her. “I like where this is going.”
“Good.” She unbuttoned his slacks. “Don’t move.”
He raised his eyebrows. “You can have your way—for now. But in approximately five seconds, I’m going to strip you naked, spread you out, and fuck you in front of that mirror so you can see me sliding in and out of you until you come.”
Holy shit. She shivered and went to her knees in front of him. “Try to hold out for more than five seconds.” Though she meant the words to come out amused, they were breathy instead. She pulled his pants down just enough to free his cock. She stroked him with one hand, looking up his body to meet his eyes as she did. The picture he presented made her hot in ways she never could have dreamed, and knowing she was the cause of the expression on his face was the icing on the cake.