She wraps her fingers around the spine, playfully jerking it from my grasp. “It’s not crap. In fact, it’s been at the top of the charts for weeks now.” Arloe rolls her neck with her lips pressed tightly together.
I laugh aloud at that.Her and these fucking books.
“Doesn’t make it any less crappy,” I huff out and step around her.
“Do you even read?” she blurts.
“Not that,” I deadpan while picking up our drinks before heading back to the game room.
Arloe is behind me, the soles of her feet slapping against the hardwood floors. It’s funny how animated she is that I can hear her frustration through her walk, or stomping, rather. We reach the rugged areas, bumping into each other when I turn to face her.
“So you’re one of those people,” she teases.
“And what kind of person is that?”
“One who knocks something before they even try it.” Her eyebrows rise in challenge while a smirk paints her lips.
I shake my head playfully. “Fair point. Read to me then.”
Her mouth gapes open for a split second, and she stares around the room. “Um— What?”
I settle into the leather chair and motion to the one next to me. “Read to me.”
She looks at me confused, like she’s waiting for me to say just kidding, but I’m not. If this is what makes her happy, then I want to hear it.
She shakes out her shoulders then pads to the chair next to me. She settles into the oversized leather and tucks her feet under her. “Fine. But I’m not starting over. I’ll read from where I left off.”
I nod and sip my drink, looking at her over the brim, waiting for her to start. This is going to be good. She’s already blushing and squirming in her seat.
Arloe sucks in a deep breath and opens the book. A laminated bookmark falls to her lap, but she ignores it.
“At this moment, I can’t think of a more beautiful sight. Her body is bare and stretched over my bed, displayed to me. Her ample breasts move with every breath she takes, tempting me. ‘Do you want this?’ she whispers, moving her hand between her thighs, flicking the sensitive pink bud.”
Arloe clears her throat and flips forward a few pages. “Maybe we should start somewhere else,” she mumbles, her eyes pointing to the floor.
A smirk tugs at the corner of my lips as I relax back into my chair. “Continue.”
She shakes her head lightly then moves so her back is to me. “Fine. But I can’t look at you. Your stare is intimidating.”
I laugh. It isn’t my stare that has her flustered, that’s for sure.
“Her voice is unsure and weak. ‘The question isn’t if I want it, princess. It is, do you want it? Could you live with the thought of betraying your family to fuck me?’ I close the gap between her and me. It’s only by a few inches, but I can smell her arousal. Her doe eyes flash to mine, and I can see it. The fight melts off her, and she gives in to the pure animalistic want she tries so hard to hide. ‘“I would do anything to be with you.’”
“Her voice cracks, and it makes me realize I’ve done exactly what I set out to achieve. I’ve broken her and made her love me more than her own family. This arrangement of keeping her until she came to my side was supposed to be simple. Quick. But the lines of what I should do and what I want have started to blur.”
I stand quietly and position myself behind her. I zero in on the page she’s reading and silently follow the words in my head as they leave her lips.
“Being with her in this way is wrong for more than one reason, but I can’t stop now. She and I are too far gone to look back. ‘Do you love me?’ I question. ‘More than I should,’ she replies, and with that, my body takes over. I crawl on top of her and crash my lips to hers. The taste of her strawberry lip gloss hits my tongue and sends me over the edge—”
Arloe jumps when I reach around her, stopping her mid-sentence. I take the book from her grasp, expecting her to hesitate, but she doesn’t. Still standing, I tower over her at my full height. She glances up at me, the confusion on her face faltering as I pick up where she left off.
“My tongue pushes through her lips and claims her taste. I trail my hand down her side, gliding over her thigh, and push her hand out of the way. I massage her clit, pinching it between my fingers, then slip one inside her.”
Arloe’s chest rises and falls more rapidly than before. She’s turned on, just like she was during the reading in her shop and, just like then, my dick strains against the fabric of my pants. She notices my hard-on almost instantly, her head tilting slightly with a breath caught in her throat.
Arloe looks up again, finding my eyes on her. She shudders, her chest bucking as she attempts to calm her breaths.
I can’t stop myself from touching her, letting my fingers stroke her cheek before pushing her long hair to one side. Her neck is exposed to me now, and I want nothing more than to kiss, suck, and nibble on her flesh. But I like this too much. Seeing her flustered and sheepish over me reading the words she so adamantly claimed to be brilliant.
