Standby (Open Skies Book 4) by Becca Jameson (popular e readers .TXT) 📕

it. Who cares about tomorrow? Show me your bedroom. And what kind of guy turned down a sure thing? She was pretty outgoing, but asking him to have sex with her was even more forward than she was capable of. Plus, he was kind of right. She wasn’t her normal self. Her brain was filled with too much shit right now. She leaned her head against his chest and sighed. “Well, shit.”

He chuckled, his chest shaking under her cheek. “I’m just trying to be a gentleman. I don’t want to fuck up a good thing by rushing it. We have time. We’re in no hurry.”

She groaned. He felt so good against her. Warm and chiseled and comfortable. It would be so easy to slide her hand down and palm his dick, making him change his mind. Part of her would love nothing more than to forget every damn thing by filling the next hour with amazing sex.

He gave her a squeeze and then reached for her chin and tipped her head back. “I’m going to kiss you until you know how much I want you and then you won’t forget anytime soon.”

Before she could respond, his lips descended and he scrambled her brain with a mind-altering kiss she felt all the way to her toes. He kept one hand on her back and the other on her chin. Her body melted through and through. She willed him to let his hands roam her body, but since he didn’t, she kept her palm on his chest.

When he finally broke the kiss, she was dizzy from the contact. He hadn’t been kidding. She wasn’t going to forget that kiss ever, and the low groan coming from his chest solidified how badly he wanted her.

How chivalrous.

She wasn’t sure this chivalry was necessary, but she had to agree that there was a connection between them. A comfort level. Like coming home. She didn’t want to fuck that up any more than he did. So, if waiting a while before they took things further helped ensure they didn’t ruin a good thing, she reluctantly had to agree.

He held her for a while and then eased her back and stood, tugging her to her feet. “I’m going to walk away now before I change my mind.”

She couldn’t help but smirk. “That tempting?”

He gripped her chin and kissed her quickly. “Tease.”

She shrugged, uncertain why she felt so mischievous, but she couldn’t help it. “I get what you’re saying, and it even kind of makes sense, but if you don’t mind, I don’t think I’m going to go to any great effort to make it easy for you.” Oh, yeah. She was going full-out here with the flirting.

He groaned again and took a step back, holding her at arm’s length. “I’m no saint, sweetheart. I’ll give in if you tempt me. Make me a deal.”

She cocked her head to one side and scrunched up her brows. “What’s this deal?”

“Give me one week. One week to help you figure out how to get out from under the threats from Hawke Richman. One week to show you I’m a good guy who cares about you. One week to wine and dine you.”

She scrunched her brow farther and gave him a half-smile. “Are you pulling this one-week business arbitrarily out of your ass?”

“Yep. I want you to stay here in my house. Eat with me. Talk to me. Watch crappy movies with me. Essentially get to know each other before we tear each other’s clothes off.”

“And what will this prove?” She couldn’t keep from continuing to poke him. She had no doubt she could go a week without climbing into his bed. She didn’t really want to, but she could do it. Could he though? If she tempted him? A devious plan developed in her head.

“It will prove that we have something between us that’s much deeper than sex before we climb between the sheets. If we follow our base instincts and start fucking right now, we’ll never come up for air. Instead, I say we take the time to get to know each other on a deeper level. By next Saturday, we will either have decided we can’t stand living together and should go our separate ways, or we’ll be ten times hornier than we are now and unable to keep our hands to ourselves.”

She giggled. “Okay…” She wasn’t sure quite what to make of his chivalry. Surely, he wasn’t thinking of anything permanent. He was a dude. And they just went on their first date.

“But?” he lifted a brow.

She grinned wide. “But, I’m not going to make it easy on you.”

He groaned and rolled his head back. “That’s not playing fair.”

She shrugged. “Life’s not always fair.” She leaned into him.

He took a step back, holding her shoulders again. “Okay, fine. But I have one rule.”

“Mmm. What’s that?”

“No touching.”

“No touching!” That rule sucked.

His turn to shrug. “Yep. Keep your hands off me for seven days.” He narrowed his gaze. “No physical contact.”

She could manage that. “Okay. Deal.”

He released her and rubbed his chin. “We need some kind of stakes I think.” His grin was infectious.

“Absolutely,” she agreed. “What do you have in mind?”

“If you keep your hands off me for an entire week and I make it without giving in to the preference of my cock, I get complete control of everything we do next Saturday night.”

She chuckled. “How is that a loss for me?”

He rolled his eyes. “You are far naughtier than I suspected.”

“Probably. This was your idea. You asked to play with fire, I’m just giving you fire.” She cocked out a hip. “So…if I manage to get you to give in to the preferences of your cock, as you say, before this time next week, the entire show is mine to control.”

He smirked. “That’ll never happen, sweetheart.”

She lifted her brows. “You saying you’d never let me control what we do in the bedroom, Mr. Cocky? Or are you saying you’re confident you will win?”

He laughed. She loved