Honor Bound by Joey Hill (speld decodable readers .txt) 📕

If she’d said she didn’t want to do it, he’d have stopped right there. But her word choice revealed her longing. She’d deprived herself of so many pleasures. He read that between the lines, from the fact that she didn’t have a friend she could ask to drive her to the surgery to the wistfulness flitting across her face as he begged to hear her fantasies. The thought of being a part of one turned his cock to stone. He’d imagined making her come long and hard, but the thought of watching another man take her was an inconceivable bonus.

Ford squeezed her hand, stroked her with his voice. “You want it, but my offering scares the hell out of you.”

“Yes,” she answered, her breath a whisper of warm air in the cool night.

“What if this is your last chance?” He disliked the underhanded tactic; it was cruel, using her fears against her. But there was no way on God’s green earth Sophia would have revealed that fantasy if she didn’t need this as much as he wanted to give it to her. He felt the truth of that in his gut.

“I . . .” Her eyes searched his face.

He couldn’t be sure what she saw. Taking her empty cup, he tossed it along with his in the trash, then pulled her close with the sash of her coat. She blinked like a frightened doe.

Sliding inside the neck of her jacket, he palmed her throat. His hand was still warm from the hot chocolate, but her skin was warmer. His entire body ached to kiss her. He’d thought about it often enough.

“Trust me,” he whispered, holding his breath as he waited.

She trembled. It couldn’t be from the cold. His body so close to hers gave off too much heat. She had to feel it.

“Yes.”

Relief flooded his head like alcohol. Sliding his hand up, he cupped her cheek, stroked her lip with his thumb, then slowly backed off to remove his cell phone from his coat pocket.

He held it out. “I have a friend. Simon Foster.”

Her deep brown eyes went black, unfathomable pools. “You’ve done this before?”

“No. I never cheated on my wife. I’ve dated since the divorce, but this is a first for me.”

He enjoyed sex, had a healthy drive, and a host of kinky fantasies like any other man. But he wanted this for her. “And Simon isn’t shy about admitting he enjoys experiencing new things.”

“Will I like him?”

“Women seem to find him attractive. He’s about my age.”

“Is he married?”

“No.” He needed to touch her again, so he curled her hair behind her ear, stroking the delicate shell. “If you meet him and don’t like him, it’s off. Whenever you want to stop, you just say so.” He would make it so good for her, she wouldn’t want to stop.

“Is he safe?” She pursed her lips. “You know, from disease and all.”

“I would never give you someone I didn’t trust one hundred percent, and we’ll all use protection.”

She swallowed, considering. “Our secret?”

Her reputation was all-important. “No one will ever know.”

Her gaze flitted over him, from eye to eye, gauging, assessing.

“I will never let anyone hurt you,” he said.

Sophia believed him. Yet twenty years ago she’d trusted a man. He’d turned on her the moment her star eclipsed his and sold pictures of her to a tabloid. Photos of her performing lewd acts. Today, no one would have blinked. Even twenty years ago, it was a minor blip in her career. To her father, it had been the ultimate betrayal of everything he’d taught her. A God-fearing minister, he’d cut her out of his life like a cancer.

Sophia winced. That was what he’d died of. Maybe it was genetic. She’d paid for twenty years for her mistake, and she may well have gotten the cancer anyway.

But she would have this. She wanted this man, this tantalizing act. She’d take the memory to her grave if she had to, but at least she’d have something to remember. “Call him.”

Ford punched a few buttons, held the phone to his ear, eyes on hers, fingers playing lightly in her hair.

He couldn’t know how good his touch felt, how his spicy male scent teased her, how his body heat melted her on the inside. She would live her life as if there was no tomorrow because maybe there wouldn’t be.

“Hey, Simon, it’s Ford. Got a minute?” He paused. “I have someone I’d like you to meet.” He laughed. “Yes, a woman.” His gaze traveled over her. “She’s gorgeous.”

Sophia began to get a picture of the man. He was visual, his questions jumping first to a sexual level rather than befuddled why Ford would be bringing up some random lady.

“You’re right. All women are gorgeous simply because they’re women.”

And Simon obviously loved all kinds.

“Very.” Ford held her gaze. Very what? She couldn’t be sure, but she wanted it to be something good.

“I have a proposition,” he said, with a dramatic pause before adding, “I want to give her a present.” Then he grinned at her. “She wants me and . . .” He trailed off, looking at her.

Sophia smiled, nodded. God, yes, she wanted him, for this night, if no other. Then she put her hand on him, his broad shoulder, sliding down his arm.

“And she wants a second. I thought of you.”

Her stomach fluttered hearing it said out loud.

“Tomorrow night?” He narrowed his eyes a moment. “Okay, Sunday will be even better.

As long as we don’t start late. We have to be up early in the morning.” He raised a brow in question.

Sophia nodded. She had to be to the surgery center by seven and couldn’t drink or eat after ten on Sunday. If Ford had his way, she wouldn’t have a moment to think, worry, scream, or dream the night before.

“Let’s play it by ear, see how it all shakes out, no pressure.” He grinned again at whatever his friend Simon said. “I know pressure isn’t your style. And I need your discretion, too.”