faint hiss of satin, a gathering of silk. Another pause. A heartbeat. A breath before I was breathless.
He was made of velvet and stone, of strength and desire. His hands knew every curve, every soft place, every line of my body, and he tasted every one with skin, with lips, with tongue. He held my breast in his palm like a precious thing and a wanted thing, with demand and tender care. Traced the fluttering flesh between my thighs with a knowing tongue and a desperate love. He bared himself to me through the portal of his dark eyes as he flexed his hips and slipped into the heat of me until we were as close as we could be, as close as we would ever get, which never felt like enough.
We were a hissing wave licking the sand, a meeting of two forces in an endless, sliding kiss. The shore and the sea, the sun-kissed earth and the tempestuous ocean. The meeting of two elements who would forever be joined, swelling with every tide, kissing with every cresting wave.
A blind flash. A gasp of pleasure. A throaty moan, and we were pulled into the deep, caught by the undertow and carried away.
It seemed a long time until we drifted back to ourselves, a knot of limbs, skin to skin. His heart thundered against my ear where he held me, cheek to chest, by way of his hand in my hair and his arm around my back. I listened to his breath as it slowed, the steady rise and fall lulling me into a gentle, flickering sleep, my limbs weighted and heart unburdened.
“I love you,” he whispered so quietly, it was barely audible.
But I heard him. I heard him when he said nothing.
“Never as much as I love you,” I murmured.
A single chuckling harrumph escaped him. “Will you always insist on winning?”
I glanced up at him as best I could, and he relaxed his grip to let me. “Yes,” I answered with a sleepy smile.
Peering down at me, he cupped my jaw, leaning in for a kiss, and said the perfect thing—a newfound trick of his.
“Good. Because I wouldn’t have you any other way.”
Thank you so much for reading Pride and Papercuts! Hope you decided to watch your favorite adaptation of our beloved story, regardless of your likely controversial Darcy preferences.
Interested in the Bennets and their feud with Evelyn Bower? Follow the link to read Coming Up Roses, book one of The Bennet Brothers. And if you’d like to read my free bonus content, just click here!
If you’re itching for more Austen retellings, I have a treat for you. There’s Wasted Words (Inspired by Emma), A Thousand Letters (Inspired by Persuasion), Love Notes (Inspired by Sense and Sensibility), and Pride and Papercuts, coming fall 2020.
If the idea of crossing Gatsby and Gossip Girl makes you tingly, you should definitely check out Fool Me Once. It’s the perfect escape in a time we need it the most.
If you love a good small town, enemies to lovers romantic comedy, turn the page for a sneak peek of Bet The Farm and find out what happens when a lactose intolerant woman inherits a dairy farm.
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Turn the page to read a sneak peek of Bet The Farm!
Sneak Peek: Bet the Farm
OLIVIA
A very unladylike grunt grated out of me.
Every muscle engaged as I hauled a ridiculous pink suitcase off the baggage belt of the tiny airport. The curl of my toes kept me braced. My glutes were hard enough to bounce a quarter off of. Shoulders bunched, abs engaged, fingers burning.
It was more than I’d worked out in a year.
In that moment, I second guessed everything I’d packed to come home to California, even though I’d been absolutely certain every article of clothing was necessary when I’d packed. But when I stumbled backward from the force of finally loosing my luggage, I questioned the rain boots. And the overalls. And all that plaid. But I was back at the farm after two long years, and I had to look the part.
The worst