Foreplay: The Ivy Chronicles Read online

Page 24


  He dragged his mouth down my throat, leaving a burning path on my skin.

  I clutched him closer, riding him faster. “I love you, Reece,” I whispered hoarsely as I broke apart, splintering into pieces.

  His hands tightened on my hips. He followed me, his body straining into mine. He muffled his cry into the crook of my neck, but I felt its force ripple through me. We held still, locked together for a long moment, enjoying each other.

  He lifted his head and stared down at me, a slow smile curving his lips. “I love you, too.”

  I smoothed my hand over his forehead and down the back of his skull, chafing my palm over his short hair, never tired of feeling the velvet scrape against my palm.

  A mischievous smile played on his mouth. “Wait here.” Arranging his clothes back in place, he jogged down the hall. I pulled my pajama bottoms back on and was sitting on the couch, waiting for him to return. When he did, it was with a small box wrapped in Christmas paper.

  I pointed at it with a frown. “What’s that? No fair. We already exchanged presents.”

  “I have one more for you. I wanted to give it to you alone.”

  “You shouldn’t have done that. I didn’t get you anything else.”

  He looked solemnly into my eyes. “Yes. You did. You do. You give me something every day.”

  My throat thickened with emotion.

  “Now c’mon.” He thrust it into my hands. “Open it, would you?”

  I stared at the box and then back at him. He sat anxiously, his hand tapping on his knee. Smiling, I kissed him, beyond amazed that I had him in my life. And horrified that I had almost let him walk away.

  I tore into the package. It was just a plain brown box, the kind you find at any office supply store. Turning it, I opened the lid, and peered inside. My hand closed around papers. Pulling them out, I scanned them uncomprehendingly for a moment. And then the words registered.

  I dropped the papers and gawked at him. “We’re going to Disney World for New Year’s?”

  He nodded and I screamed. Just like every kid in those commercials, I freaked. Throwing my arms around his neck, I hugged him in a death squeeze.

  Pulling back, I rained kisses all over his face. “How . . . why . . . ?”

  “I remember you telling me about the Montgomerys going all the time and that you had never been. You had that poster in your room, and it just felt like something you really wanted to do.”

  “And now I am going to do it. With you.” I shook my head, emotion clogging my throat. “You’re the best boyfriend ever.”

  Yeah, he loved me. Totally and completely. Even knowing my past and all my hang-ups. That was huge in itself, but he got me. He understood me.

  He cupped my cheek, that sexy smile of his taking hold of me. “This from a girl who only wanted foreplay from me and nothing more.”

  I turned my face to kiss his palm. “But now I want all of you. Everything.”

  He pulled me onto his lap and wrapped his arms around me. “Good. Because that’s what you got.”

  About the Author

  SOPHIE JORDAN is the international and New York Times bestselling author of the Firelight series and Avon romances. When she’s not writing, she spends her time overloading on caffeine (lattes preferred), talking plotlines with anyone who will listen (including her kids), and cramming her DVR with true-crime and reality-TV shows.

  Visit www.AuthorTracker.com for exclusive information on your favorite HarperCollins authors.

  Also by Sophie Jordan

  HISTORICAL ROMANCE

  How to Lose a Bride in One Night

  The Earl in My Bed (Novella)

  Lessons from a Scandalous Bride

  Wicked in Your Arms

  Wicked Nights with a Lover

  In Scandal They Wed

  Sins of a Wicked Duke

  Surrender to Me

  One Night with You

  Too Wicked to Tame

  Once upon a Wedding Night

  THE FIRELIGHT SERIES

  Breathless (Novella)

  Hidden

  Vanish

  Firelight

  Copyright

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  FOREPLAY. Copyright © 2013 by Sharie Kohler. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.

  FIRST EDITION

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Jordan, Sophie.

  Foreplay / Sophie Jordan. -- First edition.

  pages cm.—(The Ivy Chronicles ; Book 1)

  ISBN 978-0-06-227987-3

  1. Love stories. 2. College stories. I. Title.

  PS3610.O66155F67 2013

  813’.6--dc23

  2013017069

  EPUB Edition November 2013 ISBN 9780062279880

  13 14 15 16 17 OV/RRD 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

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