The Partner Plot (The Greene Sisters, #2)

by Kristina Forest

He couldn’t take back breaking her heart. But he could give her this, his embrace. His care and undivided attention while she was here.

Her thigh was wrapped around Xavier’s hip, his hand settled on her waist. Her face was in the crook of his neck, and her lips were at the base of his throat. She could feel the thudding of his pulse. They used to sleep like this so often as teenagers, huddled together in her twin-size bed. She leaned away and looked at his face. He was fast asleep, his lips slightly parted. He looked peaceful. Her fever had broken, thankfully, but a different kind of heat flooded her body, being pressed against him this way.

She wanted him to come back to bed so that she could touch him again.

“You need to stick to the BRAT diet. Bananas, rice, applesauce and toast.”

She thought of the many times she’d let him sneak into her room in the middle of the night, and how thrilling it had felt to watch him climb up toward her.

Hearing Xavier praise Shalia’s cooking made Violet grimace. Then she cringed, realizing that her annoyance was rooted in nonsensical jealousy.

She stared at his lips and large hands. The hands that had cradled her and checked her temperature countless

times over the last couple of days. She noticed the way laugh lines appeared around his mouth when he smiled.

He glanced up at Violet and caught her looking at him. Then he winked.

What had changed? Since he’d cared for her, she now felt more at ease in his presence. Those pesky butterflies began to swarm in her stomach again. Oh no. This was bad. Bad bad bad.

She was so grateful, she could kiss him. God, listen to her. Over a bag of chips!

I figure someone has to keep the salt-and-vinegar-chip people in business.”

He hadn’t left her because he’d fallen out of love or because he’d thought she was an inattentive girlfriend.

I’m so proud of you, Violet.”

He brought her hand up to his lips and kissed her knuckles.

They fit together like Tetris pieces.

They’d been sleeping together every night for a little over a week. They didn’t do anything besides cuddle.

It meant that he woke up with blue balls every morning,

Waking up with her curled against his chest was his favorite...

where a bouquet of violets waited for him.

Even though she was no longer sick, she slept a lot. He figured she must have needed the rest, given how hectic her life usually seemed.

Her face lit up, and his heart squeezed.

They might have easily embraced each other at night, but what were their rules in the light of day? In the end, he hugged her and breathed deeply when she wrapped her arms around him. Her hair smelled like the citrusy shampoo she used.

The force of his grin could power an entire city.

Violet wished she could be there too, but oddly . . . she found that she wasn’t so frustrated by her current situation anymore. She liked getting a full eight hours of sleep and the luxury of afternoon naps. She hadn’t felt the bone-weary fatigue in weeks. Was this what it felt like to be fully rested?

She suddenly felt Xavier’s hands at her waist, steadying her.

Violet definitely wasn’t as successful, but she wasn’t going to give up, because every time she swung, Xavier held his hands at her waist to keep her balanced, and she found herself craving his touch more and more, anticipating the moment when he leaned down and lightly teased her right before she swung.

He resumed his spot behind her, hands at her waist. She hit her ball and could not care less where it landed. She was too focused on Xavier’s nearness.

He drew her attention in a way that no one else had ever managed to do.

His deep voice enveloped her ear. “The right person?”

Her nerves were on fire. Her thoughts were a tangled web filled with images of Xavier’s mouth hovering above hers. She squeezed her thighs together, praying that the ache in her body would magically disappear, yet simultaneously wishing it stayed.

“Violet,” he said, his voice low. Just her name. A possibility. An invitation.

One hand slid to the nape of her neck, holding her closer.

tonguing her mouth so languidly, she felt boneless and too aroused to function.

He groaned and gripped her tighter.

Yes! Her thirsty brain screamed. Finally!

his expression so filled with longing, it made her think many indecent thoughts

What were she and Xavier thinking kissing in his car like that?

What a firecracker you’ve got there!

Then he noticed the wooden coffee table, which was carved into the silhouette of a naked woman. If he didn’t know any better, he’d say the table was modeled after Violet’s body.

I’ve spent nine years trying to fill the gap that you left behind,

She gazed at him, simultaneously seeing the magnetic boy she’d fallen in love with long ago and the grounded man who captivated her now.

Kissing him felt so good, so exhilarating.

Her fingers went lower, brushing against his hardness, and he groaned.

She rocked her hips against his, and he brought her left breast to his mouth, kissing softly and then sucking before moving on to her right breast. She loved the way he touched her with such reverence, like she was cherished. When his attentive lips on her breasts made her stimulated beyond control, she pulled on his sweatshirt.

In a slow, torturous rhythm, she moved her hand up and down.

The angle and pace enveloped her in pleasure. It was almost too much to handle. She moaned in his ear, and his thrusts grew more erratic.

his thumb to rub her slowly between her legs as he continued his relentless strokes. She stood no chance when he touched her that way,

how silly yet comfortable he looked sitting beside her.

he’d reached the spot between her legs, using his tongue to kiss her deeper. She moaned as he lifted one of her legs, propping it on his shoulder for better access.