Read Because You Love Me (Falling for You, Book Three) for Free Online

her head back as she arched into the kiss. This kiss was so much more than apologies, we found each other; stripped and bare and open. When I let go, my lips hovering above hers, I knew I couldn't wait one more second.
    "I love you, Penny."
    Her eyes flew open, her arms shooting up as she gripped me like my words almost knocked her out flat. "I just want you to know that I almost said, ‘you do?’ but I realized that I don't want the first time that you said ‘I love you’ to be followed by some stupid rhetorical question." She winced. "And now, until the end of time, the first time you told me that you loved me, I rambled on like an idiot instead of just saying what's in my heart." She gave her head a shake and cleared her throat like she was getting a do-over. She crooked a finger and beckoned me to come closer. She pressed her lips against mine. Her kiss was my answer, but just in case I missed it, her lips raced across my jaw and pecked my ear. "I love you too." She lowered her feet flat on the ground, looking up at me with the same spunk that had first tugged at my heartstrings and ignited an insatiable desire to have my way with her. "Man, if all of our arguments are going to end with a kiss, we should argue all the time."
    "Oh, we're not done arguing," I teased. There was another need that was making being this close to her, fully clothed, no longer an acceptable state of being. I beckoned her this time, moving to the couch. She was right behind me, but I held out a hand that stopped her in her tracks.
    "Certainly you were aware that making me wait and blow up your phone would come with some consequences." My cock stirred with anticipation. When she dropped her caramel eyes to my groin, then her cheeks flushed when she dashed back up like she’d done something naughty, I had to rein in the desire to say the hell with it and fuck her on the counter. There would be time for that. Right now, I wanted her to follow my explicit instructions. I wanted her to surrender to me so I could give her indescribable pleasure.
    "C-consequences?" It wasn't apprehension that kept her at a safe distance. I saw the way her hands trembled, her fingers toying with the hem of her shirt. She wanted to tear off her clothes and get to the good part. Deliciously insatiable, just like me. The other half I didn't know I was missing. The one thing I couldn't live without.
    "Consequences," I said firmly, collecting myself as something a little taboo, a little kinky teased my imagination. "Take off your leggings-nothing else-and come lie across my lap."

Chapter Five: Penny
    I almost asked him to repeat himself, even though I'd heard him loud and clear. I'd been listening since I brought the phone to my ear in the lobby. His timing had been spot on. I had just marched into his apartment building like I not only deserved to walk on the marble floors, but like I was a very important person, on very important business. My kick butt state of mind fell flat when I came face-to-face with a security guard who gave me a look that told me he had no problem sending me packing. I gave him Xander's name, and I had a feeling he must have been the cream of the crop because the guard's dark eyebrows had perked and he sat a little taller and informed me that all guests had to be approved by Mr. Wade daily, and his list was blank. The whole ‘I'm his girlfriend’ thing didn't even faze him—and then my phone cut through the silence. I dug through my purse and answered it without even thinking...and remembered that Xander had been calling all day and I’d been ignoring it. What would I say to explain myself? What could I say?
    My brain had run through every scenario for why he was calling. The first was that he called one last time just to tell me to fuck off. Or he’d laugh when I asked to come up, telling me I was eight hours too late. Silence was the most painful hypothetical, especially since up until the phone call he’d texted and left messages asking