Total pages in book: 157
Estimated words: 155900 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 780(@200wpm)___ 624(@250wpm)___ 520(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 155900 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 780(@200wpm)___ 624(@250wpm)___ 520(@300wpm)
It was tucked into the fitted jeans she wore. Jeans that hugged the slight flare of her hips.
Every line of that face defined, a carving of beauty, her jaw rigid and held in her sweet volatility.
My stomach twisted with the way those pink, plump lips looked like someone had just kissed the fuck out of her.
Swollen and ripe.
I itched, overcome with a swell of possession.
The errant thought hitting me that I wanted every single one of those kisses to belong to me.
So wayward and faulty that I had no clue what the fuck had come over me.
But more than all of that?
It was the energy she emitted that had me trapped. This thing that made me feel like she was supposed to be right here, right now.
“No, not my favorite thing.” Her voice was shaky and shallow.
I let a grin hitch the edge of my mouth. “Trust me, beautiful, I’m about to change that.”
Anticipation twisted my guts in a fist of greed when Emery took three tentative steps forward as she mumbled, “You’re awfully confident.”
“Simply know what I have to offer.”
Mostly the way I wanted to make that body come alive in a thousand different ways.
Watch her glow and shine.
Wipe the fear away.
She approached my bike like it might reach out and bite her.
I stretched out a hand, trying to remind myself that getting her alone wasn’t what this was about.
This was going back to the questions she evoked when she’d shown up at my door. Questions it felt critical to get the answers to.
She’d been there for a reason, and not because she’d been lost.
Maybe it’d been simply because she was looking for me. And fuck, some flawed spot inside me wanted her to do it.
Find me.
Completely.
I almost laughed.
Some flawed spot?
Like my entire fucking life wasn’t flawed?
Treacherous and grim?
One step away, Emery paused. Those entrancing, toffee-kissed eyes swirled with uncertainty.
All the playfulness I’d been fronting drained away. “This bike is an extension of me, Emery. You don’t have to be afraid.”
Skepticism filled her huff. “That probably gives me all the more reason to be.”
I could feel her trembling as she carefully lifted her leg so she could swing it over. I helped her, shifting around the best that I could to guide her onto the seat.
She settled on it with three inches of space separating us.
I took the handlebars again, kicking the bike over and shouting over the roar, “You’re going to want to wrap those arms around me and hold on tight.”
When I pulled back on the throttle to rev it, she surged forward, doing exactly that.
Holding on with all her might, those delicate arms wrapped so snug around my waist I could hardly breathe.
Or maybe it was just the feel of her against my back that was stealing the air.
That body plastered against mine, her small tits and her ravaging heart and her quivering thighs.
My right hand clamped down on the top of her right leg, and she nearly jumped two feet in the air. “I’ve got you, Emery. Just hold on. Won’t let anything happen to you.”
She had her cheek pressed between my shoulders, and I didn’t even know how I heard it since the words barely broke the air.
Maybe I just felt them knitting into my flesh.
Their weight when she released them between my shoulder blades over my shirt.
“Why am I supposed to trust you?”
She had no reason to.
Hell, she shouldn’t at all.
And still, I settled my hand over hers that were locked on the front of my abdomen, voice low when I muttered, “Because I mean it. I’ve got you.”
I wanted to. The way I’d wanted to last night. The way I’d wanted to erase the sorrow that had her chained.
Gripping the handlebars, I backed the bike out of the spot with my boots, then I pulled back on the throttle and took us to the street.
She squeezed tight. Tighter than she should be able to.
The feel of her everywhere. Dainty arms and slim thighs and delicious scent.
Nothing but fresh orange blossoms. A morning glory under the sun.
I reveled in it the whole time I drove us the short distance to Kane’s.
It was scarcely more than a mile, and two minutes later, I slowed and pulled into the lot at my club.
I eased my bike up along the side wall that was reserved for motorcycles. Not that there was anyone else around other than a few employees prepping for tonight.
Kane’s didn’t open until seven, so we’d have plenty of privacy.
I kicked the stand and killed the engine.
Emery kept clinging to me like she’d gotten locked that way. Arms bands that wouldn’t give. Like she didn’t know how to let go.
Or maybe she worried if she did, she’d have to face whatever had brought her to my door.
“That wasn’t so bad, was it?” I asked.
“Speak for yourself,” she grumbled.