Total pages in book: 26
Estimated words: 25205 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 126(@200wpm)___ 101(@250wpm)___ 84(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 25205 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 126(@200wpm)___ 101(@250wpm)___ 84(@300wpm)
“That’s–a little tight–” I say, but he’s got a real tight grip on me. I try to struggle politely, but it’s useless. He’s drunk and has zero class. I’m screwed.
And that’s when I see him. No way.
It’s Nash.
Standing in front of us, backlit by the fire, his muscled physique towering against the trees like a Greek god.
“Hands off, punk,” he growls. His arms are crossed over his chest, accentuating his bulging biceps beneath his oil-stained T-shirt. He’s wearing a scowl that says I’ll rip the throat out of anyone who touches her.
For a second, Arthur looks like he’s going to step up to Nash–which would be a monumentally terrible idea. But he glances at me, then back to Nash, and thinks better of it. “All right, pal. No problem. I just met the bitch–”
A hard slap to the face from Nash shuts him up and sends him sprawling to the grass. “Watch your mouth around the lady.”
Emily gasps, and the next thing I know, Nash has my hand in his and is pulling me away into the woods.
My heart is pounding in my ears. My cheeks are on fire. Goosebumps have broken out all over my body, and I’m absolutely shaking with adrenaline. Holy moly, that was hot!
“How are you here!?” I hiss as my legs move automatically. I hear Emily call after me and wave a hand to let her know I’m okay.
“I was parked by the lake relaxing when these kids all showed up,” he replies. “Did you run home and then come back out so you could tempt me again?”
I open my mouth, but no words come out. He stops and looks down at me. I didn’t really notice until now just how tall he is. He’s well over six feet. “You know, you practically glow under the moonlight,” he says, his eyes traveling down my halter top, which now feels very short and very low.
“I–I had no idea you’d be here, Nash,” I stammer, feeling extremely vulnerable.
He flashes a wolfish grin. “Oh, no? So this was just a coincidence, Grace?” he asks, his hand brushing against mine, just enough to set a spark to a fire beneath my skin. “Your car breaks down at my shop and then you show up here tonight, looking like a wet dream, and I’m just supposed to believe that’s a coincidence?”
I shrug, feeling frozen in place. I’m tingling all over. “I–I needed to get out of the house.”
That’s not a lie. It’s not the whole truth either. The whole reason I needed to get out of the house was because I couldn’t stop thinking about him.
He leans down–closer. Closer. Until his lips nearly brush against my ear. “You wanted out of the house, or you want to come to my house?”
His question nearly breaks me. I suck in a deep breath and fight against how badly I want to tell him he’s right. I want to scream at him to take me. Do whatever he wants with me. Feelings I’ve never felt before are racing through me, threatening to take me over. My brain will just not shut up.
This is crazy. I only just met this man today. We don’t even know each other!
“I shouldn’t be here,” I stammer, turning away.
But Nash grabs my wrist. Not hard enough to hurt but just enough to hold me in place. “No. Don’t run away, Grace.”
My pulse pounds like a drum. “I’m not running–”
“Yes you are,” he growls. “I saw it in your eyes the moment we met, princess. That built-in flight response. I scare you, but not because I am scary. Because you’re scared of how much you want me.”
I shake my head in a pathetic attempt to deny the truth. But Nash pulls me closer–so close our chests almost touch. If they did, he’d feel how hard my nipples are, which he can probably already see through my shirt.
“Don’t think about it, princess,” he says. “Just give yourself over to me. Let me take care of everything.”
My lips part on their own, and he looks down at them, the muscles in his neck and jaw flexing.
“We just met,” I tell him. “I should not want this…”
“But you do.”
He’s right. And I hate that he’s right. My thighs are soaked, my breathing is erratic, and my mind is fogged over with desperate lust.
“I need to go,” I whisper, unable to look at him any longer. The veins on his biceps pull at me with an unseen force.
“No, you don’t, Grace.”
His rough hand slips around to the small of my back, guiding me around the dark side of a tree, into the shadows. We’re even more alone now. My heart is about to burst. I’m going to faint.
“Nash–”
“Shhh,” he says gently, brushing a strand of my hair behind my ear. “I won’t do anything you don’t want, Grace. But you can’t lie to me. You have to tell me the truth. Don’t stand there quivering like a leaf and tell me you don’t want me to touch you.”