Total pages in book: 47
Estimated words: 46733 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 234(@200wpm)___ 187(@250wpm)___ 156(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 46733 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 234(@200wpm)___ 187(@250wpm)___ 156(@300wpm)
Banner Barret is thirty-nine years old and six feet two inches of pure muscle, with intense eyes and the sort of confidence most men could only dream of.
It was a mistake, and I get that. He only did it – almost did it – because he was drunk.
But now it’s a year later, and dad’s getting married in a tropical island paradise. Banner’s going to be there as the best man, taking a break from his work overseas.
I know nothing can ever happen.
I’m nineteen, obsessed with dogs, and not exactly the come-get-me type. Oh, and I’m a virgin.
But the first night I arrive, everything changes.
I find myself alone with Banner.
“I wasn’t drunk. That was a lie. I just knew it would be wrong. But I can’t hold back anymore. I need you, Brooke.”
When he kisses me, it feels magical. It feels like the start of something.
But we can’t ruin dad’s wedding. We can’t make it about us.
So we make a deal.
Using the phones the travel company provides, we’ll text each other.
Just text. Nothing more.
But as the long weekend progresses and the texting becomes steamier and more intimate, it becomes more and more difficult to resist the real thing…
*************FULL BOOK START HERE*************
CHAPTER 1
Brooke
My belly swirls as we approach the island, but not from sea sickness. The boat moves calmly across the waves, and the small engine is chugging. Dad looks over at me with a big smile, happier than I’ve seen him in years.
The sea is blue-green all around us. The sand of the island – off the coast of New Zealand – shines golden. The trees beyond are the most vivid green I’ve ever laid my eyes on, beautiful, beckoning to us.
Beside me, Mila and Sonya sit together.
Sonya’s going to be my stepmom in three days when she and dad have their wedding ceremony on the beach at sunset. Sonya and dad have talked about it since the wedding planning began.
I try to take it all in, but my belly keeps churning, thoughts going to Banner, over and over.
To dad’s best friend. His best man.
I try not to think about the last time I saw him on my eighteenth birthday. Banner and I, by chance, found each other in a secluded corner with nobody watching us. Banner stared at me with his deep green eyes and that captivating smirk on his lips.
He tilted his head as though seeing me for the first time. I had to warn myself to calm down.
My silly teenage crush was just that – silly, something a kid indulges in.
But right then, as Banner moved closer, his muscles bulging through his shirt, his musky scent surrounding me, I knew it was real. I knew there was something between us.
All my hoping, daydreaming, praying he would one day notice me….
He finally did, and then he leaned down as if to kiss me.
We didn’t even exchange any words. We hadn’t spoken all night, but I felt him watching me as I blew out my candles. I felt his gaze burning over my skin, making every inch hot, ready for him.
And then dad’s voice rose from across the open air, laughing as he made a joke, and Banner stepped back. He shook his head slowly.
“I’m sorry,” he said. “I’ve had one too many beers.”
I felt like my rib cage was crushing my heart as he turned and walked away, leaving me to stare at his broad back.
When he returned to the party – walking across a short bridge, over a pond, and back to the main area – I stayed where I was, staring into the water. I imagined it shimmering and showing me what could’ve happened.
I saw him grabbing me, squeezing me possessively, pulling me near like he couldn’t tolerate having me anywhere else. I felt our lips connecting, his tongue sending pleasure through my lips.
I felt his manhood pushing against my belly.
But no, none of that happened. It’s only in my head.
He had too much to drink…his words…and maybe, for a split second, he thought I looked attractive. But then it passed.
Sometimes, I wonder if he stopped because he knew how wrong it would be. Perhaps he had a problem with the age thing. I was eighteen at the time. He was thirty-eight, but I didn’t have a problem with the age difference.
I wanted to drag my fingernails through his silver hair, wanted to wrap my arms around him, and squeeze onto his solid, experienced body.
It’s not like I can ask him.
He left ten minutes after the near kiss…the mistake, the temptation. And then, his work as a management consultant took him abroad for a year.
But he’s going to be here at the wedding. He’s arriving with the others later today as the sun sets, and that just makes my belly feel like butterflies are fighting to get out.
He’s going to surge across the ocean, the startlingly bright sunlight catching the steel color in his hair, tempting me, making me think silly, impossible things.
“Are you okay, Brooke?” Dad asks.
I force a smile. He’s wearing a shirt, open at the collar, his gray hair combed to the side, and the lines on his face crease as he answers my smile. There’s so much happiness whelming inside him. It is so obvious to anybody who looks at him, but I could shatter all that.
I could tell him his best man almost kissed me a year ago.
But I’d never do that.
Banner was drunk. That’s all. He wouldn’t look at me twice while sober.
“I’m fine,” I say. “Excited.”
“Me too.” Dad’s gaze moves past me to Sonya. “I can’t wait.”
I turn to Mila, my future stepsister, and Sonya. Dad and Sonya actually met through Mila and me. We became friends in high school, and then, over the course of a few years, as dad dealt with grief for mom, they finally connected.
Sonya is tall and glamorous, her model-like legs folded and her head held aloft, her wavy blonde hair spilling out of her wide-brimmed hat. People who don’t know her think she’s distant or superior, but that’s far from the truth.