Total pages in book: 19
Estimated words: 17835 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 89(@200wpm)___ 71(@250wpm)___ 59(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 17835 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 89(@200wpm)___ 71(@250wpm)___ 59(@300wpm)
I set the bottle down and breathed out slowly. Running my tongue along my bottom lip, I tasted the alcohol as I stared into his eyes. “Okay. What do you want to talk about?” I asked, proud of myself for keeping my voice calm and collected.
For long seconds he didn’t say anything, but the air changed around us. It became thick and hot, making it difficult for me to breathe.
“Us. You and me. The future.” He moved around the island until he was a foot from me. He was so much bigger than I was, taller and more muscular … all man. This moment seemed surreal, and although I’d fantasized about having him this close, the words that maybe he’d say moving between us, I also wasn’t a fool to think that this might be my reality right now. The chance that he would tell me that he cared about me, that he wanted me in the way that I wanted him, was pretty damn unbelievable.
But, no matter what he had to say, I could tell that it was serious.
“Us?” My voice did shake then as I tipped my head back and looked into his face. He nodded slowly and I swallowed, my throat so tight and dry despite having nearly finished off my beer.
My body still shook slightly, my skin still had goosebumps along it from his touch earlier. It had been so innocent, just a brush of his fingers along my shoulder as he pushed my hair to the side, but it had been so much more.
He nodded and I didn’t know what to say. I didn’t even know what he meant by “us.”
“I mean that there’s more going on between the two of us, don’t you think?”
It felt as though my heart was thundering, that I couldn’t even breathe right now. “What’s going on between us?” My voice was a whisper, a thread of noise.
“Oh, you know” was his response. He took a step closer until he was only an inch away. If I inhaled deeply I would brush my chest against his.
“I could tell you all the things I wanted to do to you, all the ways I wanted to make you mine…”
Is this real?
“But I’d much rather show you.”
God, it is real.
“Show me?” I felt like a record on repeat, saying what he said, but only in question form.
“Yeah, Calissa. Show you.” He lifted his hand and ran the pad of his finger over my bottom lip. Fire licked across my skin, claiming me, holding on until there was nothing left.
I found myself taking a step back, and then another and another, until I was in the hallway, the crowd of people outside hidden by the walls. The light above me was muted, casting shadows. Tex followed me the whole way, his big body blocking out everything and everyone behind him.
“Years, Calissa,” he said in that deep, husky voice of his.
“Years what?” I said, swallowing after I spoke, the words hanging between us for far too long.
“Years I’ve wanted you but held back.”
Oh. My. God.
I felt myself blinking rapidly. This was reality, right? Maybe I was stuck in one of my fantasies?
I’m ridiculous. Tex is right here with me. Right now. His body is close enough to mine that I can feel his body heat seeping into me.
“And I’m thinking you feel the same.”
Could I say it in return? Could I admit that I did want him, had for a long time? I couldn’t even speak right now, but my silence didn’t turn him away, didn’t scare him off.
“I’m older than you, Megs’ is my sister, and you probably don’t want to cross those lines.” He took a step closer to me and I pressed myself back against the wall.
“Crossing the lines has never bothered me before.” I swallowed the lump in my throat. “Breaking the rules runs in my blood.” God, did I just say that out loud?
He made this low sound deep in his throat. “Come home with me,” he said harshly, Megs and the others around the corner liable to find us in this compromising position. “I just want to talk, to really have us discuss what’s going on, what I want to happen between us.”
I licked my lips. “Talk?” That was the last thing I wanted, if I was being honest.
“We can do whatever you want. I just want to be alone with you, to tell you how I feel without some drunken asshole rounding the corner and saying something stupid.”
Anyone could see us, could walk into the hallway and see that Tex had me pressed up against the wall, his big body right up against mine, his dick hard as it prodded my belly.
“This is crazy,” I said, my breath soft, almost a whisper.
“It’s perfection.” He took a step to the side and looked me up and down, zeroing in on my belly. For long moments he didn’t stray his focus from my stomach, and I could see need laced in his face, a powerful expression that had me gasping. I braced my hands on the wall behind me, knowing what the look meant, knowing what he felt.