Total pages in book: 67
Estimated words: 62620 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 313(@200wpm)___ 250(@250wpm)___ 209(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 62620 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 313(@200wpm)___ 250(@250wpm)___ 209(@300wpm)
“How’d you find out about that?” he asks.
“Nora told me,” I say. “She’s friends with your new boss. Congrats by the way. I’m happy for you. That’s a great gig.”
“Thanks. It is great,” he says as he pulls me against him, setting off a tingle explosion inside of me. “But you know what’s not great? Making out with family members.”
“We’re not actually related,” I say, my voice now so whisper thin, I sound like I’m doing a Marilyn Monroe impression.
“Close enough,” he counters. “This could get real messy, real quick. If Barrett thinks I’ve hurt you, he’ll rip my face off first and ask questions later.”
“I wouldn’t let him rip your face off,” I hear myself say, shocked by my own boldness. “I’d tell him it was my fault. I started it, and I knew exactly what I was getting into.”
“Do you?” His head bends closer to mine, making it even harder to breathe. “Tell me, Starling. What do you think you’re getting into?”
“You’re looking for a good time, not a long time,” I whisper, my cheeks burning, making me glad it’s too dark for him to see my face. “But since you’re leaving in a month or so anyway, that’s not really an issue. And I’m not looking for a long time, either right now. I just want…”
His lips move nearer still as he murmurs, “What do you want?”
I suck in a breath, my heart pounding like Stinkerbelle’s was this morning when I carried her to her section of the kennel for the first time. The skunk was terrified to be surrounded by so many natural predators, unable to understand or take comfort in the fact that the cats and dogs couldn’t get to her through the bars of her cage.
Why my heart is about to fracture a rib is a little less straightforward, but I think it has something to do with the primal certainty that after tonight, nothing is going to be the same. Not just between me and Christian, but between me and the world of men, women, and the mysterious things that go on behind bedroom doors.
I’m on the verge of learning the secrets of sex from a full-fledged master.
A Jedi of Fucking (if you will).
Can I, a lowly Padawan hope to hold my own with this man?
Probably not, but that doesn’t stop me from whispering, “I want…you.”
He draws me even closer, until every inch of me is pressed against every inch of him, including the solid bulge behind the fly of his jeans. It feels so good that my head starts to spin and every drop of blood in my body rushes to my tingling core.
I lift my chin, bringing my lips closer to his while my racing pulse becomes a whooshing sound in my head. A whooshing so loud that I don’t hear the soft whimpering by my feet until something tugs at the bottom of my sweatpants like the ghost of a Victorian child, determined to get my attention.
I scream into Christian’s face, he pulls back sharply enough to stumble and hit his head on the filing cabinet behind him, while, on the floor, something small and furry screeches in terror as it dashes over my feet.
Chapter Four
CHRISTIAN
“Oh my God, I’m so sorry!” Starling reaches for my arm, giving my bicep a squeeze. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine. All good,” I say.
In truth, my head is throbbing, and I may never hear out of my left ear again, but this is a good thing. If Starling hadn’t burst my eardrum and startled me into giving myself a mild concussion, I would have kissed her.
And I should never kiss her.
I was just running through all the reasons hooking up with Starling is a terrible idea less than an hour ago. It’s still a terrible idea, no matter how good she smells or how perfect she feels or how excited my cock was about getting her out of those wet sweatpants and spread open for me on the nearest flat surface.
My cock continues to throb behind the fly of my jeans. He insists we can make this work, that whatever scared her can be explained away and he can make her scream for much more exciting, orgasmic reasons, but I ignore him, determined to get the fuck out of here without fucking Starling.
It’s what’s best for both of us.
“I’m so sorry,” she says again. “Something was tugging on my sweatpants, then it ran over my foot. I think one of the animals is out of their kennel. Probably Hokey Pokey or one of her babies. I told the temp filling in for Sheila today that hedgehogs are too small to be put in the kennel, even in the smallest enclosure, but she didn’t listen. I don’t think she’s a real animal lover. Furry Friends might just be a job to her.”