Total pages in book: 95
Estimated words: 90642 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 453(@200wpm)___ 363(@250wpm)___ 302(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 90642 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 453(@200wpm)___ 363(@250wpm)___ 302(@300wpm)
I shouldn’t be fucking hard right now.
Except I am very fucking hard.
“I know that,” she says, and I can smell her breath. It’s minty and clean, and I wonder what her tongue would feel like against mine.
I have to get these fucking thoughts out of my head.
This marriage isn’t about her. It’s about what my family needs. It’s about power and the Waterfront project and getting everything I’ve wanted.
It’s about living up to my father’s legacy.
When he passed last year, I thought everything was over. Dad left behind a mountain of debt and the fucking albatross of a development project. I figured without Dad, the Waterfront was finished, which meant all our investments would amount to nothing and we were doomed.
Until Simon Bianco approached me one afternoon and offered me a deal.
It’s a lifeline and a way forward. The girl isn’t important, and it doesn’t matter if I find her extremely attractive.
I need her family. I don’t need her.
“Then why are you here?” I press, trying not to let my anger show. I’m good at keeping my emotions in check. I swallow them up and shove them down and stomp on them until they’re little trash-compacted squares.
“I just wanted to see my future husband in person, okay? And look, there you are.” She squeezes my arm. She actually fucking squeezes my bicep like I’m a prize cow. Her mouth opens slightly and maybe I’ve lost my mind, but I think she likes it. “Yep, you’re real, totally real. So maybe I should go now.”
I lean into her, making sure she can’t get up without shoving me away. I stare into her face and make sure she understands that I am not fucking around right now, even though she seems to think this is a joke.
“I don’t want you to ruin this for me,” I say in a low whisper.
She reacts right away. Her chest puffs up and she pulls back. I give her space, still staring, still showing her no emotions, but inwardly I’m seething. I’m being a dick to her right now and I know it, but this deal is everything to me, and if she ruins it because she got fucking curious—
I don’t know how I’d explain that to my five siblings, my fucking grieving mother, and the dozens of lieutenants and captains that rely on my family’s power to keep them paid.
“I’m not really worried about you, Brody.”
My jaw ticks. “It took weeks to negotiate this deal with your brother, and I don’t want you to ruin it before it starts. Go home, Elena. We’ll meet when we’re supposed to meet.”
Yeah, now she’s pissed. Sweat’s sheening her beautiful skin and her cheeks turn bright red. Her nostrils flare, and her arms cross over her chest, pressing down on her breasts. I try not to glance at her chest and fail. I’m a fucking weak man, after all.
“You’re right, this was a mistake. I shouldn’t have come here.” She gets to her feet, inches away from me. I stand too and we’re jammed together in front of the door, both of us doing our best not to touch, which only makes the need to put my hands on her that much worse.
She’s fucking incredible. Those long, muscular legs, and her built body, her flat stomach, her ass like a globe. I want to bury my face in that ass. I want to watch the muscles on her back flex as she comes on my dick. I want that pretty, smart mouth wrapped around my dick while she moans and sucks me off into sweet goddamn oblivion.
Instead, I put a hand on the door and hold it shut.
“Understand something. We’re just a deal. I don’t care who you are, and you don’t care who I am. We’re doing this because it’s good for our families, right? So let’s not pretend like it’s anything else.”
She shuts down. Whatever glimmer was left in her eyes floods away, replaced by a cold stare. “Understood. Can you move, please?”
I pause, holding there for another second, then tear my hand away.
She shoves the door open and steps back into the main room.
Cold air floods around my skin. I follow her out and notice goosebumps covering her skin. Fuck, I want to run my fingers along those tiny ridges, just to feel her shiver. She hurries away toward the juice bar again, but stops and whirls on me, looking like fire and fucking brimstone.
“And just so you know, there is absolutely no reason to be such a prick right now, okay? It was great to meet you, Brody.”
She turns to storm off, but something dumb slips out of my mouth.
“It was nice to meet you too, wifey.”
She pauses, and I want to punch myself in the face.
What the fuck was that?
Am I trying to tease her right now?