Series: Fever Falls Series by Riley Hart
Total pages in book: 101
Estimated words: 96922 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 485(@200wpm)___ 388(@250wpm)___ 323(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 96922 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 485(@200wpm)___ 388(@250wpm)___ 323(@300wpm)
“Well, if you can’t see me or hear me, then I guess the guy looking for Jace the Ace up front is gonna have to deal.”
“Here at the station?” I asked.
“Want me to scare him off?”
I rolled my eyes. “Another pap?”
“Pap?” Zed asked. “Who the hell do you think you are? Adam Levine?”
“Let me have my fifteen minutes.”
“Eh, come on now, man,” Beau said. “You’re taking up way more than fifteen minutes.”
“Screw you. But I got it. I’ll go give this guy the shake.”
“What kind of shake are we talking about here?” Zed asked, offering a quick jerk of his hand to simulate a hand job.
“Get your mind out of the gutter, Zed.”
“Hard to when your mind is crowding everywhere else.”
“Ah, you’re a fast learner, kid. We’re gonna get along just fine.” I patted him on the back before heading out the dual doors leading through the hall to the main lobby.
Pushing through the lobby doors, I rounded the corner to see a man standing behind the front desk, sunglasses on and wearing a black leather biker jacket with vertical zipper pockets on either side. His dark hair was gelled to the side, and a thin layer of scruff speckled his face, uneven enough to be either a five-o’clock shadow or a tailored unkempt look. Whatever it was, it was sexy as hell.
I knew a hot guy when I saw one, and it never made me uneasy or shut down the way some guys did over a little male-on-male appreciation.
“Hey, stud,” I said as I approached him, and he shifted about like he was confused before turning to me.
What the fuck is he doing wearing sunglasses inside?
I struggled to imagine what his eyes might look like. Blue, I figured. Or maybe green. Both would have complemented that sexy face.
“You must be Jace Kruse,” he said.
I’d had every intention of telling him to fuck off, but this guy, for some reason, intrigued me. At the very least, I didn’t want to chase that pretty mug of his away. Not just yet.
I leaned so the small of my back rested against the desk. Folding my arms, I gave him a once-over, but I couldn’t help myself and immediately after gave him a twice-over.
“You from some paper or blog? Want an interview, I guess?”
He snickered as though I’d insulted him, which only made me more curious about what he was doing here. But something else was driving me crazy.
“You always wear sunglasses inside?” I asked.
“Oh shit. I hadn’t even thought about it.”
He removed them, and I immediately blurted out, “Oh, hazel!”
“What?” His thick eyebrows pulled together.
What the fuck am I saying?
“I was thinking maybe you had blue or green eyes, but these suit you even better.”
He didn’t seem any less puzzled by my remark, but I didn’t fucking care because damn, he was a hot motherfucker.
What the hell was I thinking? I’d never gotten like this with a guy before.
But something about him was intriguing as hell, especially as he gazed at me through narrowed eyes, inspecting my expression as though trying to sort something out about me.
I winked at him, adding, “Sorry, I just say whatever I’m thinking. I’m an open book, the guys always say.”
“Not as open as you might think,” he remarked, and we stared each other down like we were both trying to figure the other out.
Was he gay?
The way he assessed me made me think, perhaps, or at least bi…
What did it even matter, though? It wasn’t as if we would have done anything.
“So…I take it you didn’t come all the way down to the station so we could stare at each other all day?”
“You’re apparently not that easy to get ahold of, so this was my only option. I swung by your place first, but your neighbor Amy told me you were here.”
“I’m surprised. Amy’s been good about not telling anyone shit.”
“Well, I initially tried to bribe her, but she told me I could go fuck myself and my goddamned money and that it was a waste of my time coming down here because you were just going to tell me to go to hell anyway.”
“Oh, I see you made a good impression on Amy,” I said with a laugh, imagining her telling him off. “She gets kind of protective.”
“She’s quite something.”
“Yeah, eighty-three has definitely made her speak her mind. But I can’t say she’s wrong. So, you’re not here from the media? You’re not looking for an interview or anything?”
“More a business proposition. If we could go somewhere a little more private?”
“Well, now you’re just flirting.”
“What? No…”
He seemed totally thrown, like he couldn’t take a fucking joke. “I’m kidding. But I need to get back to work, and I’d like to chat with you some more, so why don’t we meet up to discuss this…proposition of yours.”