Total pages in book: 102
Estimated words: 100476 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 502(@200wpm)___ 402(@250wpm)___ 335(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 100476 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 502(@200wpm)___ 402(@250wpm)___ 335(@300wpm)
His words wash over me like a calming breeze.
“I wasn’t always this scared,” I tell him, needing him to know I’m more than what Ryan reduced me to.
He studies my face up close. I crave to run my fingertips along his scruffy jaw. To loosen the knot of the tie he still wears. I want to kiss the strong column of muscle along his throat.
“Come to Campfire Chaos.” His green eyes flash with need that has my entire body trembling. “It’ll be fun.”
“You just want to punish me,” I remind him, but no longer afraid.
His grin stretches across his handsome face, wolfish and devious. “I do, English. But my kind of punishment is the kind you’ll enjoy.”
I arch a brow. “Is that so? In case you didn’t notice, I’m not mentally equipped for any more psychological or physical torment in this lifetime.”
He rubs his thumb—still wet from my tear—across my bottom lip, tugging it aside and exposing my teeth. “What about sexual torment?” he taunts. “Are you mentally equipped for that?”
With Ryan, fuck no.
With Cal…
Warmth spreads down my spine and pools in my pelvis. I can’t stop myself from gripping his tie, drawing him nearer to me.
“What would that entail?” I whisper against his lips.
“A safe word, for one,” he growls, stepping closer so that his body is flush with mine. One of his hands leaves my face to cup my ass through my jeans. “Probably a lot of orgasm denial too.”
“Cruel bastard,” I tease.
“I might even spank this.” His cock jolts against my stomach when he squeezes my ass. “I always wanted to spank a cheerleader.”
I scoff. “Ex-cheerleader.”
“Whatever, you’re still hot.”
A smile creeps across my face. “I am?”
“Stop fishing for compliments, Charlie girl. You already have a big enough head.”
At this, I laugh. “I do not.”
“Don’t worry, mine’s big too.” He rotates his hips, letting me feel just how big that head is.
“What’s with the whole Charlie girl thing anyway?”
His lips press together as though he doesn’t want to explain. After a huff, he rattles out something that feels like a lie. “Sounds nicer than loser, loser.”
Hmmm.
“Since when are you nice, Cal?”
A growl rumbles in his throat. “I told you you’re only allowed to call me Cal if you’re riding on my dick.”
“There’s the mean boy I know,” I tease. “And maybe I was about to go for that ride.”
His lips crash to mine—hot and violently. It’s a good kind of cruelty, though. A vicious lashing of his tongue against mine, claiming and addictive. I can’t hide the moan that escapes me. He tastes sinful and heavenly all at once. A dichotomy of good and evil. A devilish hero. My moan is eager and drips with desperation. After all the horrors I’ve faced in the boyfriend department, it’s nice to be consumed with such fiery want. Cal, ever the bad boy player, slides his hand up under the hem of my shirt, grazing the skin on my lower back with his fingertips. I suck in a sharp breath. He pulls from our kiss, his glowing green eyes pinning me in place.
“Safe word.”
“I don’t need a safe—”
“Fucking hell, Charlotte. Just give me a safe word. You make me crazy, goddammit, and I need a leash. I need something for you to yank on when I lose control with you.”
It’s spoken like a threat, but alights every single one of my nerve endings with need.
“Chaos.”
He smirks, his lips quirking up on one side. “I’m still going to make your life a living hell. This thing between us is just a part of that deal.”
The deal I made with the devil?
“But you’re a Hoodlum now,” he says with a deviant grin that melts my insides. “And you’ll like every single filthy second of it.”
I should be afraid of what someone like Cal Hutton has to offer a girl like me. He’s older and meaner. A hot playboy who never commits. Danger lurks behind his amused eyes. The warning signs are there. They were with Ryan.
Apparently I have a type.
I swallow down my fears and lift my chin. “Don’t let me down.”
His gaze darkens. “I’m not like him.”
“I hope not.”
“What would you do if I was?” he demands, his green eyes going wild and darting from my eyes to my lips. “Would you take it like you did with him? Would you let me ruin your life? Would you let me shred that heart of yours and destroy your mind?”
Each whip of his words isn’t meant to hurt. It’s meant to stoke the fire inside me.
“Chaos,” I clip out the safe word, testing it on my tongue.
“Is this you running from a conversation? Telling me your limits?” His eyes search mine, an unreadable glint in them. “Or is this a promise of the devastation of your claws?”
“Only time will tell, Cal,” I murmur, gripping his hard cock between us over his jeans. “Now take me home so you can ask my mother about Friday. You want to punish me, then you’re going to have to earn it the hard way.”