Total pages in book: 122
Estimated words: 117752 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 589(@200wpm)___ 471(@250wpm)___ 393(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 117752 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 589(@200wpm)___ 471(@250wpm)___ 393(@300wpm)
“He said you couldn’t have sex for a whole week. Me?” She lifted one of his hands, sliding it underneath her T-shirt to her already hard nipple. “I can have all the sex I want.”
“Holy Moses! How did I not know this was in Kentucky?” Crazy Bitch stared up in awe at the castle.
Calder grinned as he got off his bike. “Probably because, when you go to Lexington, you take the interstate. I only knew about it because I took the back way a few times. We lucked out; they had a cancellation.”
He unstrapped the small duffle bag that he had tied to the back of the bike. Stud had taken their suitcases with them in his van. Both he and Crazy Bitch had only kept a change of clothes for the next day.
After checking in, they scouted around the lobby, hoping something would lead to the next clue. Deciding to go to their room to drop the bag off, they went up the stairs.
As they were going up the steps, Calder recognized the man and woman coming down.
“Rider.” Calder held out his hand to shake The Last Rider’s hand.
“Calder, Crazy Bitch.”
He didn’t miss the appraising look that Crazy Bitch gave the biker, or the hostile one she gave the other woman.
Last night, when he had watched her give Shade the once-over, he had thought it was about time she had some of her own medicine.
He turned his eyes to the sexy woman by Rider’s side, about to introduce himself, when Crazy Bitch took his arm, going up another step.
“Later.”
“That wasn’t polite,” he mumbled as they continued up the stairs.
“I didn’t like the way you were looking at Jewel.”
“I don’t look the way you look at Shade, Knox, or Rider.”
Crazy Bitch didn’t say anything until they reached their room.
“I didn’t like the way you looked at Jewel, so I said something. If you don’t like the way I look at other men, say something. I’m not a fucking mind reader.”
Tossing his bag onto the bed, he angrily stalked to where she was standing by the door. “I don’t like it.”
“Then I won’t do it anymore. Satisfied?”
He placed his hands on the door, caging her in. “When I’m with you, I’m never satisfied. I always want more. I’m not even satisfied when I’m done fucking you. I’m not satisfied when you come on my tongue and don’t beg me for more. I’m not satisfied that, if I walked away from you, you wouldn’t give a flying fuck. You know what would satisfy me? You quit playing around with me like you’re expecting me to fuck up and give you an excuse to stop seeing me.”
“You are going to fuck up—that’s what men do!”
“Woman, you act like you’re made out of armor. The problem is, it may be protecting you, but it’s keeping me away.” He traced the line of her stubborn jaw with his thumb. “You don’t have to protect yourself from me. I’m so crazy about you that I’m jealous over every man you look at.”
“I don’t want you jealous.”
“What do you want?”
Her eyes shifted sideways. “I want you to say you like me.”
Calder was stunned at her simple request. She wanted what no one had given her before. His heart ached that the only thing she wanted didn’t cost a dime, yet to her, it was as valuable as gold.
“Anna-Kate, I like you a lot. In fact, I like you so much I’m falling in love with you.”
“You are?” The woman whom he had considered to be hard as stone gave him an uncertain smile.
“A hundred percent.”
“You can’t go any higher than a hundred percent.”
“No, you can’t. I guess that settles it then. I’m definitely in love with you.”
She gave a smile so radiant he had to blink to make sure he was seeing it. It was like a flower that had unfurled in the sunlight, trying to catch the first rays of the morning. There was also wariness, but a gradual openness that let him catch sight of the gentle soul she kept guarded within her. As if one careless step would trample the budding love she was feeling for him.
He embraced her so gently he heard her breath hitch in her throat.
“Do you know how long I’ve been in love with you?” she asked.
“How long?” he asked huskily.
“When I looked over the edge on Black Mountain and you pulled me back. I’ve never had anyone do that for me.”
He frowned. “What, keep you from falling off a mountain?”
“Usually, people want to throw me off them, not hold me back.”
“That’s what makes me different. I would have gone over the cliff with you before I would have ever let you fall.”
22
Crazy Bitch stared at Viper’s brother, trying to keep her expression cheerful as Calder introduced them.
That Gavin had been through hell was obvious in the shadows of his eyes and the scars on his wrists where they must have kept him chained. It was in the lethal awareness that he was unconsciously watching her as if he didn’t trust her movements. He wasn’t a man who had survived unscathed. He was waiting for hell to reach out and grab him back into its fiery grasp.