Total pages in book: 36
Estimated words: 33104 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 166(@200wpm)___ 132(@250wpm)___ 110(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 33104 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 166(@200wpm)___ 132(@250wpm)___ 110(@300wpm)
“What do you have to say?”
She frowned, taking the can from my hand and slowly approaching the wall.
“I’ll keep an eye on your backside.” I grinned.
“Clever,” she threw over her shoulder.
She bent to the wall, giving me a real view of her round ass. My fingers twitched at my sides in the same way they did before I started a new piece. I was dying to put my hands on her warm skin.
I heard the soft whoosh of spraying paint in the air, and the smell hit my nostrils a moment later as she laid her first swipes of black on the gray brick. I waited patiently, watching the sidewalk both ways as she quickly moved the paint around the wall in elegant swipes, pausing to take in her finished work less than five minutes after she’d started.
“What is it?” I tipped my head to the side, squinting in the dim light to make out whatever the fuck it was I was seeing.
“You can’t tell?” she purred, one black-tipped pointer finger stroking a line that curved to the right. “It’s a nutcracker mouse in a tutu. I know it’s silly, but your memory was so sweet. My best memory of my dad is when I was eight and performed in The Nutcracker. I had a solo I worked on for weeks in his office every night after dinner. My dad was beaming after the first performance. He brought me three dozen roses. The bouquet was so big that it covered my head in the picture.” She gnashed on her bottom lip. “That’s one of my favorite nights.”
Silence settled around us. Her eyes were on the abstract mouse with tutu, but mine were on her. Emotion sucked the air from my lungs as much as the humid summer night.
My heart hammered as I watched her wiping at tears. I was so caught up in my bullshit that I had no idea what to say to ease hers.
So I reacted.
My hand moved to the back of her head, my fingers gripped her hair, and I yanked. Her doe eyes peered up at me, placing a crack in my cement heart. I crushed my lips to hers, savoring her because I didn’t know if I would again. I wanted to burn her lips into my memory and wear her like a brand on my soul. They said there was a thin line between love and hate, and until that moment, while my hands were on her flesh with my mouth against hers, I didn’t understand how true that was. Because as much as I wanted to cherish Devlynn, I also wanted my hands around her throat as I squeezed the life out of her.
She whimpered, parting her lips for me, inviting me to invade her mouth further.
“Sugar.”
“What,” she murmured against my lips.
“You taste the same. Like spun sugar. You could put a man in a diabetic coma.” Quick movements of my hand unbuttoned her coat, causing her nipples to harden in the chilly air. “You ever fuck in public, Princess?”
“Elis, what if someone sees?”
She shivered as I trailed kisses along her neck. My hands moved over her body, connecting with all the parts that made her moan. It was as if my brain had imprinted this girl there all those years, waiting for that moment.
“Then they’ll know not to touch what’s mine.”
“I’m not yours.”
“You can lie to yourself, Princess, but you’ll never be able to lie to me. Bet if I touch your pussy, my finger will be soaked with your lie.”
“You’re such an asshole.”
I smirked before undoing her pants and dipping my fingers into her panties. “I know that. Princess. Still doesn’t mean your pussy isn’t creaming for my touch. Tell me, Devlynn, what will you do to get my cock in your pretty cunt?’
She took a sharp inhale of breath, trying to pretend that the crass talk offended her. But the funny thing was, we both knew that the filthier my words, the hotter she got.
“Still pretending you wouldn’t be a slut for me, huh, Devlynn? Tell me what you would do to come.”
Chapter 10
Devlynn
I hated him, and I longed for him. Two dueling emotions that had festered in the depths of my soul. It was easy to ignore the void when he wasn’t in my orbit, but it seemed impossible now.
I despised how he made me feel. How I lost myself in his touch. How I’d do anything to have him in my orbit. But if I bent for him, I’d never forgive myself because I would’ve sold my self-respect.
“I’m not doing this with you, Elis.” I pushed at his chest, but he wouldn’t budge. He was a brick house, steady, unmoving, and impenetrable. “Get off me.”
He smirked, turning me around. My face hung over the park bench. I should’ve been frightened, but a small voice deep inside me kept saying, “this is Elis. You’re safe.”