Total pages in book: 127
Estimated words: 120708 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 604(@200wpm)___ 483(@250wpm)___ 402(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 120708 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 604(@200wpm)___ 483(@250wpm)___ 402(@300wpm)
His blue eyes danced with excitement, or maybe it was mischief. I couldn’t tell. But he smiled ever so slightly, and I tried not to look at the small dimple in his right cheek. I failed. My heart hammered in my chest, and I had the sudden urge to turn and run from him. Or maybe it was an urge to ask him to touch me. Anywhere. Everywhere. I needed to feel his hands on me, and I had never longed for that before. Not that I didn’t enjoy a man’s touch—I had, but only when I was in full control over it all. With Tanner, I had no control, and that was slowly starting to not bother me. Lord, what was he doing to me?
“Don’t knock it until you try it,” he said, dropping my hand as we reached the door. “I lost my virginity in the bed of a truck.”
“Are you serious?” I reached for my coat that was hung up at the front door. My scarf and gloves were sitting on top of my purse. Tanner reached for the scarf, wrapping it around my neck and pulling me to him. Our faces were so close that his breath mixed with mine, and I found myself searching for air.
“Yep. With a woman three years older than me.”
I stared at him. “What?”
He laughed, then leaned in even closer. “I was fifteen and she was eighteen.”
I was positive my jaw was on the ground.
“That’s…you were a child!” I said with horror in my voice. Had she forced him? Seduced him and made him do something he hadn’t wanted to do? The thought made me both angry and sick to my stomach.
A sexy smile spread over his face. “She thought I was older. I told her I was seventeen because I really wanted to have sex with her.”
“Tanner Shaw. You lied to have sex?”
“At first. I told her the truth before things went too far, and then in her eyes I became a little project. She taught me how to satisfy a woman that night.”
I swallowed hard as his body pressed up against mine. He hadn’t let go of the scarf yet, and I certainly didn’t want him to. My mind raced for something to say. “Did she…I mean, did you learn a lot from her?”
I regretted the words almost instantly.
He leaned in and pressed his mouth to my ear. My entire body shuttered, and I was positive he felt it because a soft chuckle slipped from between his lips before he spoke. His warm breath made my body feel as if I had melted into him. “Yes, want me to show you some of it?”
I needed to take back control. I laughed as I placed my hand on his chest and gently pushed him away. “You are a rake and a shameless flirt, Tanner Shaw.”
He tied the scarf around my neck before he tapped the tip of my nose with his finger. “I don’t know about a rake, but a flirt, most certainly.”
I rolled my eyes and smirked as I watched him step away and open the front door. “Where’s your coat?” I asked as I followed him out the door.
He gave me a mock wounded look. “A coat? Please, I grew up here. I don’t need a coat.”
I shivered when a blast of air hit me, cold enough to steal my breath. “It’s freezing! How can you not wear a coat?” I yelled while I ran past him to the passenger side of one of the trucks in the driveway.
“That’s not mine, sweetheart. This one is.”
When I turned and saw a Jeep, I frowned.
“Disappointed there’s no truck bed?” he asked as he opened the passenger door for me.
“What? No, I mean, I guess I assumed you drove a truck.”
“I do, but the Jeep is easier to get around in the snow, and my truck needs a much-needed break from all the driving I do.”
“That makes sense,” I said as I slipped into the seat.
Tanner turned the Jeep on as soon as he got in. Heat instantly blew out of the vents, and I sighed in relief.
“If you don’t like cold weather, why in the world are you looking to move somewhere cold?”
I took off the gloves, removed my scarf, and pushed them both into my purse. “I love the cold.”
“Really? Could have fooled me with the way you raced over to my dad’s truck.”
“Well, to be honest, I like the cold enough to live where it’s cold. I don’t mind it, but there are some days it feels like it chills me to the bones. If it had been this cold the other morning, I would never have gone riding with you.”
He chuckled. “You’d never make it as a rancher.”
“If I decide to move here, I’ll have to get used to the winters. The perfect winter day for me is sitting on a large, oversized window bench, a cup of tea in my hands, a book nearby, and snow falling outside.”