Total pages in book: 142
Estimated words: 131330 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 657(@200wpm)___ 525(@250wpm)___ 438(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 131330 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 657(@200wpm)___ 525(@250wpm)___ 438(@300wpm)
Ahh, clever woman. Asking him questions that drag him away from yes and no answers and force a sentence out of his mouth. I see this isn’t her first rodeo.
“Yeah, it’s good. Fucking great actually,” he says, his face lighting up. “If he’s gonna buy it, make sure he gets all the inclusions. He won’t regret it.”
Great. Assface over here fell for the oldest trick in the book. I wonder if he realizes she just made the brother up. Probably not. He likes to see the best in people and wouldn’t dream that a woman would lie just to get in his pants.
“Oh, I’m sure the top-of-the-line model with all the inclusions is his current wet dream,” she laughs, before stepping closer and offering him her hand. “I’m Star, by the way.”
Star? What kind of pornstar name is that?
Izaac smiles politely, and it guts me. He hasn’t smiled like that at me in ages. All I get now are awkward cringes and bedroom eyes. Though don’t get me wrong, I have no aversion to those bedroom eyes. They’re downright the sexiest thing I’ve ever seen. But sometimes, it’d be nice just to see him . . . smile.
He takes her hand. “Izaac.”
“Nice to meet you, Izaac,” she says, batting her stupid false lashes. “You’re out quite late for a Monday night. Usually, the streets are dead when I’m making my way home.”
“What can I say? I’m a night owl.”
Gag.
Is he . . . flirting with her?
“Oh yeah? Me too. Though I wish I wasn’t. These night shifts are killing me,” she says.
“Yeah, I get that,” he says as the tank finally fills. “I own a few nightclubs in the city, so nights have become my days.”
Is he seriously interacting with her? Where are the curt nods and cutting her short? Where’s all the bullshit he so comfortably gives me?
She creeps forward again, her eyes widening as she sucks in an exaggerated gasp. “Holy shit! A nightclub owner? That’s insane,” she laughs. “I’m not going to lie, I’m impressed. That’s got to be literally the coolest job on the planet.”
He grins, eating this shit up. “It’s definitely got its perks.”
Okay. Surely he’s just fucking with me. Is this payback for letting him think I was going out on a date tonight? Because judging by how he reacted when I told him I was meeting up with a Tinder date and then how jealous he got over the idea of me going out tonight, I can only imagine how he spent the last few hours.
“Would I be too forward in asking if I could check them out sometime?”
My hand snaps up to his, clutching his fingers with raw desperation as they grip the top of the open window. His gaze flicks back, colliding with mine through the dark window tint for the slightest moment, but that mere second is more than enough to know that despite this woman’s blatant attempts to flirt with him, he’s here with me, and nothing is going to change that.
Stepping closer toward the passenger door, his hand slips further inside the window and he adjusts his hold on my hand so that his fingers lace through mine, and my heart starts to race.
It’s everything.
I’ve held his hand plenty of times in the dark room, and for the whole car ride here, but this is different. In the dark room, it’s about a physical connection, about sex, and before pulling into the gas station, it was about comfort, about making sure I knew I was safe. But this is the first time he’s intentionally held my hand just because he wanted to, because the thought of pulling away is harder than giving in to what he really wants. He’s not out there stressing over what Austin might think or how this is so fucking wrong, he’s doing it because deep down, even though he might not realize it, I think he might love me too.
Izaac squeezes my hand, his thumb brushing across my knuckles, and as he focuses his attention on Star, he gives her yet another polite smile. “Of course. There’s always room for more customers at my clubs. Look up Scandal. It’s my newest one. Bring your friends and have a great night out,” he tells her. “But if you wouldn’t mind, my girl has had a bit of a wild night, and I need to get her home.”
“Your girl?” she gapes with horror as her gaze shifts to his arm and follows it down to his hand that’s shoved through the small gap above the window. It takes a moment, but her stare finally meets mine through the dark window tint, and seeing how unimpressed I look, she quickly inches back from Izaac. “Oh, shit. I’m so sorry. I didn’t realize.”
“It’s fine,” he says. “Happens to the best of us.”