Total pages in book: 90
Estimated words: 91767 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 459(@200wpm)___ 367(@250wpm)___ 306(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 91767 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 459(@200wpm)___ 367(@250wpm)___ 306(@300wpm)
I feel myself melt into a puddle, don’t start talking dirty, I won’t stand a chance.
“Yes.”
“But I do, Gracie. I cannot hide it. I won’t even try to. I haven’t even touched the surface with the things I want to do to you.”
Arousal begins to steal my brain, “You shouldn’t be such an asshole then,” I whisper, that didn’t sound convincing, even to me.
“Do you know me at all?” He smiles as he lifts my hand to his lips and kisses my fingertips. The hairs on the back of my neck stand to attention.
Oh….
I watch him softly kiss my hand. “That’s the problem, I do,” I whisper distracted.
He’s just so…….
“I’m not your plaything, Gabriel,” I say as I pull my hand from his grip.
“But I am your toy to play with.” He smirks. “Only too happy to donate my body to science.”
“You think I’m a science experiment?” I squeak.
He tips his head back and laughs out loud, and I bite my bottom lip to stop myself from smiling too.
“Would you like a drink?” he asks.
“That depends.”
“On what?”
“On whether I’m getting an apology for your assholeness or not.”
His eyes dance with delight, and I get the feeling that it is me who is the toy. “Gracie.” He takes me into his arms and drops his lips to my neck, “I am sorry for acting like myself at the office.” He bites me and goosebumps scatter up my arms, “I should have acted like someone else.” He teases me as he bites me again. “Because the very least you deserve is for me to act like I want the entire office to know my business.”
He bites me again and my body melts against his as I grab his hair.
Okay, what the hell is this?
He’s taunting me while not apologizing, and my body is lapping it up.
Asshole.
I take a step back from him, “I’d like that drink now, please.”
“Of course.” He licks his lips as his eyes hold mine and the darkness behind them sends a shiver down my spine.
I get the feeling that I’m going to get it.
Hard.
He walks into another room off the living room and down a corridor, and I tentatively follow.
Holy…… what the?
It’s a bar. A fully fledged huge bar, the walls are dark green, and the bar is a rosewood timber.
He begins to pour the drinks as my eyes look around the space.
There’s a pool table, a card table, even a roulette table. It’s like a damn casino in here. To the right, there’s a sunken room with a black circular leather couch around a pole.
Huh?
“What’s the pole for?” I ask.
“Strippers,” he says casually as he takes a sip of the drink he’s just poured.
I stare at him as my brain misfires, what do you even say to that?
“You have strippers to your house?” I gasp.
“Of course, I do. I certainly don’t want to go to their house,” he replies casually as he passes me a heavy crystal glass.
What the….
I’m shocked, shocked to my core. He has a fucking stripper pole in his bar room.
I take a sip and wince, so strong. Ugh it’s horrible. “Is this stripper juice?”
He raises his glass in the air with a cheeky wink, “Something like that.”
“Figures,” I reply dryly. I imagine all the hot women he must have here and insecurity creeps in. What could he ever see in me?
Damn it, maybe I do need this liquid bravery. I take a huge gulp, and it burns all the way down.
Ugh…. Oh, hell.
Perhaps tonight’s stripper may be throwing up after drinking this, but whatever. He asked for it.
“Sit.” He points to a stool at the bar and without thinking I do as he says and drop to the seat. He sits down beside me; his eyes linger on my lips as he takes a slow sip of his drink.
He’s imagining something, God knows what, but it’s perverted, I know.
I glance over to the sunken lounge and the pole; I imagine him sitting there watching a naked girl writhe and dance for him, it’s too much to bear, and I snap my eyes away.
Seriously…. what am I doing here? He isn’t in my league. We aren’t even in the same stratosphere.
This is going to break me.
“What is it?” He asks.
“Nothing,” I say softly.
He puts his finger under my chin and lifts my face to his, “Gracie?”
My stupid eyes well with tears, betraying my bravado act.
His face falls, “What is it?”
I put my drink down onto the bar. “I should…. I’m going to get going.” I stand. “Have a merry Christmas.” I force a smile, “It was really,” I pause as I try to get a hold of my emotions, “nice working for you.
He stands abruptly. “Gracie, the night is young. Don’t go.”
“I’m not a stripper, Gabriel. I’m not even a player. The last time I had sex was over a year ago and this is….” I gesture to the room. “Isn’t……” I shrug, embarrassed that I’m not the bad girl I want to be, that my heart is already broken after one cheap fuck on his desk. “It’s not who I am. I’m sorry if I gave you the wrong impression.” I rush back out to the living room with him hot on my heels.