Total pages in book: 91
Estimated words: 83990 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 420(@200wpm)___ 336(@250wpm)___ 280(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 83990 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 420(@200wpm)___ 336(@250wpm)___ 280(@300wpm)
“There you are, sweet cheeks,” he says, and I take a couple of sips, but it literally still tastes like fire down my throat.
I look at Brian who just looks at me. “Why would you let me do that?” I hiss out, drinking more water. “Why?”
He shakes his head. He’s too good looking for his own good. “I tried to stop you, but …”
I get in his face, and I hear him suck in a breath. “No, you didn’t.” I’m so close to him that if I lean in, I could kiss him. My lips would finally feel his. “You didn’t,” I whisper, and I don’t know how much time passes. I don’t know if it’s the heat from the liquor. But I whisper the next part. “Kiss me.” My heart beats in my chest, my hands are clammy, and I just want him to lean in a touch and take my lips.
His eyes cloud over. “Kellie,” he whispers, “I can’t.” Two words that I never thought would hurt as much as they do. I blink my eyes twice and then move away from him, but he grabs my hand. I pull it away from him. “Baby.” My heart beats faster, and I’m wondering if it’s because it’s sad.
“No,” I say, shaking my head, trying to blink away the tears. I’m angry he won’t kiss me; angry I’m literally throwing myself at him, and he wants nothing to do with me. I turn on the actress inside me and twist to face him with a huge smile on my face. “Don’t worry about it, Brian. It was the alcohol talking.”
He tries to reach out for me, but his phone rings in his pocket. When he sees it’s Cori, he hands it to me. “This is for you.”
“Hello,” I say into the phone, trying not to let my voice crack or for her to know something is bothering me.
“Hello, yourself,” she says. “Where are you? We just got to the hotel.”
“I am sitting in a bar that is not the Alibi.” I try to make a joke out of it. “Brian took me around Chicago all day.”
“Really?” she says with a snicker. “That’s interesting.”
“Listen, we are on our way back now,” I tell her. “They messed up our room. Can you see if you can have them fix it?”
“What’s wrong with the room?” she asks me, and then I see Brian get up and settle the tab with the bartender.
“There is only one bed and a pull-out couch,” I tell her, and she shrieks.
“Did you share a bed with Brian?”
“Negative,” I say to her and then smile and shake my head when the bartender asks if I want another shot. “But see if they have either a two-room suite or an adjoining room if anything.”
“I’m on it,” she says. “You sound different.”
“I just had a shot of moonshine,” I tell her, then whisper, “I think it was just gasoline.” She laughs into the phone. “Can you also see if maybe they have a massage therapist who can come up and work on my back?”
“I’m on it,” she says. “Do you want a couple’s massage or just one?”
“Just the one,” I tell her, and then I click end. “They are at the hotel, so we should start heading back.” I hand him back his phone.
“Let’s see if we can grab a cab. It might be faster,” he says, getting up. “Thank you.”
The bartender looks up at us and waves. We walk out into the night, and I make sure to hold my hands in front of me and not give him anything. I watch him walk to the curb and flag down a cab. “Good job, Brian,” I say, getting into the cab when he holds the door open for me. He gets in after me and gives the driver our address. I look outside when Brian’s phone dings.
“She got us another room. They are moving us to a one-bedroom suite, then putting in a queen bed for me.”
“How many bathrooms?” I ask him, never taking my eyes away from outside.
“You don’t like sharing a bathroom with me?” he jokes, and I just shrug.
“Two,” he says, and we finally pull up in front of the hotel. He pays the driver, and I get out and then look back at him. “Same floor.”
I turn and walk into the lobby with him at my back, so very different from how we left. When we get on our floor, Cori is there waiting for us. “Welcome home, guys.”
I smile at her and walk into her outstretched arms. “I’m starving.”
“I can order something in,” she says to me, and I just nod. “I need a bubble bath and a nice relaxing night watching movies.”
“We can make that happen.” She smiles and then looks over my shoulder at Brian. “So how did it feel to be in the city all day? Did you guys have extra security?”