Total pages in book: 78
Estimated words: 75474 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 377(@200wpm)___ 302(@250wpm)___ 252(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 75474 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 377(@200wpm)___ 302(@250wpm)___ 252(@300wpm)
Earbuds in, I’ve been pretending to listen to an audiobook for the last hour just to catch their conversation. Because, yeah, I’m not missing this for anything.
“…you told Laine you saw me out with Brittney Walsh––” Eli says in an accusatory tone. Sounds like he’s harboring a little resentment over it.
“You were out with Brittney,” Jordan argues.
“As a friend. You knew I had no interest in her.”
“Oh really? You two still keep in touch?”
The conversation is once again getting heated. Until a new chess match starts. Then there will be a lot of banging on timers. For the record, it’s a weird game.
From the crumbs I’ve picked up from Jordan and today I’m getting a better picture of what went on.
I think they were both in love with her and Eli won. It makes me wonder what kind of woman could have these two very smart men so taken with her. It makes me feel small in comparison, reminding me that I don’t belong here…I don’t belong with him.
“Start the game,” Eli insists.
Time to put an end to this.
Jordan
Riley walks up to the table and stands over us with her hand on her hip. “I don’t know what dick measuring championship you two have been fighting for a decade, but you need to grow up. It’s over. Act like it…Good night.”
“Good night, Riley. Sleep well,” Eli says with a shit-eating grin.
The minute she’s out of the room, his smile drops. It’s hard work to sustain an appearance of normalcy when all you want is to go to sleep and never wake up. I know something about it.
“I’m done.” I stand, ready to go after her. It’s an involuntary reaction. My body has a mind of its own and this need to be with her, close to her, to feel good again, has to be met.
“Pussy,” Eli mutters. “Go ahead. Go after her. I know you’re dying to.”
“You know nothing about it,” I tell him, setting the record straight. I won’t taint whatever is happening between me and Riley with the problems in my past.
I jog down the backyard to the dock. I took a bedroom in the house, but I’ll be damned if I’m sleeping there. I’ve been biding my time, waiting three months for the chance to touch her, and I’m not throwing away the opportunity now.
A dock light shines on the name painted on the back of the boat.
My Laine.
He called the goddamn boat My Laine. He’s never getting over her.
Kicking off my shoes, I climb aboard and follow the stairs bellow deck. The most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen is standing in the galley drinking a glass of water.
“Hi,” she says, her eyebrows raised in question. She smiles so sweetly I want to devour her until she’s screaming my name. “Did you need something?”
I almost laugh. Where do I begin?
In two steps, I close the gap between us, take the glass out of her hand and place it on the table. Then I take her face in my hands.
I’m falling in love with this woman. Or maybe I’m kidding myself and I already love her. I didn’t want to love her. I didn’t want to love anybody. I was done with love. Too much pain. Too much suffering. But I can’t lie to myself anymore.
“You…I need you.”
Looking into my eyes, she touches me, shapes her fingers over the bones of my face and puts her full lips on mine. Every time I kiss her feels like the first time, a combustible fire, a chemical reaction. I’ve never had so much chemistry with anyone.
I pick her up and carry her into the back bedroom.
14
Chapter Fourteen
Riley
It’s happening.
This is finally going to happen.
I don’t know whether to fist pump or cry from happiness.
Soft and heavy-lidded, his eyes meet mine. Then slowly, very slowly, he leans in, takes my face in his hands and kisses me. His tongue slips into mine and we slowly dance backwards, toward the small bed.
If the kiss in the kitchen was a promise of long nights and twisted sweaty sheets, this kiss is filled with longing and need. It’s charged with emotion. Jordan kisses with every fiber of his being. Like his life depends on it.
“I want you to know that this means something to me.” It comes out of him in a low sweet murmur, but I hear it as loud as a shotgun blast. And just like that his sweet words bring me back to earth. This is going to change everything. It might be the beginning or the end and I’m still not sure which.
I search his eyes and see the truth. He’s letting me see the truth. And the truth is that he’s as scared of getting his heart broken as I am.
“This means something to me too.”
I fall back onto the bed and he follows. He climbs on and spreads my knees apart with his. His hands bracket my shoulders, holding himself over me, looking at me like he can’t believe this is happening either.