Total pages in book: 108
Estimated words: 103109 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 516(@200wpm)___ 412(@250wpm)___ 344(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 103109 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 516(@200wpm)___ 412(@250wpm)___ 344(@300wpm)
So fucking hot.
My cock strains against the fly of my jeans. I’m playing with fire right now, but I can’t muster any motivation to back down. “Not all girls do, you know,” I say. “Some are afraid to touch themselves.”
“Yeah, well, I was raised around five boys who talk about masturbation as if it’s a sport half the time and as if it’s as essential as water the other half. I didn’t exactly have to go up against some massive stigma the first time I tried it.”
“And how was it?” I swallow. “When you . . .”
She snorts. “You are twenty-one years old, and you can’t say the word masturbated?”
“Why would I when it sounds so much hotter when you say it?” I grin at her immediate and vivid blush, then nod to the bottle. “It’s your turn.”
She lifts her chin and holds my gaze as she says, “Never have I ever had someone other than myself get me off.”
“Why not?”
She shoves the bottle into my hand. “Quit cheating with your unsanctioned questions and drink.”
Just how innocent is she? I look at the bottle. There’s hardly a full drink left. Mindful of this, I take a sip and then push all my chips in. “Never have I ever kissed anyone.”
“You filthy liar.”
Grinning, I tilt the beer to my lips, taking the drink I owe for speaking a never that I have done. I arch a brow. Waiting. Because surely this beautiful, smart, funny girl has been kissed before. Surely, some guy saw her for what she was and won her over so he could taste those pink lips.
But when I offer her the beer, she shakes her head.
“Never,” she whispers. “Pretty lame, huh?”
“It’s not lame. Just . . . surprising.”
She scoffs. “What’s so surprising about it?”
I open my mouth, but before I can find the words, I’m interrupted by the sound of doors closing, footsteps, and laughter booming from downstairs.
The party’s moved inside. That means Shay’s five brothers are downstairs while I’m standing here so close to her, thinking about what it would be like to be the first man to kiss those lips. “Do you . . .” I swallow. Her lips part, and I swear there’s some invisible cord between us that goes taut, draws me forward. “Do you want to?”
Her brow wrinkles as she cranes her neck to look into my eyes. “Want to what?”
I dip my head, lean my forehead against hers. “Be kissed.”
She presses her hand to my chest, and my breath catches as I wait for her to close the distance—those final inches between our lips.
Instead, she shoves me hard. “Out!”
I stumble before catching my balance. “What the hell?”
“I don’t want your pity kiss, East.” She’s avoiding my eyes, but I don’t miss the hurt that flashes across her face.
“It wouldn’t be—”
She squeezes her eyes shut. “Just go.”
“Easton? You up here?” Jake’s voice. Fuuuuuck. Not now.
Shay steps around me and opens the door.
“What’s he doing up there?” Carter calls from the stairs. “Shay? That rich asshole with you?”
Jake pokes his head around the doorframe. “You two decent?”
Shay rolls her eyes. “Come in, Jake.”
Jake’s all smiles with a side of drunken stumble as he comes into the room. “There’s the guest of honor. What are you two doing up here?”
“Telling secrets and braiding each other’s hair.” Shay’s smile is tight. “What else?”
Jake chuckles. Unlike Carter, he’s completely clueless about my attraction to Shay. He grabs the empty beer from my hand. “You need more!”
Carter rushes into the room. “What’s going on in here?”
“I found him,” Jake says, slinging his arm around my shoulders and leading me out of the room.
I look back at Shay, but she’s busy scanning the books on her bookshelf. Could she truly not feel this thing between us? Pity kiss? The fuck? How could she even think that was what I was offering?
“You okay?” Carter asks her. “What were you two doing?”
Jake and I are already at the stairs when I hear her say, “We were fucking, Carter. Doing the dirty with the door open and my brothers downstairs. Can’t you tell? I’m going to turn up pregnant with Easton’s love child any day now.”
“You’re not funny,” Carter says, but I can hear the tension leave his voice. The typical Shay smartass response was possibly the only one that would put his mind at ease.
When I turn back to them, she’s pushed Carter out of her room and is closing the door after him.
Never been kissed. I can hardly wrap my brain around it.
Shay
I can’t focus on my book, but I can’t sleep either. Who could with the party roaring downstairs?
I roll over and bury my face in a pillow, muffling my frustrated scream. I can’t believe I told Easton I’ve never been kissed. I could’ve lied. He never would’ve known. But the worst part is that I also admitted to having a crush on one of my brothers’ friends. I won’t make the same mistake if he asks about that again. Sometimes we have to lie to protect ourselves, and I know better than to leave my heart unguarded against Easton Connor.