Total pages in book: 135
Estimated words: 135536 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 678(@200wpm)___ 542(@250wpm)___ 452(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 135536 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 678(@200wpm)___ 542(@250wpm)___ 452(@300wpm)
“Ecstatic.” His voice dripped sarcasm.
“You can suck on my nipples if you want. I heard it’s hot.” I reached for my corseted breast, tugging at the fabric.
His hand rushed to grasp mine and cupped my breast, keeping it clothed. “Generous of you, but I’ll pass.”
“They’re pretty nice, I swear.” I tried tugging harder to show him.
His hold tightened around my hand. “I like my things mine. Concealed from view. For my own private entertainment.”
His?
I sobered up. “Yours?”
Just then, the wall we’d leaned against collapsed.
The hostess of the ball stood on a podium, holding a remote to fireworks.
We were standing on the podium, too.
Oh, Lord.
This wasn’t a wall.
It was a curtain.
And in front of us sat the entire three-hundred-strong guest list of the ball.
All slack-jawed, wide-eyed, and judgmental as heck.
I spotted Daddy immediately.
Within nanoseconds, his olive skin turned eggshell, yet his ears grew redder and redder. A couple thoughts finally filtered into my lust-fogged brain.
First, Daddy was definitely, two-hundred percent going to cancel all my cards, from the Amex to the library one.
And finally, I realized what everyone was seeing.
Me, in the arms of a man who sure wasn’t my fiancé.
His hand shoved between my legs through my dress.
My lipstick ruined. My hair a mess…and I knew I’d given him a few visible love bites.
“Dude.” That was Frankie from the deep jaws of the crowd. “Momma’s gonna ground you till you’re forty.”
The throng erupted in excited chatter. Phone flashlights attacked my face as I stumbled backward, pushing Romeo Costa away.
He wasn’t having any of it, though. The psychopath pretended to protect me, shifting me behind him. His touch was careless and cold. An act.
What on earth was happening here?
“…ruined for every other man in this zip code…”
“…poor Madison Licht. Such a good fella…”
“…always been problematic…”
“…a scandal magnet…”
“…horrible fashion sense…”
Okay, that last one was a flat-out lie.
“D-d-daddy. It’s not what it looks like.” I tried to smooth out my Oscar de la Renta and stomped Romeo on the foot with my spiky heel, finally breaking free from his hold.
“Unfortunately, it’s exactly what it looks like,” he countered, stepping deeper into the stage and scooping me by the elbow to join him.
What in tarnation was he doing?
“The secret is out, my love.”
His love? Me?
He made a show of wiping the hand that was between my legs just seconds ago on my designer dress. “Please, don’t call my Dallas a ruined woman. She merely yielded to temptation. As Oscar Wilde pointed out, it is naught but human.”
His eyes remained hard.
Dead on Daddy’s.
Naught but?
Why was he talking like a Downton Abbey extra? And why did he say I’m ruined?
“I should kill you.” My father, the great Shepherd Townsend, shouldered through bodies to reach the stage. “Correction—I will kill you.”
Cold white panic coursed through me. I really wasn’t sure if he was talking to me, to Romeo, or to both of us.
My fingertips were so frozen, I couldn’t even feel them. I shook like a leaf blowing in the autumn wind.
I’d really done it this time.
This was no longer about failing random courses, sassing off to someone whose opinion my parents sought, or not-so-accidentally eating Frankie’s birthday cake.
I downright and single-handedly ruined my family’s good reputation. Tarnished the Townsend name to rubbles of gossip and condemnation.
“Shep, is it?” Romeo un-pocketed the hand not wrapped around me and checked the Patek Philippe on his wrist.
“It’s Mr. Townsend to you,” Daddy ground out, now onstage with us. “What do you have to say for yourself?”
“I see we’ve reached the bargaining portion of the night.” Costa gave me a once-over, as if trying to decide how much he wanted to bid on me. “I know Chapel Falls has a you-break-it-you-buy-it policy in place when it comes to your maiden debutante daughters.”
His words thrashed against my skin, leaving angry red marks everywhere they touched.
Now that no one could hear us, he no longer pretended we were an item and spoke to Daddy like a businessman. “I’m willing to buy what I’ve broken.”
Why was he talking like I was a vase? And what on earth was he proposing, exactly?
“I’m not broken.” I shoved him, halfway toward feral. His hold on me only tensed in response. “And I’m not a product to be bought.”
“Zip it, Dallas.” Daddy’s breaths came out labored and heavy. Sweat like I’d never seen on him before raced down his temples. He inserted himself between us as if he couldn’t trust either of us not to launch into a fresh session of lovemaking. And finally, Romeo released me. “Now, I’m not sure what you’re proposing, Mr. Costa, but this was nothing but a few kisses on a drunken night—”
Romeo lifted his hand to stop him. “I know what your daughter’s pussy feels like, sir. Tastes like, too.” He licked the pad of his thumb, never breaking eye contact with Daddy. “You can try to talk your way out of this until you’re blue in the face. The world will buy my version. We both know it. Your daughter is mine. All you can do now is negotiate a decent deal out of it.”