Total pages in book: 81
Estimated words: 77787 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 389(@200wpm)___ 311(@250wpm)___ 259(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 77787 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 389(@200wpm)___ 311(@250wpm)___ 259(@300wpm)
She was cool and I liked her.
But she was completely safe from me. I was in the middle of a self-imposed dry spell from women until I figured out a few things in my life, and I had no interest in going where Bull warned all Kings to never tread.
When I arrived home, Chastity’s car was parked in the garage but she wasn’t inside. Although, Three Dog Night’s “Joy To The World” was pumping out of the speakers when I walked in. That was another thing I loved about sharing my house with Chastity. She was always playing music. None of the new shit or Top 40 crap. No. She loved the classics like Zeppelin, the Stones, the Eagles, Creedence Clearwater Revival, and other classic bands from the same era.
Stepping out onto the patio, I found her outside sunbathing by the pool.
“Hey, roomie!” she called out.
“You’re kidding me,” I mumbled under my breath, caught off guard by her tiny bikini and the way it barely covered any of her body.
I walked over to her.
Jesus Christ. Animal was on his way over and Chastity was lying there practically naked. I stole another look at her on the sun lounge, her hot pink bikini bright against her tanned, flawless skin. Appreciation flared in my chest, but I quickly vanquished the observation before it went any further. When I handed her a towel, she lifted her sunglasses and looked puzzled.
“What is this for?”
“Animal is on his way over.”
“So?”
“So . . . you need to cover up.” When she continued to look puzzled, I explained, “Animal by name, animal by nature.”
Animal was the craziest of my club brothers, and crazy enough to not listen to his president.
She rolled her eyes and sighed as she snatched the towel from me. Standing up, she wrapped it around her tiny waist and headed for the house.
“Where are you going?”
“To put on my nun’s habit.”
I watched her walk away, deliberately not noticing how her long, dark hair fell down to her waist, or the way the late afternoon sun bounced off her golden skin.
I ran a frustrated hand over my head, irritated at myself.
I wasn’t a creeper.
I wasn’t a dirty old man.
But it was hard to forget that she looked so damn fine in that barely-there bikini.
Even harder to forget was the way my body reacted to seeing her in it.
CHASTITY
I sat rigid in my seat and stared at the paper in front of me, the big FORTY-NINE written in red at the top and seeping into the paper like a stab wound.
“Not your best work, Miss Calley,” my biology professor, Dr. Lincoln, said before moving on to the next desk.
My heart sank. A forty-nine wasn’t a pass. Hell, a forty-nine declared you barely showed up to the party.
Fuck.
I needed to pick up my game. Focus more. Get in some extra study time.
Lincoln dismissed the class and I gathered up my stuff and shoved it into my bag.
“How did you do?” The good-looking guy with dark hair asked when I stood up and started to make my way down the aisle.
His name was Bryce and we had been friends since class started. Sometimes we went for coffee after class, but it was purely platonic and always just to discuss our mutual course.
“I totally crashed and burned.” I showed him my grade and he winced. “You?”
“I did okay.” He shrugged non-committally. I glanced at the paper in his hand and saw the ninety-two.
“Holy shit!” I said, taking it from him and staring at the grade like it was the Holy Grail. “You nailed it!”
But again, he downplayed it. “I guess I was just lucky.”
“Lucky? A ninety-two is not luck, Bryce. It’s damn near genius.”
He looked sheepish. “You know, if you need a study partner…”
We had been talking for weeks now, but this was the first time he had offered to help me study. Although, judging by the way he was looking at me, it wasn’t just studying he was hoping for.
But I was already going out with Peter and didn’t need the distraction of another cute boy asking me out. And Bryce was definitely the type of guy who could distract you. Good looks. Big brown eyes. Crooked but cute smile.
“You will be the first one I ask, believe me.”
I handed him back his paper.
“You want to go for coffee today?” he asked. “I can go over a few things with you so you can get it right in your head.”
“That sounds really good, but I can’t, I’ve got plans.”
As a thank you for saving my ass by giving me a place to stay, I wanted to cook Ruger dinner, and I needed to stop by the market to get supplies on the way home. When he used to visit us when I was a kid, he loved my mom’s corned beef. So this morning I had called her and written down the recipe. But I wasn’t much of a cook, so I wanted to allow myself plenty of time to get things right before he got home from the clubhouse.