Total pages in book: 20
Estimated words: 18349 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 92(@200wpm)___ 73(@250wpm)___ 61(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 18349 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 92(@200wpm)___ 73(@250wpm)___ 61(@300wpm)
There’s a knock on the changing room door. Must be Mary again, asking me how the sizing is going.
“This fits just great, Mary—” But before I can even finish, the door opens, and Sterling steps into the room.
Instinctively, I cover up, but my arms are not enough to hide my exposed flesh, so I quickly step behind one of the hanging curtains beside the mirror. Sterling chuckles and shakes his head.
“Stop that, Leia. I’m going to see it eventually.”
My heart is racing. He’s right, of course, but this feels like such an invasion of privacy—and such an unexpected one too.
He beckons to me with his right hand, his left stuffed casually into his pants pocket as he leans casually against the wall.
“Come on, come out. Let me see how beautiful you look in that.”
He’s so relaxed about all this. So cool. Of course it’s no big deal for him, but for me?
“Okay,” I reply. “But just a peek.”
Sterling smirks. “Sure. Just a peek.”
We both know that’s bullshit, but we go with it as I step out from behind the curtain and put myself on full display for him.
I’m doing my best not to tremble as I stand there, unsure of what to do with my hands, my arms, my legs, as his eyes drag up my entire body from toe to head. I’ve never felt more like a piece of meat in my life, but as I watch a deep desire come over his face, I realize, with a terrible dread, that I actually like it.
I like the way he’s looking at me—the way he’s examining every inch of my barely clothed body. He’s brought me here to play dress-up with me as though I’m some kind of sexy little doll, and no one has ever treated me like that before.
He’s making me feel sexy, and no man’s ever made me feel like that either, certainly not Timothy Gamrat or Ben Hatfield. He’s practically making me want to show myself off to him, and that’s terrible, considering the reason I’m here with him. I should be thinking of ways to escape him, not how I like the fact that he finds me sexy or what I might do with that information.
“Nice.” He smiles. “Real nice.”
“I’m sure that’s what you say to all the girls,” I reply.
Wow, what was that? The words just jumped out of my mouth without me even thinking about them. It was like a flash of jealousy within me as I pictured him doing this countless times before with countless other girls.
“What other girls?” he replies as he begins to circle me. “Oh, you think I do this with just every girl, huh?”
I shrug, suddenly ashamed of myself for making such a silly, impulsive comment.
“I don’t know…”
He reaches out and traces the line of my bra strap with his index finger, showing a surprising amount of tenderness for a man who was so rough back at my house.
“I like this color,” he says, his voice quiet but still filled with strength. “The pink is nice.”
“I…it’s nice. The red one’s nice too…” My voice is barely a whisper when it comes out of my lips. Something about him this close to me when I’m half-naked has my brain barely functioning. My nipples are hard too beneath the lace. I wonder if he can tell. If he can, he’s being a gentleman and not saying anything about it.
I’m absolutely turned on by this man and this situation, even though I know I absolutely should not be, and I don’t know what to do about it.
“It’s okay, Leia.” I look up to see Sterling looking down at me, his strong brown eyes fixed and unmoving like a predator’s.
“Wh-what’s okay?”
My God, can he read my mind?
He reaches out and brushes a stray piece of my hair from my face and smiles. “Liking them both. I’ll just buy them both. Mary will give me a good deal.”
“Oh,” I reply with a sigh of nervous relief and a funny feeling in my belly. “Y-you don’t have to…”
“I want to.” He grins. “Believe me.”
I may not have a lot of experience with men, but I can tell that the way Sterling is looking at me is the way that a guy looks at you when he’s about to make a move. That funny feeling in my belly grows, and my legs suddenly turn into two pillars of concrete that simply won’t listen to me.
I’m bound in place, frozen like a statue. But just as I expect him to lean in and place either his hands or his lips on me, he takes a step back and turns to the dressing room door.
“I’ll go tell Mary we’re taking two of those?” It’s one of those half-questions-half-statements. “Unless you want more?”
“No, two is fine!” I blurt out like an idiot, snapping out of the sudden bout of paralysis I just slipped into. “T-thank you!”