Total pages in book: 96
Estimated words: 91146 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 456(@200wpm)___ 365(@250wpm)___ 304(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 91146 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 456(@200wpm)___ 365(@250wpm)___ 304(@300wpm)
It is a Nicole Reed original instead of the mass-produced songs wannabe pop star Nikki J will perform on repeat starting three p.m. tomorrow afternoon.
“Yes,” Laken praises, as in love with our impromptu performance as I am.
When his boots occasionally add a much-needed tempo to the soulful melody, he doesn’t outshine me or drown out my voice that Apollo often complains is too soft. He rocks along to the beat with me, his sole focus on finding the perfect melody for a song that would rocket up the charts if I were a country-pop artist.
With my voice the key element of our performance, I give it my all. I sing with all my heart to ensure I gift Laken the performance of his life.
Even with only one man in the audience, it isn’t disheartening when I reach the end of the final chorus. Laken’s applause ruptures my eardrums more than any audience had before him.
He wolf whistles and catcalls before he slings his arm around my shoulders to hug me tight.
“Wow. That was…” He appears lost for words. “Fuck, Nicole. I’ve never experienced such brilliance. You have a gift. A genuine gift from God.”
The pride flaring in his eyes when he peers down at me does wild things to my insides. It makes me nauseated and hot at the same time and has me acting so out of the ordinary that before I can contemplate the consequences of my actions, I lunge forward and plant my lips against his grinning mouth.
6
LAKEN
When Nicole’s lips land on mine, I freeze like I haven’t dreamed of her doing exactly this over the past thirty minutes.
I thought I’d blown the chance of us being more than friends when I cornily sang a line from one of River’s top-ten favorite movies.
It shows how much things have changed in the dating world.
I would have never been so corny before my life was upended, and people once accused me of being cocky. It helped that I had just watched the scene half an hour before James called to say I had packages to collect. That’s how I could quote some of the lines. I stuffed up a few, but give me a break. I’m more about melodies than lines from cliche romance movies.
I’ll never admit that to River, though.
He loves the classics, and I love him enough not to give him hell about it.
My shock that I didn’t royally fuck this up causes my frozen state, but Nicole mistakes it as disinterest. She pulls back as fast as she lunged forward before issuing an unwanted apology. “I’m so sorry. I don’t know what I was thinking.” She reneges on her lie before I can work out it isn’t factual. “It’s just been so long since anything has struck, much less something so cosmic, I dove headfirst before thinking. It won’t happen aga—”
Before she can steal all my hope, I silence her with my mouth, freezing her as she did me. Then, after granting her a second to object, my tongue gets in on the action as well. I slide it into her mouth, moaning when its sweep steals the air trapped in her throat.
As we make out like the teens lighting up the lot at Bronte’s Peak, I taste lime on her lips and a liquidy acid I haven’t sampled in almost a decade.
The alcohol on her mouth isn’t strong enough for me to be concerned she can’t give consent, but I do wonder if it is why her limbs are so soft and transferrable.
Within minutes, she goes from being seated next to me to her knees hugging my hips.
I don’t mind.
I can ravish her better this way, give her one-tenth of the performance she gave me, all the while using the same instrument she used to hold me captive.
My mouth.
My kiss is a caveman-type kiss, all macho and possessive but also nurturing and sweet. It’s as contradictable as Nicole’s personality and looks.
She has the personality of a saint but the sexiness of a devil.
Sweet as pie on the inside, but hot as hell on the outside.
After a while, Nicole takes the lead in our exchange, which I find as sexy as her fuckable body.
I rarely let go of the reins when I was a teen, but that had nothing to do with enjoyment. It was more based on who was the more experienced of the duo.
As much as this sucks to admit, it appears Nicole has me trumped this time around.
I’d been with a handful of girls before I was incarcerated.
By a handful, I mean no more than I can count on one hand.
Two went no further than third base, and the other three weren’t overly memorable.
I don’t see that being an issue this time around.
Our kiss is already setting my skin on fire, and it appears I’m not the only one heating up.