Total pages in book: 82
Estimated words: 77490 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 387(@200wpm)___ 310(@250wpm)___ 258(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 77490 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 387(@200wpm)___ 310(@250wpm)___ 258(@300wpm)
Growing up, I spent a lot of time in church learning how to be a good girl.
But now I’m an adult, and lately, it seems all my thoughts are sinful. Especially my thoughts about three gorgeous, huge, forbidden men.
There’s Brax, who works as security at a tattoo shop and is covered in ink. He should scare me, but instead he makes me feel safe enough to do everything I’ve been told is wrong.
Erik is an old friend who left the church, and his kindness and fierce protectiveness steady me, even as his touch drives me wild.
And Gray, a breathtaking fallen angel of a man, tempts me to explore my every illicit desire.
With them, I become a paragon of sin, every encounter a new lesson in decadence, every stroke of pleasure making me crave these wicked men more.
But now my parents are insisting I marry someone from their church. A respectable man who knows nothing about my sinful double life.
If I tell them the truth, I’ll be condemned and cast out from my family, my community, everything I’ve known. If I don’t, I’ll lose the men who have stolen my heart.
Can I bear to give up my heaven on earth?
*************FULL BOOK START HERE*************
I’m sitting toward the back when a familiar form slides by in my peripheral vision. I turn my head sharply, sure I’ve imagined it, but I haven’t.
Gray is here. In my church.
I move toward the aisle as if pulled by magnetic forces. Despite my complete inability to resist following him, I move slowly, so it’s not too obvious. I hope.
When I go through the doors into the foyer, he’s waiting for me and immediately takes my hand and leads me through the hallways, away from the sanctuary, away from the voices that come from the rooms where the little ones are being taught their Sunday School lessons.
Eventually, he finds a storage room with its lights off, dark and cool. I expect him to kiss me then, but he doesn’t. Instead, he turns me so we’re standing with my back to his front, like we were that night at the rooftop club.
And then he whispers in my ear, “Confess.”
Oh, wicked, wicked man. I go down on my knees. “I have sinned,” I whisper.
“Tell me your sins.” His voice is deep, a velvet sandpaper stroke across my senses.
The carpet is rough under me, and my heart threatens to thump out of my chest. I wonder if anyone saw us leave, if they’ll find us here.
“I have lusted after a man.” My voice is as soft as a feather. “Not just one man. Three.”
“Three men?” There’s an undertone that makes me quiver down to my core. “Have you lusted in word, thought, or deed?”
“All three.”
“Tell me.”
I take a deep breath and let it out slowly. “I’ve desired them. Let them kiss me, touch me. I’ve touched them, too. And used profane language.”
A rustle of clothing, and then he’s kneeling behind me, his massive body pressed against mine. “Where did they touch you?”
“In my … my private place.”
“Say it,” he commands, and a shiver runs through me.
AVA
“Thank you for the coffee, Brax.” I’ve only had a few sips of the hot drink, so I know it’s not the caffeine that has my heart beating double time.
“Thanks for stopping by to see me.” The man’s gruff, gravely voice does nothing to calm my pulse.
I came to Beasts Ink under the pretense of visiting my friend Ember, but the real purpose of my visit was obvious to everyone, especially since I just happened to arrive a few minutes before Brax’s afternoon break.
We went to the coffee shop together, and now he’s walking me to my car before he has to resume his post as security guard at the most in-demand tattoo shop here in Las Vegas, and as always, I’m getting more and more flustered by the nearness of this man.
“What are you doing after this?” he asks as we arrive at my vehicle.
“A little shopping, a little cleaning. Nothing exciting.”
“Is that right?” His gaze keeps dropping to my lips, and I’m pretty sure my previously-pounding heart stops beating altogether. I’m definitely not breathing, even though I feel incredibly alive.
“Yeah.” Somehow I still manage to utter one breathy word as he steps in closer, backing me up against my car door, which I haven’t made a move to open.
His massive, heavily-inked arm reaches to take the cardboard cup from my hand and he sets it, along with his, on the hood, his eyes barely leaving my face. He envelops one of my hands in his, at the same time as the fingers of his other hand come up to stroke my cheek. How can someone this big have such a tender touch?
His lips curl into a hint of a grin, and his eyes soften. Wondering if he’s waiting for a signal, I smile back at him as my body floods with heat and my head goes light.
“I’d like to kiss you, Ava.”
My eyes widen as I nod, just a small movement at first, then a more obvious response. Yes, yes please.
We’ve been flirting for months, though I’ve only seen him on a few occasions in all that time. He’s appeared much more frequently in my daydreams and fantasies. I’ve been imagining this moment since I first saw him, but I didn’t picture myself being so incredibly nervous.
A million thoughts run through my mind all at once: Is my hand too sweaty? Will my lips taste like coffee? Will he think I’m a good kisser? Why am I so dizzy?
His eyes are still on my mouth as he leans in closer, bending to bridge our height difference, his fingers sliding under my chin, tipping it up to meet him.
I do taste coffee on his lips along with a distinctly unique flavor that triggers a gnawing sensation somewhere in my belly. I’m hungry for this man.
But I shouldn’t be. I can’t be.
His lips, even softer than I’d imagined, press gently into mine, once, twice, before they return with more pressure, a smooth swipe, a lingering touch.