Total pages in book: 26
Estimated words: 23689 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 118(@200wpm)___ 95(@250wpm)___ 79(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 23689 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 118(@200wpm)___ 95(@250wpm)___ 79(@300wpm)
I’d be lying if I said that half, arrogant-looking grin didn’t make him even sexier. Going out with him was what I wanted, of course. I wanted to know more about him, wanted to see if this intense attraction I felt went deeper than just on the surface.
“A date.” His voice was a deep rumble as he responded.
“Okay,” I said softly, instantly, after he’d spoken. And then his half grin turned into a full-on smile, one that reached his eyes and made me swoon.
He nodded once and said, “Good. That’s real good, Flora.” His voice was a husky tenor, as if he was immensely pleased I agreed to go out with him and couldn’t stop the growl from spilling forth. “I’ll come by after you close up tonight, and we can talk and set up the plans?”
I licked my dry lips, my throat feeling tight and dry even though I wasn’t thirsty. I nodded and gave him a tentative, probably hesitant-looking smile. But inside, I was ecstatic, feeling excitement and arousal spread throughout me.
I stood there and watched him walk away, but before he left, he looked over his shoulder, and our eyes locked once more. I felt that familiar zing of electricity move between us, and I didn’t stifle my shiver then. I let it pass through me in a very hot and consuming way.
I didn’t know what I just agreed to, but I’d never looked forward to something as much as I was the very idea of seeing Malkolm Taylor on a personal, intimate level.
3
Flora
“So, are you going to tell me what you guys talked about when he came back after we closed up?”
I glanced over at Tatum, who sat at my small two-seater dining room table, and felt my heart thump at the mention of Malkolm.
She’d come home with me so we could have dinner together, something we tried to do a couple of times a week. Tatum and I had always been close, especially seeing as we were only a year apart. But it wasn’t just because we’d grown up so close in age that had us thick as thieves, so to speak. It was also because we really didn’t speak with our parents anymore, and we were all we had family-wise.
Tatum had a slew of friends, being a social butterfly, but I, on the other hand… I wasn’t at that level. So when I said she was all I had, that was the God’s honest truth.
“It was just… normal,” I said as I grabbed the plates out of the cupboard, the silverware out of the drawer, and brought them over to the table.
“Uh huh,” she murmured, and I felt her watching me.
There was a ready-made lasagna placed in the center of the table, steam billowing out from underneath the foil covering it. A cut loaf of garlic bread Tatum brought with her sat on a plate beside the lasagna, and a side salad I poured out of a bag and into a bowl was closest to me.
I never said our dinners were homemade or fancy, but that wasn’t what this time we spent together was about. We could have been eating cold tuna from a can, and as long as we were having dinner together, I was happy. And I knew she was too.
She wasn’t only my little sister; she was also my best friend.
“Oh!” she exclaimed and got up, holding her finger up for me to wait a minute. “I grabbed us a bottle of wine for dinner and fancy crystal glasses.”
I snorted at the latter and watched her head toward the front door where her bag was. A moment later, she came back with a bottle of Riesling in one hand and her “fancy crystal glasses,” which were two plastic wine glasses, in her other hand.
I chuckled and gestured for her to open it up and start pouring. And then we began to eat, the conversation moving away from Malkolm, even though that’s what she started talking about first.
It wasn’t that I didn’t want to tell Tatum about any of this, because I told her everything. I confided my dreams and fears to her. But honestly, there wasn’t a whole lot to tell.
When he stopped over after we closed, Tatum had been in the back counting inventory. I’d been so nervous standing in front of him, feeling the full weight of his unobstructed gaze, his heat pouring out of his massive body and spearing into me.
Our interaction had been polite and friendly, no stress, and I instantly relaxed. We exchanged numbers, had some light conversation, and then he said he’d contact me tomorrow so we could set up a date. And then I stood there like an idiot and watched him head back to Broken Hearts.
I might have even sighed in feminine appreciation at the sight of him.