Total pages in book: 124
Estimated words: 116232 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 581(@200wpm)___ 465(@250wpm)___ 387(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 116232 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 581(@200wpm)___ 465(@250wpm)___ 387(@300wpm)
I went with the easiest question first. “How do you think you’d feel about being watched?”
This wasn’t what she’d expected, and it took her a long moment to consider it. And then she blinked, and it looked like she was holding in a laugh. “I don’t think that’s going to be a problem. You haven’t figured out that I’m kind of an attention whore?”
Shit, she was right. Charlotte had been the center of her parents’ universe growing up, and the goal for her now was to build a channel that got as many eyeballs as possible.
She thrived on attention.
Could the same be said of me?
In certain settings, yeah. Not as much with my family, but with my career. When I’d executed a major trade or negotiated a big deal, I made sure my name was all over it. And in the bedroom, I fucking loved being watched. Even if the woman’s partner didn’t want to see or be in the room during, I knew they’d be talking about me after the deed was done. That gave me a dark satisfaction.
Oh, man. Maybe I was an even bigger attention whore than Charlotte.
After I paid for our drinks and we’d collected them, I turned to survey the room.
“Was that all you wanted to talk about?” She asked it innocently, but there was an edge of impatience beneath it. She was eager to get upstairs.
“No.” I found what I was looking for and pointed to the empty table near the dance floor. The music was loud here, but not too loud to talk over, and if we went anywhere quieter in the club, it was likely we’d both get too distracted.
She shuffled begrudgingly to the table, and I had to hide my chuckle behind a sip of my drink. Her pouty attitude shouldn’t have been a turn-on, but it fucking was.
We set our drinks on the tabletop that was lit with a single flameless candle, but when she moved to take a seat, I stopped her.
“I don’t want to be friends anymore,” I announced.
She jolted with surprise and immediately looked distraught. “What? Why?”
My heart went out of rhythm because there was no turning back. I got the same rush I did when buying a risky stock. The unknown was exciting, full of promise and danger.
Goddamn, she was pretty. I reached out to trace a fingertip over her forehead and down the side of her face, brushing her hair out of my way. The action stunned her perfectly still, so I had to curl my fingers beneath her chin and pull her mouth toward mine.
She’d asked why we couldn’t be friends anymore, and the words tumbled freely from my lips. “Because I want to do this.”
And then I pressed my mouth to hers in a searing kiss.
EIGHTEEN
Noah
Charlotte let out a soft cry of surprise when our lips met. My kiss had startled her for sure, but as it went on, she softened into me. I wrapped my arms around her, and her hands went inside my suit coat, wandering over my chest.
Christ, could she feel my chaotic heartbeat?
Or how much I’d been sweating beneath my suit . . . and did she know she was the biggest reason for it?
I angled my head to deepen the kiss, and she responded in kind. Her lips parted and her tongue slicked over mine, and I fucking felt the caress of it everywhere. But I was grateful for it because our kiss had started too sweet. It had been filled with more passion and longing than I was comfortable with.
We’d kissed each other like we’d been starving for it.
I slid one hand down her backside, grabbed a handful of her ass, and squeezed like I wanted to claim ownership. I needed to remind her that this thing between us should be about lust and desire. About two people with similar interests who could help each other out.
It couldn’t be about anything else. Not romance, and certainly not love.
A sound of satisfaction slipped out of her at my possessive grip, and her response was to nip gently at my bottom lip. Her kiss was so provocative and seductive, I got lost in it, and I knew if I wasn’t careful—it’d escalate beyond my control.
And I knew I needed to stay in control.
When I ended the kiss, she looked as woozy as I felt. Were we drunk? Shit, no, we’d only had one drink. Her hands were still on my chest when she leaned back and gave me a dazzling smile.
“Well,” she said, “that’s a relief.” Her expression was victorious, like we’d been playing a game that she’d just won. “Now I don’t have to spend the rest of the night trying to convince you to kiss me.”
I chuckled and gripped the back of the chair, pulling it out for her, because there was a lot of shit we had to talk about. She dropped into it and patiently waited for me to take the seat across from her.