Total pages in book: 206
Estimated words: 192184 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 961(@200wpm)___ 769(@250wpm)___ 641(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 192184 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 961(@200wpm)___ 769(@250wpm)___ 641(@300wpm)
But despite how convincing she was, she had to still be just acting and I was trying my damnedest to not let it piss me off and ruin this moment. But, it nagged at me. For her, this was just self-preservation. I pulled away and looked at her accusingly.
Until he said, “Marry me”, he was Ice Cream Parlor Hottie. Somehow, I’d managed to convince myself of that and it had made things not so difficult, other than a few awkward moments. I thought I was doing okay, and I did start to forget who he really was there for a bit. But then when he looked at me with that scary hunger in his eyes, he was suddenly the guy that had slapped me and scared me and tied me up, who’d threatened me and everyone I loved.
Thankfully, he’d broken the awkwardness when I didn’t answer his proposal, if you could call it a proposal, since he more demanded than asked. He broke the tension by kissing me again. The way he kissed me…wow. I’d gone weak in the knees. How could he make me feel like that one minute and fill me with hate a moment later? Then he glared at me for a second like I’d done something wrong, and before I could process it, we were walking hand in hand back toward the car. I wasn’t sure what would happen when we got back to his house. He was walking too fast and I got a stitch in my side.
He waited, looking broody while I washed the sand off my feet in a small fountain near the parking lot and then walked on the hot pavement to the car. He tossed my shoes into the back seat and got in the car and started it.
He was quiet all the way back to his house. I kept seeing his jaw muscles flexing as he drove. My heart was racing; the suspense was freaking me out.
When he pulled the car into his driveway and got out, I didn’t know whether or not to sit there and wait or get out. I reached for my shoes and then looked at him as he slammed his door.
“What, you want chivalry now?” He quirked his eyebrows up at me.
I opened my mouth, but nothing came out. He started to laugh. I cracked a smile, embarrassed, and then got out of the car and followed him into the house. I wasn’t sure if the laugh was cynical or if he was just teasing me. I was having trouble getting a read on him.
“What happened to you?” Sarah, standing in the front hall, looked at me like I was something the cat had dragged in. Tommy was arming the house alarm.
“Wrestling on the beach with a golden retriever puppy,” I said and shrugged. I caught my reflection in a mirror on the wall in the foyer. My hair was windblown and I was barefoot without an ounce of lipstick remaining on my mouth and my eye makeup was a little bit raccoonish. “Oh, I’m a mess!”
She smiled, looking surprised and pleased.
“No, you’re beautiful. You can punch the clock, Sarah.” Tommy said. “I don’t need anything else tonight. Where’s Earl?”
“He’s out back. I’ll tell him you’re in.” She was smiling at him with a sort of goofy grin.
“All right. I don’t need to see him; I just wanted to know if it was him on patrol. Lock the door on your way through the kitchen.”
“All right. And yes, until midnight, then Marco relieves him.” Her smile was still big.
“All right.” He looked at her strangely.
Patrol. There were men here, guarding. Were they doing more than making sure I wasn’t escaping? I’d seen enough mafia movies to know that most organized crime families considered themselves under threat from some enemy or another most of the time.
“Let’s go,” he said to me and took my hand, moving us to head up the stairs, leaving her standing there still smiling goofily.
Following him up to the master bedroom felt ominous. The instant I shut the door behind myself, he pinned me against it. He wasn’t touching me with his hands as both palms were flat against the door, but his hips were against me and I was stuck. He was breathing heavily, looking down at me. I looked up into his eyes and swallowed hard. It seemed like an eternity passed before he finally spoke.
“So?” he breathed.
He threw his suit jacket on the floor and then undid the silver chain around his neck and tucked it into his pants pocket. Then he undid the buttons of the dress shirt and shook it off, and held it in his hand. He did all this while continuing to pin me with his hips. I felt his erection against my stomach.
I took a deep breath. I was torn between wanting to stare at his beautifully sculpted naked upper body and looking away due to the darkening look in his eyes. Obviously, our little date was over and now he was back to being himself. Ice Cream Parlor Hottie was long gone, if he’d ever even been there at all.