Total pages in book: 105
Estimated words: 100277 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 501(@200wpm)___ 401(@250wpm)___ 334(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 100277 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 501(@200wpm)___ 401(@250wpm)___ 334(@300wpm)
“You know, there’s nothing wrong with admiring ambition. I don’t judge people for that. In fact, contrary to popular belief, I’m the most ambitious person I know.”
He quirked an interested eyebrow.
I grinned. “Everyone has ambitions. To be a doctor, a lawyer, an astronaut, a vet, a successful businessperson, a good mother, a good father . . . My ambition is to live a life that makes me truly happy. And I reckon that’s probably the most ambitious anyone can be in this world.”
Rafe’s eyes lightened, and the look he gave me made my heart race.
So much so, I sought to change the subject. “So you’re over her?” Why did I need the words?
He continued to stare at me with a brooding intensity. “Oh, I am definitely over Camille.”
Relief filled me and I swear, someone else took over my body. Perhaps the green-eyed monster. Because the next thing I knew, I’d grabbed hold of his lapel and pulled him down to me as I lifted onto my tiptoes and covered his mouth with mine. It was supposed to be a quick but hard kiss. However, Rafe brought our mouths back together with his hand on my nape. His other hand pressed deep into my back as he took over the kiss.
I gasped at the touch of his tongue to mine, and the sound seemed to ignite Rafe. He deepened the kiss and I met him in it. My tongue to his. His kiss was hungry, desperate almost, and it set every inch of me on fire. It wasn’t pretty or romantic. It was blatantly sexual and it consumed me with the need to get him very, very naked and inside me.
“Uh, guys, get a room.” Gigi’s voice cut through the moment like a bucket of cold water.
I jerked back, remembering where we were, and Rafe’s hand flexed around my nape as if to stop me from moving away. My lips tingled as we breathed hard, gazing at each other in stupefaction.
Hottest kiss of my life.
Rafe appeared dazed enough for me to believe maybe it was for him too.
But this wasn’t supposed to be real. We both needed to remember that. So I grinned mischievously. “Well played, Whitman. I hope the ex saw that.” I stepped out of his touch and glanced at Gigi, who smiled knowingly at us.
At Rafe’s silence, I forced myself to look at him.
The glint of hard determination in his eyes made my heart pound.
Oh boy.
“I need another beer.”
* * *
• • •
While I didn’t know how to act around Rafe after the most spectacular kiss anyone had ever given me, he’d returned to Mr. Relaxed. In fact, he was in a damn good mood. I couldn’t analyze that without freaking out.
When it came time to leave, Jen got me alone and apologized if the Van Beeks had offended me. I told her I wasn’t easily offended, but I was grateful that she’d acknowledged her friend’s rude behavior.
Rafe had stuck to his one-beer rule because he was driving, but after our kiss, I’d had a few more, and between that and too much sun, I was feeling a little tipsy. I commandeered the radio in the car and switched it to a rock station. Making myself at home, I’d kicked off my gladiator sandals and put my feet on the dash, tapping my hands on my knees as I sang along to the Eagles.
We slowed in traffic, and I glanced at Rafe, only to find him staring at my legs. My dress had fallen with gravity, baring me from the knee down.
“Sorry.” I lowered my legs, thinking he minded my feet on his pretty car. “I wasn’t thinking.”
His gaze flew to mine. “It’s fine.”
I didn’t put my feet back up on the dash.
The music changed to Queen, and Rafe reached over and turned down the volume. “Do you think I’m a prick for dating Camille?”
Shocked by his question—a question that suggested he cared about my opinion—I struggled to find the right words.
His expression turned guarded. “You do.”
“No.” I hurried to assure him as I straightened in my seat. “I already told you that. Look, we’ve all dated people we wished we hadn’t.”
“She cheated because I didn’t love her. She’d tell me she loved me and I couldn’t say it back.”
“Wow. You dated her for four years without saying ‘I love you’?”
He shrugged. “I was focused on setting up my clinic and I had little free time and Camille was ambitious, so she understood. I thought I wanted someone like that. Someone who didn’t mind if I didn’t show up for dinner that night. Someone who didn’t mind if I couldn’t say ‘I love you.’ Turns out she minded.”
I quizzed him, “Now you don’t want someone like that?”
He didn’t answer. Instead, he asked, “Have you ever been in love, Star?”