Total pages in book: 16
Estimated words: 15143 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 76(@200wpm)___ 61(@250wpm)___ 50(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 15143 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 76(@200wpm)___ 61(@250wpm)___ 50(@300wpm)
“Who the fuck do you think you are? You’re just someone she picked up to piss me off!” Martin’s friends help him stand, and the moment he does, he rears his arm back and tries to clock Tyler. Tyler catches it in his fist and shoves Martin back.
I can’t watch anymore, so I sit on the nearest chair and cover my ears, willing everything to stop. Sounds of fists hitting flesh, grunts, and groans make me want to scream.
This is a nightmare. Why is nobody calling the guards? Why is no one stopping them? God, please don’t let them hurt Tyler. Please, please, please.
“I’m gonna fucking sue you to hell and back, asshole. I’ll make sure you’re left with nothing!” Martin’s voice booms.
I finally get the courage to look up, and what I see confuses me. The other guys, including Martin, are scattered on the floor with varying degrees of injuries—cuts, bleeding noses, swollen eyes.
But Tyler.
Tyler is standing over them, and he’s not even breathing hard.
“Try it, Martin. You forgot all the CCTV cameras around the lobby and inside this very room. You sue him, I’ll sue you right back. I bet your dad won’t be too happy about that.” Dad stands beside Tyler, one hand on Tyler’s shoulder.
Martin looks like he’s just been slapped. “You’re siding with him? He stole Maura from me! He’s a fucking nobody!”
“He didn’t.” I let go of Mom’s hand and move closer to Tyler’s other side. “I broke up with you and refused your marriage proposal. Stop blaming everyone but yourself. You can never see past your own selfish needs.”
“Shut the fuck up, Maura,” Martin hisses.
Tyler takes one step toward him, but Dad puts a hand to stop Tyler. “Tell my daughter to shut up and use that tone on her again, Martin, and it’s going to be my fist on your cheek.”
Martin’s face falls. “He can’t even afford her annual shopping spree in Milan! I am the man for her!”
Dad turns to me with a smile, love shining in his eyes. “Have you met our Maura, Martin? She doesn’t need a man for money. She has more than enough as it is.”
6
TYLER
Maura’s apartment is where I would live if I won a billion dollars in the lottery. It’s not even the impeccable interior design nor the custom-made furniture.
No. The best part about her place is the view from her floor-to-ceiling windows.
Here, I can gaze out at the vast expanse of the ocean stretching out endlessly under the dark sky. The water is a deep, velvety black, and the moon hangs high above, casting a silvery path across it. Its reflection dances on the surface and creates a trail that seems to lead straight into the horizon.
“What’s your poison?” Maura asks from the minibar.
I turn my back on the spectacular view and walk to her. “None for me. I’m drunk from watching you.”
She chuckles and pours red wine into a glass. “You say that to every girl you meet?”
“Just you.”
“How about the others? What do you tell them?”
“There was no one before you, Maura,” I say, watching closely for her reaction. “No one after you either.”
With my gaze unwavering, I take slow, measured steps toward her. Maura sets the bottle down on the counter, and we stand looking at each other for a long, tense moment.
“You know I worship the ground you walk on, right?”
Her lower lip trembles, and her neck flexes. “Yes. Why?”
I reach and smear her lipstick across her cheek. “Because I’m about to pound you into a writhing, screaming mess. I won’t stop until you come.” I lower my head to bite her lower lip lightly and whisper against her mouth, “You’re my queen, Maura, but tonight … tonight, you’re my little slut.”
No sooner do those words leave my mouth that I kiss her like I don’t need air. She’s so much smaller than me that the only way to devour her mouth is to lift her off her feet and set her on the counter.
Before her, I hated the feel of other people’s skin on mine. Tattooing was fine since I wore gloves.
Now, with Maura, I can’t seem to stop. Can’t seem to last one second without at least brushing against her.
It’s as if I’m trying to make up for lost time. Making for all those years when I should’ve been touching her, but I wasn’t.
The silence in her apartment is shattered by the sound of rain drumming against the glass windows and the distant rumble of thunder.
I swipe my tongue along her jaw. “Have you ever been fucked in the rain?”
“N-no.”
Smiling against her skin, I loop her legs around me and carry her outside. We leave the cozy warmth of her penthouse, and I open the sliding door, the cool, moist air slapping my skin.
The sound of rain is louder out here, and a shiver runs down my spine as the cold droplets land on my arms and face. The rain soaks through our clothes quickly, and the fabric on Maura’s dress clings to her body.