Total pages in book: 110
Estimated words: 106935 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 535(@200wpm)___ 428(@250wpm)___ 356(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 106935 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 535(@200wpm)___ 428(@250wpm)___ 356(@300wpm)
I’m thrilled and relieved at the same time. It’s not the end—it’s the start of the rest of the night. “I do want to go with you.”
He takes my yes—rightly—as permission to hold my wrist tighter. “I asked your age because, one, I’m curious. Doesn’t take a genius to work out that there’s more than a decade between us. But I also asked because I’m thirty-eight, and I don’t usually go to clubs. I will take you wherever you want to go, but I’m not going to thrust my arms in the air and toss back shots and jump up and down.”
I laugh at those images. “I don’t want you to dance like that.”
“Good.” He inches closer, crowding me here on the sidewalk, the beach to one side, the South Beach scene to the other. He drops my wrist, his hand snaking around my waist instead. With him this close, I catch a hint of his cologne—he smells like fresh-cut wood and snow. Intoxicating. “If we go dancing, I’m going to dance like a man who wants a woman. Close to you,” he adds, letting those words linger in the air between us like sweet smoke. “My hands on your soft arms, my chest pressed to your lovely back, my nose in your beautiful fucking hair that I’ve been dying to inhale all night long.” His fingers travel lower, curving over the fabric of my dress covering my ass. “Is that how you’d like to dance with me?”
I can’t speak.
I have no words. I simply ache.
“Yes,” I whisper.
“Good. Then let’s go. But first…”
He reaches into his back pocket and takes out his phone. He slides open the screen, clicks on it, then shows it to me. It’s a text message to him from his mother.
I hope you’re remembering to wear sunscreen, Nick.
I laugh, all the tension defused. My wariness vanished into the night. “Well, did you, Nick? Remember to wear sunscreen?”
With a twinkle in his eyes, the gorgeous man shakes his head as if he’s relishing his naughtiness. “I don’t always do the right thing.”
“But you said you’d walk me back to the hotel. That seems like the right thing,” I say, back to teasing.
“I’m not sure dancing with you like I want to fuck you is the right thing. But I’m going to do it anyway.”
I blink.
This is true speechlessness.
Then he brushes his lips against the shell of my ear, whispering, “Be a good girl, Lola. Write back to her and tell her you’ll see her Sunday. Because later, you’re going to be very, very busy.”
Desire swoops down my body, pulses hot between my thighs.
I can’t wait to be very busy.
He steps back as I click open the message from my mother and tell her I can’t wait for lunch.
Then I stuff my phone in my clutch, shut the purse with a decisive snap, and take his offered hand. He leads me into the club, paying the cover charge. Under the deafening beat, he guides me to the dance floor, weaving between hot, sweaty bodies as we go. We pick a spot, and he moves behind me. Yanks my body against his. My back to his chest. My ass to his erection.
As promised, he buries his face in my hair and draws a long, lingering scent.
Goose bumps flare all over my body from his possessive, carnal move.
He can’t seem to stop playing with the loose strands of my hair falling from my clip, catching hits of me as his hands slide down my arms then wrap around my waist.
I lift mine above my head, dancing the way I like. Free and easy. Living in my body. Embracing the night, grooving to the music, letting go.
But I’m dancing a whole new way too.
Close to him. My body melting against his.
As we move and grind, I have so many answers about this man—answers I didn’t know I was seeking. Nick Adams likes foreplay. Nick Adams likes to take his sweet time. Nick Adams likes…me.
Lola Jones, the woman without a history.
And as he runs his nose along my neck, I have another answer too. I don’t want to wait any longer.
I can’t hear a soul above the loud thumping of the music, but my words are unmistakable when a few songs in, I slink around in his arms, face him, and mouth fuck me.
We’re out the door in seconds.
6
CHALLENGE ACCEPTED
Nick
We’re back to the hotel in no time. Once the elevator door closes, I punch the button for the fourteenth floor, then I crowd her against the mirrored wall, run a hand down her bare arm, and savor—absolutely fucking savor—the sight in front of me.
This woman is on the edge.
Just the way I want her.
Finally, after teasing her all night long, I’m going to have her.
And I intend to have her my way. I cup her cheeks, hold her beautiful face, and then brush my lips to hers.