Total pages in book: 137
Estimated words: 135696 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 678(@200wpm)___ 543(@250wpm)___ 452(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 135696 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 678(@200wpm)___ 543(@250wpm)___ 452(@300wpm)
“Okay.”
“I’ve had women. A lot of them.”
“Okay,” I repeated.
“But I’ve never done that.”
I squeezed his hand. “I know. We’re friends, right? Like you said. But I get it, even though she didn’t give you the chance to explain it. You had to do it because things have been a bit topsy-turvy lately.”
“Topsy-turvy,” he whispered, staring at my mouth.
And he kept staring at my mouth.
Um…
He was staring at my mouth.
And since he was, I couldn’t stop my eyes from dropping to stare at his.
He had a beautiful mouth.
Was this…?
Were we…?
He turned his hand so we were palm to palm and curled his fingers around mine.
We were.
Weren’t we?
I thought of the way he held me while we were in his dining room, looking at the lake.
The way he twirled my hair in his fingers last night.
The semi-argument we had on the ride home from Hutch’s about who was going to pay for Gia (she cost thousands of dollars, and I was loaded! and we left that on what I considered a temporary stalemate, but I believed Riggs thought he won).
None of that said we were just friends.
We weren’t just friends.
I moved around the bar, got close, and when he turned his head and looked down at me, all that had happened with him, all he’d done for me, all he was becoming to me, and just how beautiful he was, washed over me.
I rocked up to my toes, pressed into him…and kissed him.
His mouth was hard, and soft, and very closed.
And he didn’t move.
Oh shit.
I popped back, letting his hand go, and saying fast, “God, I’m sorry. That was wrong. I shouldn’t have violated your person like that. I read the situation…I was thinking…” I shook my head. “That was just all wrong. You’re in no state, I didn’t mean to take advantage. We’re friends and—”
“Nadia.”
My name in his mouth whipped at me like a lash.
My body jolted at his tone, my stomach sank, my heart pulsed, and I whispered, “What?”
“It’s time to go to bed.”
I nodded frantically. “Right, right, you’re right.”
“I’m gonna follow you up the stairs…”
I went still.
“…and it’s your decision which way you turn at the top of them.”
I quit breathing.
“But so you go in knowing what you’re getting into, you turn left, honey, it’s on.”
“It’s…on?” I pushed out.
“That’s all you’re gonna get, princess. You spin the wheel with me, you let it ride.”
I feared hyperventilation.
“Go to bed,” he ordered.
I felt my pussy contract.
“Now, honey,” he demanded.
I hustled around the counter.
I swallowed back a scream when the kitchen light went out, and I was plunged into darkness in the stairwell.
I put my hand to the wall and slowly wound my way up, the grooves in the wood paneling ebbing and flowing under my hand, a caress I felt through my fingers slink over my whole body, like Riggs, through his house, was touching me.
I knew when he entered the stairs, and I knew he was climbing when I got to the top.
But I stopped.
He stopped behind me, one step down. I couldn’t feel him, but I could feel his heat.
It felt amazing.
And his breath on my neck.
That felt even better.
Then I sensed him get closer, my hair was swept away, the bristles of the whiskers on his chin grazing my skin, and his breath was on my neck.
I shivered.
“Not fair,” I whispered.
“Who said I play fair?” he whispered against my skin.
The wheel was turning.
I was either in for a fun ride that I’d eventually get thrown off.
Or the ride of my life.
With Riggs, the first was probably a better bet than the last.
I thought of the way he held me while we were in his dining room, looking at the lake.
The way he twirled my hair in his fingers last night.
The semi-argument about Gia we had on the drive home from Hutch’s.
I’d played it safe and fallen in love with a wonderful man who was dying.
I’d lived a good life from my birth of abundance and privilege with good people who utterly adored me and showed it, but there were only two of them, and they were both dead.
Now, I was on my own.
I didn’t have Dedulya to turn to for advice.
I didn’t have Mom to talk things through with me.
The rest of my life, it was all me.
Just me.
Fuck it.
I turned left.
Riggs fingers closed on my hips instantly. He crowded me and shuffled me the short way down the dark hall to his stairs.
I felt a thrill whoosh through my belly like I was on the downslope of a roller coaster.
It was spectacular.
Come what may, feeling that, I knew one thing.
I’d made the right choice.
I stumbled when we made it to his stairwell because I couldn’t see.
He knew his house, so he lifted me up, guided the way, and halfway up, he turned us, so he was up, I was down. His mouth landed on mine, his tongue spiked inside. I moaned at the feel of it, getting it after I’d longed for it what seemed like ages, experienced the heady taste of beer and Riggs, and it was good he dragged me the rest of the way up, because my legs had stopped functioning.