Total pages in book: 158
Estimated words: 154037 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 770(@200wpm)___ 616(@250wpm)___ 513(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 154037 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 770(@200wpm)___ 616(@250wpm)___ 513(@300wpm)
She started humming as she worked, her throaty voice floating through the air, winding around me and twisting me in greed.
“How’d it go today?” I asked, trying to divert the out-of-control train of my thoughts.
“It was good, busy until late this afternoon. Not that you couldn’t tell from across the street.” There was a bit of a taunt to it, a pressing that told me she’d known I was watching too close.
I grunted as I swept the little pieces of leaves and petals into my palm so I could toss them into the trash.
“Couldn’t hear what you were saying, though. Couldn’t tell how you were feelin’,” I admitted.
I felt her still a fraction, her movements slowing as she murmured, “I felt safe, if that’s what you’re wondering.”
But what about your heart?
What about your body?
Were those safe, too? Was she regretting everything that had happened between us? Would she take it back if she could?
I’d fretted like a fucking hen about it all day, barely able to keep still as I’d watched over her from across the street, lying through my damned teeth to her brother about how it was my privilege to take care of our baby sister.
So damned fucked up that I wasn’t even sure what the truth was anymore.
“Only thing I want is for you to feel safe. To be safe,” I murmured.
She slowed even more, though her voice twisted into this seductive, disorienting thing. “Is it, Otto? Is it the only thing you want?”
My guts tangled in possession.
I slowly turned around, compelled, the woman a magnet I’d seemed to have lost all power over.
She stood facing the computer screen, her stomach up against the counter.
Her tempting, lush body vibrated beneath that dress, her legs so fuckin’ long in those heels.
The soft sway of her hips was mesmerizing.
The heavy thud of her pulse hypnotizing.
Could feel it, the erratic thuds that beat through the air.
My lungs squeezed as I slowly inched her way, coming up behind this woman who’d wrecked me so completely that I didn’t recognize myself any longer.
Couldn’t seem to stop myself from treading farther and farther into this depravity.
Her hair was piled on her head, twisted up in some kind of braid with a bunch of tiny white flowers poking out of it.
Her delicate neck exposed.
A magical sprite who’d taken possession of my mind.
I eased up until there was only an inch of space separating us, and I leaned in so my mouth was close to her ear.
“You wear this dress on purpose, Little Moonflower?”
She arched back. “Yes.”
“You like teasing me? Tempting me?”
She rocked back, her ass hitting my cock that was stone, and she barely peeked at me from over her shoulder. “Is it working?”
“Clearly.”
“That’s what I thought,” she murmured.
I buried my face at the back of her neck, then rumbled, “Fuck,” as she ground herself against me. My hand moved of its own accord, riding up below that dress where I splayed my hand over her bare bottom.
She whimpered, and I groaned, my mouth at her ear. “We need to get home, Raven.”
We needed to get out of here before I lost my mind.
FORTY-ONE
RAVEN
Otto’s hand rested on the small of my back as he led me out the front door. His gaze swept both directions.
“It’s clear.”
His voice was gruff. Harsh and shallow.
“Maybe it really was just random.”
“Wound on my thigh begs to differ.”
Right.
We couldn’t forget that, even though I wanted to. Even though I wanted to erase all of this business and focus on what mattered.
Us.
Well, finding out if there actually could be an us.
I locked the door, and Otto’s hand was right back on my lower back, stealing my breath as he guided me toward his bike that sat like a black beast at the curb.
Butterflies scattered in my belly.
How it was possible that just looking at his bike still riddled me with excitement, I didn’t know, but it happened every time.
“Raven!”
My attention snapped up when I heard the voice shouting from across the street.
Sienna waved her hand frantically overhead.
I grinned and waved back, and she looked both ways, waiting for a truck to whizz by before she jogged across the street, a big canvas bag bouncing on her back as she ran toward me with a giant smile.
She hopped onto the sidewalk next to me. “Hey, Raven.”
“Hi, Sienna.” I stepped up and hugged her. “How are you?”
“Good, good. It was super busy today, so tips were great.”
“That’s awesome.”
“I was worried for a minute because I wasn’t sure if someone here was going to chase all our customers away…” There was a teasing question to it as she cast a sidelong look in Otto’s direction. “Or maybe he just suckered them in. Our brand-new mascot.”
She winked at me.
Yeah, the man was something to look at.
A brutal monument.
I didn’t know how every woman in Moonlit Ridge hadn’t flocked to Sunrise to Sunset Café to see him.