Total pages in book: 296
Estimated words: 284055 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1420(@200wpm)___ 1136(@250wpm)___ 947(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 284055 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1420(@200wpm)___ 1136(@250wpm)___ 947(@300wpm)
“Chad was a tool bag,” he states. “Edward too. Your history ain’t lookin’ too good.”
“Mine?” My voice raises an octave. “Let’s discuss your lineup of Southern belles then, shall we?”
“Actually, I was hoping to have a repeat of our first kiss instead.” He leans down, pinning me with his hard stare.
The casual way he throws that request out has me blinking, slow and hard. “What?”
“Can I kiss you, Rowan?” His deep Southern drawl sends shivers right between my legs.
What the hell is happening?
Swallowing hard, I inhale a deep breath, trying to find my courage. “You didn’t ask that night so…”
“I’m a gentleman now,” he retorts with a cocky grin. “Do I need to ask a second time?”
Biting my lip, I chew it for a moment before releasing it and sliding my tongue across it. “Yes.”
“Yes, I need to ask again, or yes, I can kiss you?”
The smug look on his face tells me he knows exactly which question I was responding to. He’s such an arrogant jerk sometimes.
Deciding to give him a little taste of his own medicine, I wrap my arms around his neck and pull his face to mine but not all the way. I stop when our lips are merely centimeters apart, and I can feel his ragged breathing against my mouth.
His strong hands grip my waist, and he squeezes my hips, waiting for permission. “Yes,” I whisper. “Kiss me.”
CHAPTER SEVEN
DIESEL
As soon as the words leave her mouth, I wrap my hand around her neck and pull her lips to mine.
Sweet and soft.
Just as I remembered.
But this kiss is electric. Intense. A decade in the making.
My other hand squeezes her hip, and she arches her back, pressing herself into me. Rowan moans when I slide my tongue inside and taste her deliciousness. My fingers grab her two french braids, and I roughly pull on them like I used to when we were kids. Her head falls back, and our kiss deepens; our tongues fight for control as eagerness takes over.
“Fuck, Row,” I growl, sweeping my tongue along her bottom lip. “I’ve been waiting ten years to do that.”
Her breathing is ragged as we make eye contact. “I was only thirteen. That would’ve been highly inappropriate.”
“Most of my fantasies about you were,” I admit, shrugging.
“Oh really?” She cocks a brow. “Care to elaborate?”
My eyes gaze down her body, admiring every curve. “Hell yeah.”
Before she can protest, I grab under her ass and lift her. She squeals as she locks her hands around my neck and wraps her legs around my waist. I walk us around the bar and set her down on one of the stools so we’re eye level. Cupping her cheek, I bring our mouths together and savor her taste.
“I always liked when you did your hair like this,” I taunt, pulling on one of her braids again. “You have no idea what they did to my teenage boy hormones. Then you’d put on a cowboy hat, and I’d nearly nut in my jeans at the thought of how I’d yank on them as I bent you over.”
Rowan bursts out laughing, tightening her thighs around me. “That’s quite the imagination for a teenager.”
I flash a half grin. “That was in my thoughts just last week.”
She swats at my chest, but I grab her wrist, pulling her closer. “Did you wear them for me?”
“Do you think everything is about you?” she retorts. “How does that ball cap even fit with that big head of yours?”
“Answer the question, Row.”
“I’ve been fixin’ my hair like this for years,” she tells me. “You’d chase me and pull on them, then tease me and say I looked like Little Red Riding Hood.”
I chuckle at the memory and shrug. “Well, your hair does have a red tint in the sun.”
“And you’d say how you were the Big Bad Wolf, and that if you caught me, you were going to eat me,” she adds, unamused.
I burst out laughing again. “I was a little shit.”
“So I’d run, and of course, you were always faster than me,” she deadpans, tilting her head. “Now I remember why I hated you so much.”
My mouth tips into a grin. She’s trying so hard to be upset with me, crossing her arms and putting space between us. After a decade, I finally kissed her again and am not wasting another opportunity.
“That was just foreplay,” I taunt, leaning closer. “All these years of pent-up sexual frustration…stop fightin’ it, Row.”
“And what were all the one-nighters and hookups? Practice?”
I arch a brow. “Were you jealous?”
She gives me her famous eye roll. “No.”
I tilt her chin up until our gazes meet. “Let me kiss you again.”
“You gonna ask every time?” I can tell she’s holding back a smile.
“You gonna stop being stubborn?” I counter, plucking her bottom lip from her teeth. “Because I have plans for this sassy mouth.”