Total pages in book: 91
Estimated words: 90448 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 452(@200wpm)___ 362(@250wpm)___ 301(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 90448 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 452(@200wpm)___ 362(@250wpm)___ 301(@300wpm)
Chase continued to hold me even though everyone was leaving the floor and no more music was playing. “Let’s get a drink. Maybe we’ll see your friend.”
“We need to get some water too.” My movements were getting that delayed reaction I got when approaching a tipsy state. Tension vanished from around my neck.
Chase guided me through the departing dancers.
When we arrived at the bar, he pulled me in front of him.
Chase gestured to the bar. “Go ahead and ask for what you want, and order me a brandy on the rocks, please.”
A brunette with a tube top that read Drunken Lyrics placed two napkins in front of us. “Hey Jasmine. What would you like?”
Chase seized the moment to press his body against my behind. Heat pooled between my thighs.
I gripped the edge of the bar with my hands. “Um . . . water, pinot noir, and a brandy on the rocks.”
“Gotcha.” She rushed off.
Chase kissed the curve of my neck.
I arched my back in response. Sparks of lust fluttered everywhere he touched.
“What are you doing?” I twisted around and moved his hands.
“What’s that fragrance you’re wearing?”
“Answer my question first.” I placed my hands on his chest so he wouldn’t come any closer.
“I was touching you.” He waved my hands away. “Now answer my question.”
“It’s just organic shea butter. I have dry skin so I have to put it all over me after I shower or wash my hands.”
“That’s why your skin is so soft?” He massaged the skin on my neck.
I stifled a whimper.
His fingers delivered hot sensations where they stroked. And instead of those sparks dying there, they traveled down my spine and expanded to other places that yearned to be touched.
I stepped to the side. “Don’t.”
“What can I do?”
“Nothing.”
“Now that’s unacceptable.” He pressed his lips to mine and slipped his tongue into my mouth.
And against all common sense, I sucked on that tongue, loving its thickness as it slipped in and out. Groaning, he pulled me into him until there was nothing but the thin layers of our clothes between us.
I sucked harder.
He pulled away, nibbled my bottom lip, and then backed up. “Our drinks are here.”
“What?” I struggled to catch my breath.
“Your wine is behind you.” He changed his view to my nipples as they stiffened.
“Umm . . . okay.” I turned away, grabbed my glass, and gulped the wine.
“Kissing you was probably a bad idea.” He leaned into my behind again, but now his hardness pushed against my curves. “I want to make you moan.”
Danger. Danger. Get a hold of the situation, Jasmine.
“You made me moan when I ate that delicious food tonight.” I switched from drinking wine to gulping down water in a desperate attempt to end this craziness. “By the way, you’re pushing your erection into my behind.”
“Do you like that?”
“No.”
He nipped at my neck and moved to my side. “You’re a bad liar.”
“You’re awful at courting a woman.”
“How?” His eyebrows furrowed.
I wagged one finger at him. “You kissed me without my permission.”
“You liked it.”
“Not the point. You also rubbed your erection on me like a pervert.”
“I am a pervert.”
“A spoiled one.”
He swallowed some of his brandy. “I’d love to spoil you. I’d give you anything you desired. Join my arrangement and you would never have to worry. I would take care of you and your family. I’d get them out of South End, put your nieces and nephews in good schools.”
Take care of my family?
I looked away and shook my head.
He really did study me hard. He knew I was constantly giving money to my mother and that would be a weakness to use against me. Too bad it scared the hell out of me instead. He figured he could have anything he wanted, served to him exactly the way he desired.
He probably could, just not me.
My mother depended on men so much that when they did things like hurt my brothers or me, she looked the other way. I didn’t work my butt off to get into Harvard and then deal with the weird stares from rich kids and all of those long hours of studying just so I could be a highly paid mistress.
“Like I said before, I’m not interested.” I tucked my hair behind my ear. “Besides, I wouldn’t do well in your harem. I feel like if you’re sleeping with other women, then I should be able to be with other men.”
He stepped closer to me. “I don’t share.”
“And I don’t give to selfish people.”
“Are you attracted to me?”
“Of course. I already told you I would date you,” I said without hesitation, which signaled to me that I needed to slow down the drinking.
“If I didn’t have this situation, would you have let me make love to you tonight?”
I averted my eyes. The light dimmed again as a poet walked on stage. It wasn’t Noc.