Total pages in book: 23
Estimated words: 21817 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 109(@200wpm)___ 87(@250wpm)___ 73(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 21817 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 109(@200wpm)___ 87(@250wpm)___ 73(@300wpm)
“Do you think there will be a bathroom I can use?” I ask with a gulp. Now that the danger is over, I have to go really bad. Every bump is killing me.
“I’ll find you one,” he says as he speeds up. “And then… We’ll go back to the auction.”
“Back to the auction? Are you crazy?”
“I stashed the money that I brought to bid on you nearby in the forest.”
“You brought money? To win me?”
“I sold my ranch and gave up everything for you,” he says like it’s nothing.
“You did? Why?”
He suddenly stops the bike and turns to me with a look of pure love.
“I would do anything for you, Ava. Anything. I’d give up everything I have just to hold you in my arms. I sold my ranch to make sure I was the highest bidder, but Novak outbid me. Well, he’s dead now, the ranch is ours, and we have a bag full of money waiting for us. We can use it to start a new life together.”
He’s staring at me with his beautiful hazel eyes and it makes my heart turn to mush. All he’s done for me… I’ll never be able to pay him back for all of it.
I grab his stubbly cheeks and pull his mouth to mine. His big hand slips onto my lower back and he pulls me against him with a hungry moan.
His tongue slides along mine as he claims my mouth. I never imagined that my first kiss would be with a wild man like Elias, but I’m glad that it is. I can’t imagine a better kisser than him.
I slide my hands into his hair as he holds me protectively like he’s never going to let me go now that he’s finally found me.
My head is spinning when we finally pull away. I can’t help but smile as I admire his gorgeous face.
He’s older than me with a few more wrinkles and salt and pepper hair, but I like it. I trace my tingling fingertips over the lines beside his eyes, wishing I was there all those years to see them form.
I may have missed a lot, but we’re together now and we’re not going to waste any time.
“I still can’t believe you’re here,” he says as he stares at me in awe. “You’re so beautiful. Are you even real?”
My eyes drop and my stomach sinks. “In some ways, no.” I’m looking better than I ever have thanks to the team of makeup artists and hair stylists that did their magic, turning my ordinary-looking face into a masterpiece. I’m terrified that he’s going to be disappointed when he sees how I really look once I wash off all this makeup and take down my hair. “I don’t normally wear this much makeup.”
He kisses me again and I moan into his mouth. God, he tastes good.
“You’ll always be stunning to me, Ava,” he whispers after he pulls away and gazes into my lovestruck eyes. “Always.”
I wish I could believe him.
We continue driving to the town and by the time we arrive on the dark quiet streets, I’m dying to go.
The only thing that’s open is an inn.
We hide the bike behind the building in case those bears make the stupid mistake of coming after us and challenging my man again, and we head inside. I have to go so badly that I run in.
“Can I please use your bathroom?” I ask the man at the desk with a wince.
He doesn’t even look up from his book. “Bathrooms are for customers only.”
“Oh, come on!” I say as I bounce around. “I’d expect this in the city, but I thought people in the country are supposed to be nice!”
“It’s not worth arguing over,” Elias says as he tosses some bills onto the counter. “We’ll take a room.”
“Where did you get that?” I ask in shock. The man is shirtless and barefoot, wearing only a pair of exercise shorts. Unless… Did he keep it in—?
“It was in the storage compartment of the bike,” he says as the man rings us up and hands over a key.
“Oh,” I say with my cheeks blushing as I grab it.
“You’re on the second floor,” the jerk-head receptionist says. “Second door on the right.”
There’s an elevator, but I have to go so badly that I race up the stairs and burst into the room.
Elias waits in the hall.
I stop before I slip into the bathroom.
“You can come too,” I say to him.
He walks in with a smoldering look in his eyes and slowly closes the door.
Chapter Eight
Ava
“I’m in a hotel room with a man,” I whisper as I stare at my shocked face in the mirror.
Of course, being in the same room as a man was always going to be the inevitable conclusion of tonight after being auctioned off, but it’s still shocking now that it’s happening for real.