Total pages in book: 67
Estimated words: 62620 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 313(@200wpm)___ 250(@250wpm)___ 209(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 62620 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 313(@200wpm)___ 250(@250wpm)___ 209(@300wpm)
As he guides me away, I glance down to see that Killer has, indeed, made a break for it, leaving nothing behind but his tiny pirate hat and the frayed end of his lead.
Christian and I head for the jousting stands, leaving Raney cussing and Blinky calling, “Here, Killer, here boy. Where are you, buddy? Killl-errrr!”
Once we’re out of earshot, I murmur, “My knight in shining armor,” and will my flushed cheeks to stop burning. “Thanks for that. Pretending to be hot for my bod was a nice touch.”
He grunts. “Had to do something to take the wind out of that woman’s sails. What an asshole. Obviously not a friend of yours, huh?”
I snort-laugh. “Um, no. More like my nemesis. She bullied me in grade school. Made fun of my homemade clothes, my hair, my lisp…the whole works.”
“Fuck her,” he says, the heat in his tone surprising. “I bet your lisp was fucking adorable.”
“Not really. I sounded like Daffy Duck. It wasn’t a cute lisp. It was a juicy one.” I pull my hand reluctantly from his. We’re getting close to the stands and someone we know could see us and get the wrong idea. “But thanks. I appreciate the support. And the rescue. Is Nora okay?”
“She’s fine.” He moves his hand to the small of my back, setting off the increasingly familiar “Christian is touching me” tingle explosion between my hips. “Matty saw we were in trouble and stopped by on his way to the stables. Seemed like he and Nora knew each other. She looked happy to see him, anyway, and didn’t hesitate when he offered to carry her across the grass to the stands. Though she did say something about squirrels when he showed up, so she might have just been delirious with fear.”
“Squirrel guy,” I blurt out as the pieces connect. “Matty’s her squirrel guy!”
“What?” He looks at me like I might be delirious, too.
“Nora met a cute boy in the park,” I explain. “He saved her from a squirrel and asked her to come watch him joust today. She said his name was Matty, but she didn’t remember his last name. She was too wonderstruck by his dreamy eyes to remember all the details.”
Christian sighs. “Gotcha. Well, as soon as I get Matty alone, I’ll nip that in the bud. The last thing Nora needs is a guy making her life more stressful than it is already.” Before I can assure him that Nora is definitely up for hot-guy-related stress or ask what’s wrong with Matty—he’s always seemed like a nice guy to me—he pushes on, “But first you and I need to talk.” As we move past the beer stand next to the bleachers, he darts to the right, curling his hand around my waist to pull me with him.
“Where are we going?” I ask, yipping in surprise when he drags me past the edge of the stand and into the cool shadows beneath the bleachers.
“I told you—” He spins to face me so suddenly that I have to brace my hands against his chest to avoid a full-body crash. “To talk,” he finishes, staring down at me with an intensity that makes me feel even more exposed.
“Um, okay.” I curl fingers into fists and take a step away, trying not to think about how nice his pecs felt beneath my fingertips. “What are we talking about?”
“What she said…was it true?” he asks, beginning to look genuinely troubled.
I shake my head slowly back and forth. “That Tyson cheated on me? Yes, I told you that before.”
“No, not that part,” he says. “The other part.”
I frown. “What other part? Because if you’re talking about the cold fish thing, I’d really rather not—”
“No,” he cuts in, jabbing a frustrated hand in the general direction of my hips. “I mean the other part. The…virgin part.”
Shit. I was hoping he hadn’t heard that.
But clearly, he did, so…
I shrug. “Maybe. Maybe not. Can’t see that it’s any business of yours.”
“You basically asked me to be your fuck buddy until I leave town,” he hisses, glancing over his shoulder as if he expects someone to be eavesdropping on us under the bleachers.
I shrug again and cross my arms over my chest. “So?”
“So, you’re a virgin,” he says, motioning toward my hips again.
I widen my eyes. “And?”
“And that means I would have been your first,” he says. “That’s a big deal, Starling.”
My lips quirk up on one side. “Is it?”
“Of course, it is,” he insists.
“Was your first time a big deal?” I ask.
“Yeah, it was.” He stretches his neck to one side, seeming to think about it some more before he adds, “I mean, at the time.”
“How old were you?” I ask, cocking my head to one side. “If you don’t mind sharing.”
“Fourteen,” he mumbles, seeming a little embarrassed by the number.