Total pages in book: 84
Estimated words: 82579 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 413(@200wpm)___ 330(@250wpm)___ 275(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 82579 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 413(@200wpm)___ 330(@250wpm)___ 275(@300wpm)
He steps closer. The distance between us flattens. I want to run, but he doesn’t seem upset. Amused, maybe a little turned on even, which is terrifying and exciting. The moment teeters between us, and this can topple either way.
Either total disaster or exactly what I wanted from tonight.
“Show it to me again.” It’s a command, and behind that command is a whole slew of filthy, carnal promises. But only if I’m willing to obey. It’s a pact, those easy little words, and a magic spell. It means all I have to do is play along, and tonight will take a turn. Where it’ll go, I can’t say exactly, but I know this is the closest I’ve ever come to totally losing myself.
I open my mouth to refuse him, because that’s who I’ve always been—good to a fault—but I stop myself.
Despite how much of a disaster this has been, I have to remember: I’m someone else tonight.
Carmela Marino would turn him down and slap him across the face, but that’s not me right now.
He doesn’t even know my name, which means I can be anyone I want.
This new person, whoever I am, likes the way he’s looking at me.
No, she more than likes it—
She really, really wants more.
I reach into my clutch and take it out. The little pink vibrator sits on my palm. I’ve never felt so vulnerable in my entire life, but he doesn’t laugh. He doesn’t act like I’m strange or broken or like I’m crossing a dozen different bright-red lines.
Instead, he plucks it from my hand.
“Not bad,” he says and licks his lips in a way that suggests he’s thinking about what I look like when I use it. Which turns me on in a way I’ve never felt before. Deep, pulsing, impossible to ignore. “In your hands, this little toy is a deadly weapon. I bet you’re good with it.”
“I usually use a saber when I fence,” I say, cheeks so scarlet I must look like I’m on fire.
“I’m not talking about fencing anymore.” He closes his hand around my vibrator. “Come show me how you use this, and I don’t mean as a weapon.”
Oh my god.
All my triggers pull. Explosions go off in my brain. This is the moment I wanted when I left the house earlier, and now that it’s here, I can barely control myself.
He holds out a hand.
I stare at it, and there’s another crossroad.
Turn him down and go back to my life unchanged, no different than I was before. I’ll follow my father’s orders and marry a stranger like a good girl should.
Or go with Step and really become someone else.
This moment, right here, is why I came out tonight.
Because if I had kept going the way I was going, if I had just followed my father’s orders, then I never would have experienced something like this.
The sheer elation. The mortification, the embarrassment. My heart racing into my chest and the strange, tingling excitement between my legs.
The nervous fear mingling with pure lust.
“Where do you live?” I ask him, breathless and not sure how this is supposed to work.
“Not far.” He steps closer. One of his hands rests lightly on my hip. There’s that charming smile again, but this time, it’s laced with something else. “If you follow me home, I’m going to put you to work. I want your legs spread and that vibrator rubbing up against your slick clit. I want to watch you come before I’ll even touch you. Can you do that for me, little fencer?”
Holy shit.
Nobody has ever talked to me like that before.
Good little Carmie? Not a chance. Most men are terrified of my family, much less ballsy enough to say something like that.
“I think so,” I whisper, more turned on than I’ve ever been before. A part of me wonders if I should tell him how inexperienced I am. I’ve barely kissed a handful of men and been felt up and awkwardly fondled by a couple of them, but nothing more than that.
Nothing like… this.
“That’s a good girl.” His other hand touches my other hip. He moves them around and pulls me lightly against him. My heart’s racing as my hands push into his muscular chest. I feel his pulse: completely steady.
Like he’s in control right now.
“How do we, uh, you know.” I clear my throat, feeling awkward and lost. “How do we do this?”
His smile is like liquid honey as he dips his mouth down toward mine.
“I think we’ll start here.”
Then he kisses me.
Lightly at first. Probing and confident. Like he’s testing to see how I’ll react.
And god, it tastes so fucking good.
I react by losing my mind.
I press myself tighter to him, sealing his mouth with mine. His lips part and his tongue invades my mouth, and he releases a sinful groan of surprise as the kiss turns from nice to searing hot in seconds. I melt against him as his taste floods me: whiskey and mint like a terrible secret.