Total pages in book: 35
Estimated words: 33243 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 166(@200wpm)___ 133(@250wpm)___ 111(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 33243 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 166(@200wpm)___ 133(@250wpm)___ 111(@300wpm)
Alec’s face darkens, his pupils dilating and his nostrils flaring. With a resigned sigh, he growls, “Fuck. Let’s go.”
His hand rests on the small of my back as he leads me to the dance floor, the pain in his expression making me giggle. I’ll be sure to give him his reward before the night is over.
With my hands around his neck and his on my waist, we sway to the music. It starts innocently enough, but the longer we stand there, I notice Alec running his hands up and down the sides of my body, brushing the exposed skin as his gaze drops to my mouth. “God, you’re beautiful. Have I ever told you that?”
“No, but you make me feel it.”
“You are beautiful.” His voice turns thick with lust, and my body hums in anticipation. I guess he’s having me for dessert all right.
“Have I ever told you how hot and handsome you look?”
At this, his eyes sparkle with mirth, and he lifts a brow. “Not yet. Thank you, baby, but I’m genuinely wondering if people have been looking at us because they find you extraordinarily beautiful or if they’re wondering why you’re with someone like me.”
“Why shouldn’t I be with you?”
He throws me a Really? look. “Come on, baby.”
“No, I don’t know. Explain it to me.”
He looks over my shoulder, and darkness briefly crosses his face. “When I was in boarding school, my classmates called me Two-Face after that Batman character. I refused to leave my room for weeks until Jameson came and talked to me.”
My heart breaks for the child Alec was. Other kids can be mean and cruel. I can’t imagine how Alec felt when they ganged up on him and made fun of his trauma. “If I was there, I would’ve punched each of their faces.”
He laughs softly. “I can totally see you doing that. But my point is, I know and everyone knows that you’re way out of my league. It’s like one of those movies where the loser guy gets the most popular girl on campus.”
This makes me perk up, and my spine straightens. I glare at him. “Take that back.”
There’s tenderness in his face but also raw pain. That memory must still haunt him, and it bleeds into every other aspect of his life, including me. “No.”
“No?”
He starts to shake his head but grinds his teeth when I press against him. He tenses under my touch, and it doesn’t take five seconds before I feel the hard ridge of his thick girth against my stomach. Even then, I smirk and rub against him.
The pained expression is back, and he warns in a low voice, “Zara, I’m wearing thin pants. The moment we go back to our table, everyone with eyes is gonna see my hard cock.”
Hard cock. Those two words.
Arousal pulses through me, making me wet with need. Is this an inappropriate place to tease him? Yes, it is, but I can’t deny the small, secret thrill of having this kind of effect on Alec. Unflappable, nonchalant Alec.
A rush of cool air brushes the skin on my back, and I kind of regret wearing something with a low scoop. When his gaze turns hazy with lust, though, it warms me. My breaths come in short pants, and I want nothing more than for him to relieve the terrible, empty ache within me.
I have to tamp it down first because this conversation is important to me. To us. “I won’t stop rubbing against you unless you take that back.”
“Take what back?”
“You saying I’m out of your league.”
“You are.”
I sway my hips. To everyone else, I’m just sensually dancing, but upon closer inspection, they’ll see me teasing Alec and his body responding.
He throws his head back, his Adam’s apple bobbing. “Jesus, fine. I take it back.”
“Now say, ‘You deserve me, Zara. We deserve each other.’ Go on, say it.”
“Fine.”
“Say. It.”
He groans. “You deserve me, Zara. We deserve each other.”
“Good boy.” Running my hand along his chest, I lift myself and brush my lips softly over his. “Now take me home.”
11
ALEC
We don’t make it to the bedroom.
The second we step into the threshold of my apartment, we’re a tangle of limbs. My hands are all over her, and she’s clutching me like she needs me more than air.
We reach the kitchen counter, and only separating myself from her to come up for air, I settle her on the marble countertop. A strange emotion flickers in my chest and my throat constricts at how beautiful she looks—eyes hooded, lips swelling from the kiss, chest rising and falling, and her whole face flushing.
Anchoring my hands on either side of her, I flash her a quick grin before kissing her again—slowly and languidly this time, as if I have all the time in the world.
My heart pounds furiously in my chest as I run my hands along the expanse of smooth skin along her thighs. The lace panties are nice to look at, sexy too, but they’re in my way. I hate even a thin layer of fabric separating us.