Contempt (Coastal Elite #3) Read Online Sam Mariano

Categories Genre: Alpha Male, Dark, New Adult Tags Authors: Series: Coastal Elite Series by Sam Mariano
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Total pages in book: 160
Estimated words: 155405 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 777(@200wpm)___ 622(@250wpm)___ 518(@300wpm)
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Chapter Twenty-Two

Parker

I wake up to a picture of the sun rising over the ocean—not out my window. I just missed it there. But Javi took a picture of it. He must have been on the beach early this morning, so he sent me the beautiful picture without a single word.

Peace fills me at the sight of it. I don’t know if it’s the picture so much as the message. The fact that he was thinking of me practically as soon as his eyes opened.

I was thinking of him until I went to sleep. I didn’t message him because I wasn’t sure of the dating rules. I thought about googling them, but I know it won’t be that simple. I don’t care about following rules for the sake of following rules, but rules usually exist for a reason. In this case, I imagine any particular rule I might follow would have more to do with not coming on too strong too fast and scaring him off. After all, I don’t know him well yet, so I don’t know how he operates.

“That’s so pretty. Thanks for sharing,” I text as soon as I wake up.

I lie there with my phone on my chest for a few minutes before he responds. “You finally wake up, bookworm?”

My stupid, impossible to tame smile immediately emerges. “Yeah, I know, I’m such a slacker. Didn’t even start my day on the beach.”

“Lame.”

“Do you live by the beach?”

“Yeah, pretty close. Sometimes I like to come down here for a morning run.”

“Oooh. I only run if something is chasing me.”

“Noted,” he replies with a wink. “You get chased often?”

More often than you’d expect.

Along with that sobering thought of my own evil stepbrother, I get an actual wake-up call. My phone alarm goes off. I silence it quickly, but that means it’s time to start getting ready for another day of school.

I put my phone down and stretch, then, reluctantly, pull myself from the comfy sanctuary of bed.

“I don’t want to wake up,” I text Javi. “Are you a morning person?”

“Nah, I just don’t sleep much. I stay up late, too.”

“That’s not healthy.”

“The run makes up for it,” he teases.

I laugh, walking into my bathroom. “No, it does not.”

My phone lights up again when I’m brushing my teeth. “You know, I sent you a picture of my view…”

“Mine’s nothing to get excited about,” I assure him. “I’m brushing my teeth.”

“Maybe I’m really into teeth.”

I laugh again, then decide what the hell. I am certain whatever introductory dating rules exist, this violates each and every one of them, but I aim my phone at the mirror and take the least sexy picture of myself ever: me literally brushing my teeth. I shake my head at the dumb picture, but I push send before I can overthink it.

“Sexy, right?” I joke.

“I can think of a few other things I’d like to put in that mouth.”

My stomach drops, but it’s more with excitement than fear—which is a nice change. “A few? How many dicks do you have?”

“Four. I hope that’s not a dealbreaker.”

I shake my head, sighing once I’m done laughing as I rinse out my toothbrush. I expected Javi would be smart and funny from the few interactions we’ve had, but I think he’s even better than I thought he’d be.

I’m light as a cloud as I float downstairs. Smiling is so easy, I can’t really stop.

It would be nice if Mom were in the kitchen when I get there so she could witness me being so happy, but she must still be upstairs getting ready. I am downstairs a little earlier than usual since I woke up before my alarm and I was extra energized from texting Javi.

Speaking of…

Since I’m the only one in the kitchen, I sit down at the island counter and drop my backpack on the floor by my feet. I pull out my phone and open my text with Javi, smiling fondly at the text on the screen. I start to type out another message, but before I can finish it, Landon appears so close behind me, I can feel the heat rolling off his chest when he leans in to whisper, “Who are you texting?”

Fear jumpstarts my heart. I drop the phone, startled, then fumble to pick it back up and darken the screen before he can see. “What? No one. Nothing. Hannah. Mind your business,” I blurt, feeling heat explode beneath my skin.

Landon looks at me oddly, his dark brows pulled together as he drops onto the seat beside me. “Yeah, that sounded like the truth.”

I glare at him and shove my phone into my backpack. “It’s none of your business who I’m texting. Nothing I do is any of your business.”

He shrugs. “Guess we’ll have to agree to disagree.”

I roll my eyes, utterly uninterested in his bullshit. I’m not going to sit here at the counter with him, though, so I get up and start making myself a smoothie.



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