Total pages in book: 75
Estimated words: 74655 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 373(@200wpm)___ 299(@250wpm)___ 249(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 74655 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 373(@200wpm)___ 299(@250wpm)___ 249(@300wpm)
But it isn’t exactly true.
I did bad things. I endured bad things. I only fought because I had to, not because I wanted to.
I think that defines strong, right?
“Thanks, Amalie,” I say, standing. “I need some air. This alcohol is going straight to my head tonight.”
They both give me concerned looks, like they feel like they’ve upset me.
“I’m not upset,” I say to them, giving them a big grin. “Honestly, I need fresh air. Or I’ll probably pass out. Thank you both for everything you’ve done for me, and for this cabin, Scarlett.”
“Always.” She smiles. “I’m going to crawl into bed after I rope in my man, anyway. I’m tired.”
“Me, too.” Amalie nods. “Goodnight, Charlie.”
“Night,” I say, waving and then walking through the cabin.
I pass Maverick, Malakai, and Koda sitting around a table in the kitchen. There are two cabins, Koda, Mason, Boston, and I are in one, and the other couples are in the other. I don’t know if they realized they put me with three single men, but they did. I don’t mind. I got my own room, Koda got his, and the other two just threw out some bedding in the living room. It isn’t for long. Most of the club will go back in a few days anyway.
“Headed out, darlin’?” Malakai asks when I quietly try to tiptoe past the table.
“Just getting some air. Is that okay?”
He nods. “Go for it, just don’t walk off.”
“Wasn’t planning on doing that.” I smile, eyes flicking to Koda and holding them for a second before I keep walking.
I move through the kitchen and out the back door onto the narrow, but cool patio that runs around the whole length of the cabin. I close the door and turn, running straight into a pair of legs. I squeak as I tumble forward and fall over a lap. Two big hands catch me, and for a second, both of us struggle to get me back on my feet. It’s dark out here, so I didn’t realize I wasn’t alone.
“Whoa there, darlin’.”
Mason.
Phew.
“I didn’t know anyone was out here,” I grunt out, pushing to my feet. “Sorry, Mason.”
He chuckles low. Very, very low. Almost non-existent. At times, I think Mason can look darker than Koda. He doesn’t say much, and when he does, it’s only because he has to. He’s a nice guy, super-hot, and completely mysterious. I wonder what happened to make him so quiet, or is he just that way in personality?
Isn’t it funny, how we do that?
Assume the quiet and mysterious ones have had a hard life or have a secret. Maybe, just maybe, that’s who they are.
And why wouldn’t that be okay?
Why shouldn’t it be?
“All good,” Mason says in the darkness, his hand still on my hip, supporting me but not really. He could have let me go by now. My stomach does a little flip flop. Because, well, I have been craving being touched by a man. For a good long while.
And I’d be lying if I didn’t say imagining one night with Mason doesn’t make my skin hot.
And other places, too.
“Not every day a beautiful girl throws herself onto your lap,” he murmurs, and I can’t see him, but oh, I want to.
I’m drunk.
I know it, but I can’t really blame it for what I do next.
Honestly, it’s a blend of things.
Loneliness. Yes, pure, bitter loneliness.
The need for comfort.
The need for the touch of a man.
The dark desire inside me because I can’t have the man I really crave.
And, well, I’m horny.
Really, really horny.
So, I don’t step back, I say in a low, husky voice, “If I had known you wanted someone on your lap, I might have put myself there sooner.”
He’s silent for a moment, and I wonder if I’ve taken it too far. Hell, I don’t even know Mason. For all I know, he could have a girlfriend. I might have just come across as the easiest woman of all time. My cheeks burn, because I didn’t think before I opened my stupid mouth, and now he probably thinks I’m just like all the other girls in the club that they bring in for the men.
Easy.
Cheap.
No self-respect.
If only he knew it has been so long since I’ve been with a man or even thought of it.
But I trust the club and the men in it.
“That right?” he finally says, his voice low. His fingers bite into my hip, just a little, almost letting me know he hears me, and he feels me.
“Yeah,” I whisper into the darkness.
“Not sure Koda would appreciate my hands bein’ on you right now.”
“Koda is protecting me. That’s all he’s doing. If he wanted more, he would have said so. I’m a woman, Mason. A woman who knows exactly what she wants. And it has been a while since ...”
He makes a throaty sound. “Fuck. You know I shouldn’t, lady. You gotta know that.”