Total pages in book: 81
Estimated words: 83171 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 416(@200wpm)___ 333(@250wpm)___ 277(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 83171 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 416(@200wpm)___ 333(@250wpm)___ 277(@300wpm)
But I can’t walk away from Skye. My feet feel like they’re mired in cement, and the rest of my body seems caught in a force field.
This woman—this young and focused and, in some ways, immature woman—holds me in some kind of a thrall, which should bother me a lot more than it does.
I don’t beg women to go to bed with me. Ever.
But Skye somehow planted a feeling inside me, and it’s growing.
I want her back in my bed.
I will do whatever is necessary to get her back there.
I sigh, rubbing my forehead. “Fine. If that’s what it takes to get you back in my bed, you can stay until morning. Does that suffice?”
She shrugs. “I don’t have to stay. I just would like the option.”
I cock my head, resisting a smile. I understand this woman better than she realizes.
It’s control she wants.
She won’t get that with me, but for the moment, I’m willing to give her the illusion of control.
“I’m beginning to see what you really want,” I say. “It’s not so much that you want to stay. It’s that you want to be the one to decide, isn’t it?”
She stays silent for a few minutes as people bustle around us in the lobby. The MADD Gala must be breaking up.
Finally, when the chaos in the lobby settles a bit, “I can’t go back to your bed, Braden.”
I sear her with my gaze. “You can.”
“No, I can’t. It just doesn’t feel…”
I move into her space, feeling the heat that surrounds both of us. “You want to say it doesn’t feel right, Skye. But you’re not that good an actress. It’s a lie, and you know it.”
I close what little distance remains between us, bend down, breathe onto her ear.
“Come home with me,” I whisper, “and you can leave whenever you want.”
Chapter Nineteen
She goes limp in my arms for a timeless moment.
And I know I have her.
I pull back slightly.
“I…have to tell Tessa,” she says.
I take her hand and lead her back to the ballroom. Tessa is sitting at our table when we get there. Her purse is still there, too, and she doesn’t seem the least bit annoyed at Skye for abandoning it.
“What have you two been up to?” she asks.
“We just—” Skye begins.
“We’re leaving,” I say. “Can I give you a lift home?”
“I think I’ll stay, actually. Garrett and I are hitting it off. Peter’s a mess, though.”
“What’s wrong?” Skye asks.
“He’s terrified of you,” Tessa says to me, smiling. “Though you don’t seem all that scary to me.”
She’s flirting, and Skye doesn’t like it. I can tell by the way she goes slightly rigid.
I like that Skye doesn’t like it. I like it a lot.
As for Peter, good. I want him scared of me. I don’t want him near Skye. I don’t particularly want Garrett near Tessa, either, but that’s not my business.
“He just wants a contract with my company,” I say, “and he thinks I won’t give it to him because he was dancing with Skye.”
“Oh. Is that true?”
“No. I’m not giving it to him anyway. The decision has already been made.”
“Does he know?” Tessa asks.
“He will.” I turn to Skye. “Ready?”
“Yeah, sure. See you, Tess.”
“I’ll call you tomorrow,” Tessa says.
Within a few minutes, we’re sitting in the back of my car again with Christopher at the wheel. I inhale and get a whiff of everything Skye. Her raspberry-scented hair, her soft floral cologne, a hint of bourbon, and…her sweet musk.
Skye leans into me and yawns.
“Tired?” I ask.
“No, I’m okay.”
“Good. You need to be awake for what I have in mind tonight.”
She quivers. Just a touch, but I can’t help but notice. I’m always tuned in to my women, but with Skye? I’m on a whole different level. I feel everything with her.
And I’m disturbed at how much I like it, how much I’m beginning to crave it.
Christopher stops the car in front of my building, and we stay quiet as we walk through the lobby toward my private elevator.
We stay quiet as I slide my card.
We stay quiet as we step into the elevator and it zips up to my penthouse.
We stay quiet, and with every passing microsecond, my need for Skye grows ad infinitum.
The elevator halts, and the doors slide open, revealing my foyer and living area.
We’re hardly through the door when—
“Fuck,” I growl and pin her against the wall beside the entryway, the door still hanging open. “I’ve wanted to kiss you all night. That sexy mouth of yours…and this dress. I ought to rip it off you so no other man can see you in it.”
She trembles. “It’s Tessa’s.”
“Don’t care. I’ll buy her a new one.”
“But I like—”
“Still don’t care.” I crush my mouth to hers, grab one of the straps of her dress, and pull sharply as I thrust my tongue between her lips.