Total pages in book: 133
Estimated words: 126589 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 633(@200wpm)___ 506(@250wpm)___ 422(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 126589 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 633(@200wpm)___ 506(@250wpm)___ 422(@300wpm)
The living room curtains were always wide open, but Beth couldn’t quite see into his house, not with the sun glinting off the window panes until late afternoon. Sometimes she’d catch glimpses of him pacing restlessly. Prowling like a caged leopard.
She was intrigued by him. And she didn’t want to be. He shouldn’t occupy as much of her thoughts as he did. It was counterproductive and confusing. She couldn’t even blame the sex—not when she’d been speculating over him, and spying on him, since the day he’d moved in.
He gave one last catlike stretch before unwrapping his taped hands and heading into the house.
That was it—the show was over for the day—time to get back to work.
Gideon was in the rocking chair, bare feet propped up on the half-wall of the porch, enjoying the warm summer night. He enjoyed these quiet early evenings in the cul-de-sac, sitting unobserved in the growing dark as he watched the neighborhood settle down for the night. His stomach rumbled gently as the spicy aroma of Aunty Naz’s frying samoosas drifted over on the gentle breeze. The smell mingled with the sweet vanilla scent of a cake baking elsewhere. The Kelfords—in the house on his right—had their TV on too loud as always, a nature documentary of some sort. Mrs. Delfino, the single mother two doors away from Lizzy, was calling her kids in to dinner. The youngsters had been playing a rowdy game of street cricket with the kids from the corner house next to Beth’s place, and were whining about having to go in so early on a Friday night.
Gideon had never thought suburban life would be for him, but he enjoyed living here. He liked the routine of it all. He found it comforting.
The lights were ablaze in the house across from his, and he could see Lizzy through those filmy lace curtains of hers. Her hair was down—she always removed the hair tie after she pushed away from her desk at six p.m. on the dot. She then stretched the kinks out of her neck and back. He didn’t think she realized exactly how sheer those curtains were. Every evening at about five-thirty, her desk lamp would go on, despite the fact that it was still light outside…and it would illuminate her office perfectly. The darker it got, the clearer the interior of her house became. Especially once she began flitting from room to room switching on lights.
From here he could see her office, living room, and kitchen perfectly. Fortunately for his sanity—and her modesty—her bedroom and bathroom were in the back of the house. She would disappear for half-an-hour or so—after work—and return in a more relaxed outfit. Usually, loose shorts and a tank top. Sometimes nightwear. No bra. Never a bra. It was obvious only to the most observant of onlookers, of course…but Gideon was as observant as they come.
Shamelessly fucking observant.
She was dancing, hips swaying to some slow beat, as she stacked the dishwasher. It used to surprise him how sensual her movements were. For such an uptight little thing, with countless hang-ups, she moved like a sultry goddess.
Of course, now that he’d sampled some of that irresistible sultriness, it no longer surprised him. She was sex on legs and he couldn’t stop thinking about how they’d been together. The breathless urgency and the unstoppable, inflammable, out of control, insane, unslakable appetite they’d had for each other.
It felt unreal to him, a crazy fevered dream that he’d cooked up in his head.
But it had been too real…they had fucked, and it was messing with his brain. He had random sensory flashbacks at the most inconvenient times. The sweet, honeysuckle taste of her, the imprint of her breasts in his palms, the slide of her velvety skin against his. The snug fit of his cock in her tight, tight pussy.
He groaned now and moved slightly to alleviate the taut pull of fabric over his all-too-frequent, definitely unwelcome, hard-on. He took a long drink from his beer and glared at the brightly lit window in his direct line of sight.
He didn’t know why he was so irrationally drawn to her. Only three days ago, the uppity little princess had looked right through him when he’d attempted to greet her. She’d flat out pretended not to see him. Nothing had changed, she was still the snobby, self-satisfied Elizabeth Finch who though she was too good to fraternize with him.
Of course, after she’d left Cat and Cam’s place so abruptly two weeks ago, conversation had immediately shifted to her. Everybody had talked about how sad she was after losing her beloved pet just the day before Cam’s party. Naturally Gideon had felt like an utter dick for taunting her while she’d been so vulnerable. Then he’d resented her for putting him in that position.