Total pages in book: 47
Estimated words: 46715 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 234(@200wpm)___ 187(@250wpm)___ 156(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 46715 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 234(@200wpm)___ 187(@250wpm)___ 156(@300wpm)
I tell myself I don’t want him, that he isn’t looking temptingly, obsession-provoking hot right now.
I tell myself my insides aren’t spinning around in raves of crazed heat, my fingernails tingling as I imagine digging them into his solid back.
And he’s on top of me, his breath warm against my ear. “You’re mine. You’re mine. You’re mine.”
With each declaration, he’d thrust into me.
I have to stop. Now.
This isn’t the place for thoughts of Silas Stone.
Not those kinds of thoughts.
Silas stands, his hands behind his back. His full height makes me feel so small, like I could collapse against him and experience safety like I never have.
I don’t need protecting, I tell myself.
And yet Silas makes me want it.
But it doesn’t matter.
I’ve felt these swirling unfair thoughts ever since my sixteenth birthday, when I looked up, and he was there, his intense blue eyes aimed right at me.
For a second, I dreamed about our future…then he looked away, hardly even noticing me.
Not noticing me. Obviously not. I was a kid.
But I’m not a kid anymore.
Could he notice me? Would he ever want me?
I remind myself again. It doesn’t matter.
Even if the impossible was possible, it would ruin Dad.
“So, what do you think?” Silas asks, standing so close I’m sure I can smell his musky scent.
I look over the city, so vivid and real it makes me think of hyper-realistic graphic novels.
But that’s getting it backward.
This is real, standing inches from a man who’s been driving me crazy for almost three years. Suddenly my heart is thudding rapidly in my chest, flutters making me want to do insane things like reach across and touch him.
“It’s beautiful,” I say after a pause.
“Aren’t you scared?”
Silas smirks, his eyes drinking me in as if I’m all that exists for him.
Stop, I silently yell at myself.
Dad’s right there.
Silas walks past me, standing at the edge. “Try it over here. If you think you can handle it.”
I’m about to reply when Dad’s phone starts to ring. He quickly answers it like he always does. He’s a dedicated worker.
“Yeah,” he says. “Okay. I can do it. Just wait. Yes.”
“Is everything all right?” Silas asks when Dad hangs up.
“Yeah, just need to make another call to help with a small supply issue. Do you mind showing Lauren out?”
“I can find the elevator, Dad.”
“It’s fine,” Silas says, but his voice is tight.
I can imagine him thinking, Great, saddled with the kid.
As if I’m that same girl his gaze passed over, because of course it did. He’s not a creep.
But it still made me feel small, invisible.
Is it so wrong to want him to notice me?
Dad walks from the office, leaving Silas and me together.
Dad obviously has no doubt he can leave me here, and Silas will take care of me…the way any family friend would.
Not a crush. Not my inked muscular man.
Silas looks at me, and his jaw is tight. Buster sits at his side, shifting as though sensing some of his owner’s mood. It’s like, now that Dad’s gone, Silas has dropped all effort in trying to be civil.
“I thought you had a challenge for me?” I say.
His smirk returns. “After you, then….”
I walk toward the window, standing right at the edge.
The glass is so clean, like it’s not even there.
It’s like I could fall and….
My belly jolts. My feet take me backward.
I feel like such a dork, and I start to laugh, but that’s when I bump into Buster, and he quickly darts out of my way.
I’m falling.
This is going to be the most embarrassing thing ever.
But then I feel his arms wrapped around me, the infusion of heat, his body pressed against mine telling me everything’s going to be okay. Just like I dreamed.
He holds me from behind, helping me to stand completely upright. His forearm is across my breast, my nipples tingling against my bra.
It all happens so fast, then he lets me go, stepping away.
“Sorry,” I murmur.
He shakes his head. “It’s fine.”
“Is Buster okay?”
Silas strokes his dog on the top of the head. “He’s fine too. Are you okay?”
“Yeah, I don’t know what happened.”
“I wasn’t going to let anything happen to you.”
A shudder grips me, small and passing swiftly, but it’s there. Like a little burst of the future expanding inside of me. Of happiness and laughter and kids and a life overflowing with fullness.
I’m not sure what to say next. It’s like we’re entering awkward silence territory.
But then he steps forward. Every movement is full of intent, like he could spring into action any second.
At forty-one, he’s fitter than most men my age. Most nineteen-year-olds…without a doubt.
“Your dad tells me you’re training to be a tattoo artist.”
It’s crazy how quickly my cheeks start to glow. Or feel like they are. I’m sure – I hope, anyway – my cheeks aren’t actually blazing red.
It’s just him, my man, Silas…taking an interest. It shouldn’t be such a big deal.