Total pages in book: 116
Estimated words: 110624 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 553(@200wpm)___ 442(@250wpm)___ 369(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 110624 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 553(@200wpm)___ 442(@250wpm)___ 369(@300wpm)
Instead of wiping it with his free hand, he slid his tongue back and forth slowly across his bottom lip, licking away the rest as he looked at me. My heart skipped a beat. It was so strangely erotic, and my body became fully aware. He stared into my eyes as he held my wrapped finger, and I felt something shift. I couldn’t put my finger on it (no pun intended), but something felt different between us in that moment. It was a feeling I had definitely never experienced before.
The room was completely quiet as he broke the stare, looking down at my wrapped finger. He cleared his throat, his voice was thick, “I’m gonna see what we have in the bathroom for first aid.”
Still in a state of bewilderment, I nodded but said nothing, as he ran down the hall, returning with gauze, peroxide and bandages. Removing the shirt from my finger, he carefully treated the area with some peroxide on a cotton ball. I tried to look down at the wound and not at his bare chest as he blew on the cut before wrapping it in gauze, followed by a bandage to hold it together.
“That should do it for now,” he said before releasing my hand. “You may want to take a look at it tomorrow. If it looks worse, there is a walk-in down the street. Hopefully, you won’t need stitches.”
I felt like I lost more than blood in this process, like perhaps my ability to speak. “Okay,” I muttered.
The look in Jake’s eyes was sincere. “I am sorry you got hurt trying to do something nice for me.”
Not knowing exactly how to respond, I smiled and said, “I am sorry you had to suck my blood like a vampire.”
His gaze stayed on mine, and it made me uneasy only because he wasn’t laughing at my joke. “I wouldn’t do that for just anyone, Nina.”
My lip twitched in response, and I laughed nervously, not really knowing what to make of that statement. What I did know was that tonight was not helping my vow to get over him one single bit. “Thanks.”
Jake started clearing out what bananas I had managed to cut. “I’m gonna get a new shirt,” he said. “Why don’t you change, and we’ll meet Tarah and Ryan downstairs.”
“I don’t know…”
“Come on, we’re supposed to be celebrating your exam, and those bananas are toast. I’ve ate enough blood for one night.”
I threw a piece of banana at him. “Very funny.”
He was unphased. “What do you say?”
There was no way I could say no. “Okay, I’ll change.”
About ten minutes later, he came out of the bathroom with a fresh coating of cologne. His hair was wet, and he was wearing a maroon colored long sleeve shirt that hugged his chest and black pants that hugged his ass. He looked and smelled amazing.
I had put on a black button down shirt, dark colored jeans and the six-inch heels I usually wore whenever I was feeling inexplicably inadequate. Somehow adding height seemed to give me a false sense of power when I felt I needed it. I didn’t know why I was nervous about going downstairs with Jake. Something just felt different tonight between us. Maybe it was the sucking of the blood thing. I dunno.
***
When we entered Eleni’s, the lights were dimmed, and a live Greek band was playing at the corner of the restaurant. The owner, Telly, immediately rushed toward us and got some extra chairs to add to Tarah and Ryan’s small table. It was packed for a weeknight.
Our roommates were sipping coffee and eating dessert when Jake and I sat down to join them.
“To what do we owe this honor?” Tarah joked as she gave me a hug.
Jake grabbed my arm and lifted my hand. “Nina got an A on her test and then to celebrate, she chopped her finger off and got a sudden craving for Greek.”
Ryan grabbed my hand. “What the—”
“It’s partially true. I didn’t chop off my finger, but I nearly did, trying to make Bananas Foster.”
Tarah cringed. “Damn! Are you okay?”
“I’ll be fine. Nurse Jake took care of me.”
Jake joked, “Who’s the nurse now, bitches?”
Tarah looked over at Jake and then to me and said, “You two are so cute together.”
Insert sound of record screeching here.
Jake said nothing, and I stared at her dumbfounded before glaring at her.
Why would she say that?
I could have killed her and immediately changed the subject. “So, what’s good on the dinner menu?”
Before Tarah could respond, a sultry female voice came up from behind us. “Actually, the best thing on the menu is the moussaka, but Jake will stick to the same thing every time, avgolemono and spanakopita…right Jake?”
I turned around, and my heart sank when I noticed a very attractive girl with long black hair around my age wearing a low cut white blouse that left little to the imagination and a black apron wrapped tightly around her waist.