Total pages in book: 41
Estimated words: 39424 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 197(@200wpm)___ 158(@250wpm)___ 131(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 39424 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 197(@200wpm)___ 158(@250wpm)___ 131(@300wpm)
It’s a roller coaster of emotions because on the one hand I’m happy she’s willing to give me a chance, but as soon as she mentions another man, I’m ready to fight. I reach for her, putting my hands at her waist. “Dance with me.”
Her big blue eyes blink. She’s tiny next to me, and she has to lean her head back to look at me. “Okay.”
I thread our fingers together and walk with her to the dance floor. I don’t stop until we’re next to the far end of the wall where I can have her to myself. The song is a slow one, but it wouldn’t matter because it feels like I've waited forever to have her in my arms, so even if it was a fast one, I’d still be swaying with her pressed against me.
My heart is thundering in my chest. “Tell me about you.”
She leans her cheek against my chest. “How come I feel like you’ve already asked in town about me?”
“I have,” I admit. “But I want to get to know you.”
Chloe
I feel overheated just being in his arms. I can barely get the words out. “You go first. Tell me about you.”
“I’m thirty-two.”
I interrupt him. I knew he was older, but I didn’t know by that much. “You’re ten years older than me.”
He leans down to search my eyes. “Is that a problem?”
I bite my lip and shake my head, and he continues. “I was in the Army for a while and then went to the private sector. I work for Walker now.”
Everyone in town knows Walker and knows he hires mercenaries. It’s on the tip of my tongue to ask him if he’s a mercenary, but I think better of it. “Family?”
“Yeah, I want one.”
I laugh out loud and playfully smack him on the chest. “I mean your family. Your mom… your dad?”
“Oh, well, I’m a foster kid. No mom or dad.”
I stop swaying. “Wait, what about a foster mom or dad?”
He shakes his head as if it’s not a big deal. “What about you? I’m sorry to hear about your grandma.”
I gasp. “You have been asking about me.”
He pulls me flush against his body. I can feel his erection against my belly, but I do my best to ignore it. His voice is husky in my ear. “Yeah, I asked about you. I needed to know about the woman I can’t stop thinking about.”
I want to believe what he’s saying, but my past has made me doubtful. “Oh yeah? How many women have you used that line on, Elias?”
He leans down and whispers, “First of all, you know my name. Sounds to me like you’ve been asking about me. And second of all, you’re the only woman I’ve said those words to, and I can guarantee I won’t ever say them to anyone else.”
I stare up into his eyes and see the sincerity there. My mind flashes back to earlier tonight when Cassie told me she was a virgin. I sort of freaked out on her, and I’m ashamed of myself now. I’ve been hung up on myself because I thought I was the last twenty-two-year-old virgin, and it was surprising to find out I’m not. It’s not that I’m wanting to wait until marriage or anything; I’ve just been waiting to feel something for someone. I would be lying if I didn’t admit that since I first saw Elias, I’ve thought about it a lot with him.
We dance for what seems like hours. We talk some, but when there is silence between us, the way he holds me, the feel of his body against mine, I know I’m not the only one who has succumbed to whatever is happening between us.
Before I can talk myself out of it, I look up at him. “Will you take me home now?”
His eyes go shades darker, and he’s staring at my mouth. “You want me to take you home?”
I nod because if I open my mouth, I’m going to beg him to touch me right here.
He puts his hand on my lower back and leads me out of the Whiskey Whistler. “My truck is in the back.”
I point down the street. “My house is right down here. Can we walk?”
He nods and holds my hand in his. It’s a comfortable silence as we make our way down Main Street. When we get to my house, I hold his hand even tighter, and he brings it up and kisses my knuckles. As if he can read my mind, he mumbles, “I’m not going anywhere.”
I unlock my door and turn to him, hoping I’m making the right decision. “Stay the night with me, Elias.”
He doesn’t answer me. Instead he loops his arms around me, picks me up, and kisses me as he walks us both into the house before kicking my door shut. The kiss is explosive, and I can’t keep up. He pulls apart only to ask where the bedroom is, and when I tell him, his lips seal onto mine, and he carries me there.