Total pages in book: 100
Estimated words: 94048 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 470(@200wpm)___ 376(@250wpm)___ 313(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 94048 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 470(@200wpm)___ 376(@250wpm)___ 313(@300wpm)
I’ve been fighting it, trying to convince myself that Simon’s a snake and he’ll eat me alive, but even that doesn’t matter.
Simon will ask for more. He’ll keep asking for more until I have nothing left to give him.
And I’ll gladly hand it all over as long as it means my father never has to sob alone in his room ever again.
“What do we do now?” I ask, my fingers numb and my cheeks feeling hot. “Do you get down on one knee and propose or something?”
He comes toward me, the enormous menace, the gorgeous, dark-suited god of chaos and discord and sex and everything dark and glorious and delicious. He’s a poison apple, and I want to sink my teeth right in. Let him kill me. Go ahead, I’ll die with an arched back and his name on my lips.
“Is that what you want, baby?” he asks softly. I knew the fucking baby thing was going to be a problem. Because I kind of like it. “You want to be a traditional bride? White gown, big wedding?”
“I just want to get this over with, that’s all.”
I just want to survive.
He stops in front of me and puts a hand against my cheek, brushing his knuckles back into my hair. I let him do it, staying still like he’s about to strike.
Then I pull back.
He looks disappointed, like he wanted to grab hold, but he drops down to his knees in front of me.
I let out a startled yelp and try to get away, but he grabs my thighs and holds me down.
“Emily Hayes, will you do me the honor of being my wife?”
It’s some proposal. We’re alone in my pathetic apartment, and he’s holding me down to keep me from squirming away.
But there’s that look in his eye. That needy stare like he’s doing his best not to rip my dress up and run his teeth down the front of my panties.
My god. I’m dripping wet for this guy, and it’s beyond frustrating.
“If I say yes, will you let me go and get the hell out of here?”
He pouts, almost disappointed. “I thought we’d spend our first night together.”
“No way in hell.”
“Then say yes and I’ll leave you alone. But don’t get used to it.”
I bite back a curse and slowly nod my head. “I’ll marry you.”
“That’s what a man’s always wanted to hear.” He leans forward, his mouth coming toward me, and in my panic, I turn toward him.
I’m not sure what he was trying to do, if he was aiming for my cheek, or if he was going to whisper something in my ear, but he seems as startled as I am when his lips meet mine. For a second, we don’t move, a kiss suspended, hung in mid-air, two mouths wanting each other but not sure if it’s safe to keep going.
Until he pushes slightly, increasing the pressure.
And I relent a little, opening my mouth.
I taste his tongue, his warm musky, slightly grassy with a hint of whiskey bite.
Then we’re kissing in earnest. I draw in a breath through my nose as he invades me, his mouth like a vortex down which I’m tumbling, and I don’t want to stop falling.
Because it feels good.
This kiss, his soft lips, the pressure he exerts against my teeth, his tongue lapping along mine, and fuck, oh my god—
That growl.
The groan of desire in the back of his throat.
And my whimpered reply.
A surge of ecstasy rolls down my spine.
I’ve never been kissed like this before. Hell, I’ve never kissed like this in my life.
I don’t know why it’s this man. He broke into my car. He violated my apartment. He caught me stealing, and now he thinks he can use that as leverage to push me into this marriage. He’s giving me something I want, but he’s using it against me.
I still want him.
Because of this kiss, the way his tongue moves, and his taste, and his hands on my hips, moving up toward my breasts—
As abruptly as it begins, I tear myself away.
I’m breathing hard, gasping for air, and I crawl back to the top of the bed. This time, he doesn’t stop me, and he doesn’t follow.
He stares at me from his knees, his fingers gripping the sheets tight, his mouth open and puckered, swollen with my kiss.
“You should go,” I croak because I don’t trust either of us right now.
“Four months,” he says as he slowly stands. I clamp a hand over my mouth to keep another whimper inside at the implication. And at the sight of his erection straining against his pants. “Then I’ll kiss you like that again, and we’ll see if you don’t want me to fuck you.”
He turns and leaves, slamming the door in his wake, and it’s like my life’s a pond with a brick dropped in the middle, everything rippling and roiling, and I’m not sure it’ll ever calm down again.