Total pages in book: 58
Estimated words: 56232 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 281(@200wpm)___ 225(@250wpm)___ 187(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 56232 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 281(@200wpm)___ 225(@250wpm)___ 187(@300wpm)
Her cheeks are blazing red. There’s a curious mixture of lust and anger. Even if she denied it, I can see it because she’s breathing so fast, and her eyes are wide and wild. It’s like she’s standing on the edge, but she doesn’t dare to jump. It’s like she’s silently pleading with me to give her the strength.
I take her shoulders, forcing myself to wait a moment, savor this closeness, and see if she’ll pull away. She has to choose this, even if she can’t say it. She bites her lip, then stares at me, waiting for me to take the lead.
She gasps as I lean in. It’s like she’s shocked. Then I feel her pulling on my arms almost desperately like she’s afraid we won’t go on if she stops now. I kiss her passionately, opening my mouth, tasting her, our tongues touching.
Both of us are awkward. She laughs when our teeth clicked, a relieved sort of laugh.
“I told you, Lexi,” I say, keeping my lips close to hers. “I’m old, not experienced.”
She smiles. “What did I say about calling yourself old?”
We keep kissing, and the surroundings melt away… mostly. There’s still a part of me monitoring them, a natural byproduct of my career and life. Now, the need is even more urgent. I can’t let anybody see Lexi like this.
She grabs my shoulders harder, finding my tongue. Her passion flares through us both. It makes me hotter than a sauna at full blast. I struggle to keep it civilized, to stop my hands from sinking into her breasts like I want to.
“We need to go somewhere really private,” I tell her.
Anxiety touches her eyes, those gorgeous eyes with that mesmerizing interplay of colors.
“I’m not going to rush you,” I growl. “I could spend an hour, two, three, just massaging your big, perfect tits.”
“Really?” she asks. “Wouldn’t you get bored?”
“Bored?” My hand trembles. “I could spend an entire day just kissing your neck.”
“Where would we go?” she asks. “If I didn’t storm off—”
She cuts off when my cell phone rings loudly. It’s the one I keep in the glove box, the one purposefully set to the highest and most obnoxious setting.
“Dammit,” I snap, grabbing it. “I’m sorry, Lexi.”
I answer the phone, knowing it has to be important. I’m a Marino man now, after all. “Yeah?”
“Same diner.” It’s Luca’s voice. “Thirty minutes.”
He hangs up, nothing like his usual joking self. I turn to Lexi, feeling like the biggest ass in the goddamn world. “Lexi, I have to go.”
She’s already reaching for the door handle. “It’s fine.”
“At least let me drive you back to your car—”
“Seriously, it’s fine. I get it.”
She pushes the car door open and walks quickly to the street. I sigh, back out of the alleyway, then slowly trail her the block to her vehicle. She waves a hand, then gets in her car. I’m about to pull away when… Fuck!
I drive to her, pull my car around, and lower my window. She lowers hers. “I said it’s fine, Colt.” She forces a big cheesy grin to her face. “See? F-I-N-E.”
“It’s not fine. What if the red-car freak shows up?”
“There is no red-car freak,” she snaps. “I made it up, okay?”
“You lied? Why?”
She backs up and performs a quick turn, heading for the road, leaving me to grind my teeth and wonder. Was she lying to get me to leave? But she didn’t seem like she was lying. It was almost like a relief for her to let it go. I replay the moment over and over in my head.
The emergency phone vibrates.
Bring a toy.
A toy. A gun. It vibrates again.
In fact, bring several.
Gritting my teeth, I pull out of the lot.
CHAPTER 17
Lexi
As I drive down the street, feeling like I just handled that immaturely, my cell phone rings. I press the speakerphone button. “Listen, Colt, it’s fine. Okay? I said it’s—”
“Lexi?” It’s Mia. Crap. “Are you okay?”
“I… yeah…” Can I speak, at least? “I’m, uh, fine. Sorry.”
“Did you say Colt?”
“Huh?”
“Just now, you said Colt. Colt, as in Luca’s friend? The big, tall guy who was at the party?”
I don’t know what makes me tell her. Maybe I should snap that she’s too nosey, but holding it in is starting to feel heavy. I don’t want to ruin Ruby’s first month with little Lexy by unloading it on her.
“Yeah,” I admit.
“Because… I mean, you sounded pretty heated. Is it because something’s going on?”
“Sort of,” I say, having to focus on driving correctly.
“Whoa,” Mia mutters.
“What, do you think he’s too old?” I almost hiss, then warn myself to calm down.
“No, I don’t care. It’s just interesting. I thought I recognized some energy between you two at the party. How long has it been going on?”
“Why do you care if you don’t care?”
“I don’t care about the age gap. To me, you’re ancient, anyway.”