Total pages in book: 105
Estimated words: 100277 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 501(@200wpm)___ 401(@250wpm)___ 334(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 100277 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 501(@200wpm)___ 401(@250wpm)___ 334(@300wpm)
“Jesus,” Rafe sneered. “Assholes.”
“Yup. Pretty much. Dawn didn’t want ‘the man’ on her case, so she made an effort to make sure I got to school and back. But it wasn’t just one thing.” I shook my head sadly. “It was everything, Rafe. They left me to my own devices all the time. I raised myself.” Tears burned my nose. “I had no one to comfort me when I was sad because they didn’t like talking about sad things, and when Matt Remner broke my sixteen-year-old heart by dumping me after taking my virginity, Dawn got sick of hearing me crying in my bedroom.”
Rafe’s fist curled in his lap.
“She told me to suck it up. That it was my fault for believing people should be monogamous.”
“You were sixteen and some asshole treated you like shit,” he bit out. “She should have wanted to kick his ass.”
“That’s not Dawn.”
Rafe shook his head, the muscle in his jaw twitching as he clenched and unclenched his teeth.
“Talk to me,” I whispered, blood rushing in my ears. What did he really think about all of this? About me?
“I . . .” He stared into my eyes and my breath caught at the emotion there. “I hate that you were alone for so long. That kills me.”
A tear escaped at his words and I swiped it away quickly, but another followed. “I’m not alone now.” I gave him a watery smile.
“No. You’re not.” It was a promise.
My breath caught and a primal need I didn’t quite understand ignited my blood. “I want you.”
“Now?” He cocked an eyebrow.
“Ever had sex in your car?” I unclipped my seat belt.
“No.” Rafe searched my eyes. “Are you sure you want this?”
“I need this. I need you.” At the answering heat in his eyes, I felt a thrill tingle between my legs. “Front or back?”
Rafe gave a bark of delighted laughter, and I caught the innuendo.
I rolled my eyes. “I meant the car.”
“Well, that’s a damn shame,” he teased, laughter trembling in his words.
“Do you want to have sex in your car or not?”
His answer was to slide his seat as far back as it would go.
“Front it is.” I giggled as I clambered over the center console and into his arms.
“You sure?” he asked again.
“I’m always sure with you.”
Something intense flashed in his eyes and then Rafe kissed me as he always kissed me, with his entire self. I was his entire focus as his lips moved over mine. No one had ever kissed me like Rafe. Like I was his oxygen. His kisses were seriously addictive for that reason alone.
As his hands smoothed down my waist, he broke the kiss, but only to murmur against my mouth, “I like everything about you, Star Shine Meadows.”
The way he said it made my breath catch. Because, seriously, it had almost the same impact as if he’d used the other L-word.
Half-elated, half-terrified, I kissed him with my whole being, and what should have been an awesome quickie in his car was a slow, languid lovemaking as I rode us both toward bliss.
Chapter Twenty-Six
“Broadcast news analyst.”
I looked up from my notebook and made a face at Roger. “What?”
“Broadcast news analyst,” he read from his phone before taking a sip of coffee.
Understanding dawned. “Did you just google a list of jobs and now you’re reading them to me?”
Upon meeting for coffee with my best friend during a rare moment where our schedules aligned, I’d informed him I had a future to start thinking about and I wanted to make a list of careers that I might be happy to pursue.
Roger quirked an eyebrow. “It’s easier than just sitting here staring into space, trying to think up careers.”
“C’mon, isn’t there something that comes to mind when you look at me?”
“Yes. Acting.”
While that was sweet . . . “I mean a stable career.”
“Then no. Everything I think of when it comes to you is arty and bohemian and absolutely unstable.”
“I don’t scream ‘stable’ to you?”
“I’m not falling into that trap.”
“Roger.” I threw my napkin at him. “I’m serious about this.”
“Well, what about the offer from Rafe’s sister? Interior design is arty.”
“But I won’t be interior designing. I’ll be fetching.”
“It could lead to more, though.”
“You sound like Pippa.”
Roger ignored that and scrolled through his phone. “What about . . . social media expert?”
“I’m only on social media to keep up with work. I am not making it an integral part of my business if I don’t have to.”
“Right. Um . . . public relations specialist. You are good with people.”
“Hmm. Okay. I’ll write that one down. But wait, won’t I need a degree in public relations for that?”
“Yup.”
I scanned my small list of careers that interested me. “I think I might need a degree for all of these.”
Roger cleared his throat and I looked up to see him giving me a careful half smile.