Total pages in book: 102
Estimated words: 120326 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 602(@200wpm)___ 481(@250wpm)___ 401(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 120326 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 602(@200wpm)___ 481(@250wpm)___ 401(@300wpm)
His fingers travel over my cheeks as he bites down on his lower lip. His eyes are alight with mischief, like he knows a secret.
Finally, he drops his arms and lets me sit back down in my seat. He’s still grinning like a lunatic.
“Say something, will you? You’re freaking me out.”
A chuckle spurts from his lips as he asks, “What?”
“What are you smiling about?”
“Nothing. I just think you’re wonderful.”
“Hmm, why don’t I believe you?”
“You should believe me, because it’s true.”
I shake my head and look to Sasha for a minute to see if she’ll shed any light on the matter. She gets slightly tense. “He’s just happy that we discussed things and now everything’s out in the open.”
“All right,” I say suspiciously, turning back to Robert. “I bumped into Kara. She said she wants a word with you.”
His smile dies as he rubs his hand across his mouth. “Yeah, well, she can go on wanting.”
“I told you she still had feelings for you. She probably wants to ask you about getting back together.”
Sasha raises an eyebrow at this.
“Like I said, she can go on wanting.” He reaches forward and takes my hand into his, pulling his chair right up to mine so our thighs brush against each other. “Didn’t you hear a word I said earlier?” he asks. “It’s you I want, Lana. It always has been.”
He kisses me softly on the cheek as I pull away self-consciously. When I glance in Sasha’s direction, she looks completely out of her comfort zone. I guess me and Robert being a thing is going to take some getting used to for her. What am I saying? It’s going to take some getting used to for me, too.
“I need to use the bathroom,” I say, rising swiftly from my seat to escape the awkwardness that Robert seems to be oblivious to.
“I’ll go with you,” he says, rising as well, but I push him back down.
“No, I’ll only be a minute. You stay and have a drink.”
His eyes look back and forth between mine, trying to figure out what’s wrong with me. A moment later he relents and allows me to pass. In the bathroom, I end up standing by the sink holding my hands under the cold tap, trying to clear my head and make sense of everything. It feels surreal to think that Sasha knows about us now. It feels surreal to think that I’m falling for my ex-bully.
Yes, falling for.
It’s almost impossible not to fall in love with Robert even when he’s acting like the devil incarnate, never mind when he’s being all tender and affectionate. A lesson for life: Beauty often causes people to overlook deeper flaws.
I need to find out what those two spoke about, because they were gone for quite a while and Robert’s acting…unusual.
“You’re going to catch your death if you keep your hands under there much longer,” says the bathroom attendant, noticing how I’m frozen in thought.
I give her a weak nod and abruptly turn off the tap, grabbing some paper towels to dry my hands. When I walk out of the ladies, Robert is leaning against the far wall, waiting for me. He reaches out and gathers me to his chest, breathing in deeply. He keeps staring at me, not saying anything, but looking like he just won the lottery.
“Stop being weird, Rob,” I tell him quietly.
“I’m not being weird. I’m just happy,” he says, leaning down to nuzzle my neck.
“Mmm,” I say with a sigh, closing my eyes for a moment and wishing we weren’t in the middle of a hotel full of people.
“Look at you, so pretty when you’re turned on,” he says huskily.
“I…” I falter as his hands massage my hips.
“Come on, everybody’s headed to Alistair’s now.”
At this he pulls me along with him and out to the front of the building, where there are several limos waiting. The first one pulls away from the entrance just as Robert opens the door to the second and ushers me inside.
“Just my luck,” he mutters when he notices Kara’s in this one, alongside Gary and Michelle. Sasha’s here, too, but I don’t recognise a single other face inside the packed vehicle. Well, except for the bald-headed Jimmy, who’s sitting up close to Sasha with his arm stretched a couple of inches behind her shoulders. She looks like she’s going to murder him if he tries laying a hand on her. It reminds me that I still need to somehow get her to come out to me, to everyone, really, because continuing with such a huge secret is no way to live, and I can’t let my best friend go on hurting herself like that.
There’s only one space left, so Robert settles me on his lap. He moves one hand up and down my back just as the driver starts up the engine. Next, he laces his fingers through mine, rubbing his thumb against the inside of my palm.
“Well, that didn’t take long,” I hear Kara announce amid the chatter, extra loud so there’s no chance of us not hearing her.
I jump a little, but Robert rubs his thumb in harder and whispers fervently, “Ignore her.”
A second later I hear mutterings, followed by cackling from her and Michelle. I’m about to turn around when Robert suddenly takes my face into his hands and plants his lips on me. He kisses me long and deep, his tongue thrusting in and out (in a manner way too sexual to suit my nerves). His hands travel to my neck, and they feel so warm and soothing.
Kara makes some other snippy comment, but I’m too lost in the kiss to hear her properly.
I pull away for a second to catch my breath, but Robert only draws me back in again. Before I know it, the limo has stopped, and Robert finally releases my mouth, his breathing heavy. My gaze travels immediately to Sasha, who seems to be fascinated by staring woodenly at the stitching on her dress. I can’t tell if this is because she’s trying to ignore Jimmy or if she’s trying to ignore me and Robert. I need to find a moment to talk all this through with her, because she seems a little weird about it despite having claimed to be fine.