Total pages in book: 190
Estimated words: 181992 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 910(@200wpm)___ 728(@250wpm)___ 607(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 181992 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 910(@200wpm)___ 728(@250wpm)___ 607(@300wpm)
He didn’t leave, though. He headed over to the coffee machine and pointed at it. “You know, I have the same one. How about I make you both a coffee?”
“No, thanks,” I said, feeling my jaw harden.
Alicia plopped her bags on the island a little too roughly. “I’m good.”
He rubbed his hands together. “Well, I could sure do with a latte right now.”
“Then you should go home and help yourself to one,” I said, feeling my patience dwindle fast. “My sister and I are really busy. We can’t sit around and chat.”
His mouth curved. “Don’t worry, I don’t expect you to entertain me. I just want to spend some time with you girls.”
Okay, I was done. “What I meant to say was that we want you to leave now. So leave.”
His smile faltering, he raised his hands, palms out. “Hey, I didn’t mean to make you ladies feel uncomfortable—I’m horrified if I have. I realize you don’t know me well and so might not be comfortable having a stranger in your home. But the only way we can fix that is if we get to know each other so I’m no longer a stranger,” he said, all reasonable.
I planted my hands on the island. “What I said still stands. We want you to …” My words trailed off as I heard footfalls enter the house. Alicia had left the front door open in a gesture that Jenson wasn’t invited to stay.
Moments later, Dax loped into the room with a masculine grace, each stride slow and confident. My pulse thudded and spiked. Excitement burst to life in my belly. And everything feminine in me woke right up and rose to greet him.
My hormones started fanning themselves as they drank him in. God, he was too freaking gorgeous for it to be real. I was sure he must have made a deal with Satan or something, because no one could naturally be that striking. No one.
He didn’t look in the least bit hesitant or awkward about breezing into a kitchen that wasn’t his own. He gave off his usual air of unwavering cool, looking perfectly at ease and comfortable. As if he belonged here.
His mismatched eyes zeroed right in on me, unreadable and unflinching. “You left your front door open.”
“For Jenson,” I explained. “He’s not staying, so …” I was totally going to reward myself later for how unruffled I sounded.
“I see.” Dax’s gaze briefly skipped to my sister. “Alicia,” he greeted, who only smiled in response. He then honed in on our neighbor. “I hadn’t expected to see you here, Jenson. How’s the ankle?”
The creep straightened. “Better, Mr. Mercier, better,” he replied, his top-dog act shrinking under the weight of Dax’s presence.
“And your parents?” asked Dax. “How are they doing?”
“Fine, absolutely fine.” Jenson cleared his throat. “I was just helping Addison and Alicia carry their shopping inside.” He didn’t say it, he bragged it. Like he’d done his country a service.
Dax glanced at the bags. “And you’re all done, I see.”
“Yes, I …” Jenson trailed off. Possibly because he couldn’t offer a good reason for why he hadn’t yet gone home, given I’d told him to go.
I caught his eye. “You were just about to leave, weren’t you?”
“I was.” He hesitated a moment but then flashed my sister and I a courteous smile. “Remember I’m always next-door if you need anything.”
“We’ll remember,” I said.
“Sadly can’t forget,” Alicia muttered only loud enough for me to hear.
I had to clamp my lips together to bold back a snort.
Jenson pretty much sashayed out of the room—it was honestly sad to watch, not to mention uncomfortable.
Dax fixed his gaze on me again. “Does he do that often?”
I inched up a brow. “Strut like a peacock?”
One corner of his lips twitched. “Overstay his welcome.”
I guessed he’d overheard me telling Jenson to leave. “He tries. We always manage to shoo him along. Eventually.”
Dax hummed, his lips setting into a displeased slash. “I’ll have a word with him.”
“We’d appreciate that,” said Alicia. Looking from me to him, she pointed upward. “I’m going to head upstairs. I have a call to make. Several, actually.” She scampered, leaving me alone with the bane of my hormones’ existence.
As Dax and I clashed gazes once again, the air began to hum and thicken with sexual awareness. It made my pulse have a meltdown.
He took another step into the room. “How did your birthday go?”
I shrugged. “Same old, same old.”
Just then, Gypsy leapt onto the kitchen counter and sauntered over to him.
As he reached out to stroke her, I grimaced. “She’s really not very … Huh.” The little feline melted into his hand as he petted her. Typical. Even the cat wasn’t immune to his charm.
He lifted her with both hands and smiled into her eyes, his mouth curved slightly … and I wasn’t ready for how that image hit me right in the ovaries. Now I got why my mom always smiled whenever my dad gave their new cat, Artemis, some attention.