Total pages in book: 158
Estimated words: 154037 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 770(@200wpm)___ 616(@250wpm)___ 513(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 154037 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 770(@200wpm)___ 616(@250wpm)___ 513(@300wpm)
“Otto! It’s about time you got your cute butt over here! I thought you guys forgot all about us.”
Highly fucking unlikely.
Especially with the way River went straight for Charleigh and pulled her into his arms so he could kiss the fuck out of her.
“Hey, way to steal my bestie!” Raven shouted at her brother’s back. He only slanted her a grin from over his shoulder as he backed Charleigh deeper into a dark corner.
“Can you believe him?” she asked in feigned offense.
The rest of our crew, sans Cash, of course, slipped into the big horseshoe booth.
I went for where Raven stood, playing it casual the way I always did because what else was I supposed to do, and I slung my arm over her shoulders and gave her a squeeze. “Now don’t go and get jealous, Raven. You have your older, even better big brother to hang out with.”
Yup. I’d dubbed myself her big brother. Way fuckin’ safer that way, putting her into that box when I could never have her the way I really wanted.
“It’s not the brother part I’m worried about, Otto. He stole my bestie. Stole her right out from under me. Just like he did from the beginning. He keeps saying he saw her first, but I beg to differ. I’m the one who invited her to come hang out with us the first time, and since my brother is nothing but a big oaf, he never would have taken it upon himself to do it. Where would he be without me? And there he goes, whisking her away from me again when he should be kissing the ground I walk on.”
She gave me the most ridiculous faked pout I’d ever seen. Wasn’t sure how one woman could be so adorable and sexy at the same time.
A rough chuckle scraped up my throat, and I hugged her a little closer. “Think you’re just going to have to share that bestie of yours. One look at Charleigh, and your brother goes feral.”
Her nose scrunched. “I don’t need that vision in my head, thank you very much.”
I laughed, and she nestled into my side like it was what she was meant to do.
Her aura invaded my senses.
She smelled like a vineyard of honeysuckle.
A sweet fucking moonflower.
I was almost used to disregarding the urge I had to tuck her all the way into me. Press my nose into the thick black locks of her hair. Breathe her sweetness right down into my lungs. Drown myself on her intoxicating floral scent.
Would never do that, though.
Raven was pure. Good right down to the marrow.
This world might have made me a vile beast, but I at least had the conscience to be sure of that. Had almost made that mistake once, and it’d proven to me exactly why I could never deserve someone like her.
How I only failed the ones I loved most.
Besides, River would straight-up gut me if I even considered pushing past those barriers with his sister. Hell, he’d do it now if he had half the inclination of the fantasies she conjured in me every time I looked at her. If he knew how I’d felt that time when he’d confronted me about it, and I’d lied through my teeth.
So, I shoved it down into the deepest parts of me and pretended like it didn’t exist, ignored that ravenous desire, and guided her over to the booth.
Theo pushed into the middle, and Raven slipped in with me right behind her.
I slung my arm right back over her shoulder.
Our server immediately showed, balancing a bunch of drinks on a tray. “Here we are. Another round for my favorite table.”
“Ahh, Tiff, you are always two steps ahead of the game,” Kane told her. Dude was rocked back in the plush, high-backed booth like he was some kind of king, but I guessed around here, he was. The owner of his namesake, which we used to cover all the funds that we had rolling through.
“Gotta keep the boss happy,” she said, her tone light.
Didn’t miss the way she looked at me when she set my whiskey in front of me.
A candid invitation.
Had gone back to her place a couple times. The woman was crazy hot and more than a good time, but I got the sense that maybe her thoughts had started slanting in a direction they shouldn’t.
Thinking she might rein me, when I’d promised her from the get-go that was not gonna happen.
“Thank you,” I told her, jutting my chin at her before she reluctantly walked away.
I felt the force of Raven’s scowl.
“What?” I asked her, my stomach unsettled but my voice full of a tease.
“I don’t know how you get away with it.”
“And what’s that?”
“Come on, Otto, you know exactly what I’m talking about. You’re such a player.”
“Well, of course, I am, darlin’. And you know exactly how I do it.” I jostled her a little.