Total pages in book: 169
Estimated words: 162138 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 811(@200wpm)___ 649(@250wpm)___ 540(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 162138 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 811(@200wpm)___ 649(@250wpm)___ 540(@300wpm)
“Is it that you genuinely don’t feel anything, or that you don’t want to feel anything?” He asks, stopping at the end of my building.
“I genuinely don’t feel anything,” I say, looking at the ground and back at him.
“How can you feel nothing?” he asks. “That makes no sense.”
I look up at the sky and ask for help before I look at him again. “I don’t know how to explain it. I just. . .feel nothing. I’m sorry.”
“Nothing?” he asks again, clearly in disbelief.
“Nothing.”
“Okay.” He runs a hand through his hair. “What if we kiss?”
“What?” My eyes widen. I take a step back and hit the brick wall behind me.
“A kiss,” he repeats. “We never kissed when we hooked up.”
“Oh.” I play dumb about the kiss, as I look up and down the block to make sure we’re not being followed.
My stomach is coiled so tight that I should just tell him to walk me up to my apartment. I just know he’s watching. I fucking know it. My hands begin to shake but I keep looking.
“Delilah,” Wade says.
I blink. “Yeah?”
“One kiss.”
“I don’t kiss.” I stare at him when I say it and hope my deadpan face makes him give up already.
Besides, it’s the truth. I don’t want to kiss anyone else. Ever. God, I’m pathetic. I’m so fucking pathetic. Maybe Marissa’s right and I should give this guy a shot, even if just to take my mind off Lach for a moment. I know what’ll happen, though. I’ll compare everything he does to the memory of the way Lachlan did things, and then I’ll have to break up with him. Or he’ll break up with me when he realizes he’ll never live up to my expectations. I pause at that. My own thoughts sound ridiculous. It’s official, I’ve gone mad. I focus on Wade again. He’s cute. Hot, even. This is so damn frustrating. Why doesn’t he do anything for me?
“Really?” he asks in disbelief. “Well, now we have to do it. One kiss. Just one.”
“Fine, but we’re only doing it once.”
“Unless you like it,” he says.
I roll my eyes.
“It’s a kiss, Delilah, not the fucking Olympics.” He laughs, shaking his head.
My lips twitch and I shake my head, as well. I’m being ridiculous. It’s not like it’s sex, but somehow this feels more intimate. Still, I’m doing this. Wade looks at me for a moment, his eyes searching mine as he takes one step forward.
He takes another step and I can smell the whiskey he drank earlier. I shut my eyes and tilt my head slightly.
“Put your lips on her and I’ll make you swallow your fucking teeth.” The voice is so unexpected, so low and raw, that every cell in my body goes on high alert.
So many things happen at once: I jolt, my eyes pop open, my heart pounds HARD then sinks into my stomach, and I stop breathing. I practically jump away from Wade, who’s also taking a step back since he has no idea what’s happening. I’m still not breathing as I turn in the direction the voice came from, and find myself staring into a pair of green eyes. I set a hand on the brick wall to steady myself, as my legs begin to shake and my head starts feeling light. I think I’m fainting. I make some sort of noise — half gasp, half scream — as I take him in. Lachlan James Duke is here. Here. And he’s looking at me like he wants to murder me.
CHAPTER 28
DELILAH
“Who the fuck are you?” Wade glares at him and steps closer to me as if to protect me.
I raise my arm up to keep some distance between myself and Wade, because Lach looks like he might snap his neck. He looks like he might snap mine. I take in his all-black attire and overall appearance. His face, still so handsome and sculpted, has stubble, as if he hasn’t shaved in a few days, and this somehow makes him look even sexier. His jaw is tight as his incensed gaze burns into me. Suddenly, I realize he’s the one my gut warned me about, and I get it. The man standing in front of me needs to be announced by loud bells and trumpets. I swear, even pissed off, he’s hotter than he used to be. I can’t seem to form words. I can’t speak, can’t think.
“Dude, seriously, what do you want?” Wade asks after a few seconds.
Lachlan’s jaw tenses. “You have something that belongs to me and I need it back.”
Something that belongs to me. OhmygodImgonnafuckingdie.
“What the f—” Wade starts.
Lachlan’s eyes are so dark right now, they almost look black. He doesn’t let Wade get another word in, or maybe he does. I don’t know and it doesn’t matter. He lunges forward, wraps an arm around me, lifts me off the ground, and slams his mouth on mine. I whimper. It’s a savage kiss. An angry kiss. One I know will leave a mark on more than just my lips. I instinctively wrap my arms around him and deepen the kiss. He growls into my mouth, a rumbled sound that ping-pongs inside my body. The world evaporates. He doesn’t savor me, he devours me. He kisses me as if he’s making up for every minute and every day we’ve been apart, as if he’s punishing me for it. In the back of my mind, I know our tongues need to stop sparring, and we need to separate, but I don’t want it to and I can tell he doesn’t either. I feel his reluctance as he pulls away. A protesting sound forms in the back of my throat. We’re still holding onto each other, both panting, searching each other’s eyes, trying to make sure we’re not mirages. In his eyes, I see heat, longing, and anger. So much anger. It sends a shiver down my spine. I’ve seen him angry before, of course, but never at me. Because of me, sure, but not directed at me. I know I deserve every bit of it, but it doesn’t hurt any less.