Total pages in book: 85
Estimated words: 83786 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 419(@200wpm)___ 335(@250wpm)___ 279(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 83786 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 419(@200wpm)___ 335(@250wpm)___ 279(@300wpm)
“Okay.” She frowned. “Is that my helmet?”
“Yep. Bas gave me a ride home, but we’re going to go hang at his place for a while.”
“Oh, really?” She smirked.
“Yes, really. I’ll be home late, don’t wait up.”
“Just text me if you’re not coming back tonight,” she said with a smile. “I don’t enjoy waking up to find you not in your bed.”
“That happened one time, and I was seventeen.”
“Still have nightmares about it.”
“You’re so dramatic.”
“You’re lucky,” she argued. “You got the mellow mom.”
“You grounded me for a month.”
“It should’ve been longer.”
“Bas is waiting.”
“Go. Have fun. Use protection!”
“Disgusting,” I sang as I spun toward the door.
“Or don’t,” she sang back. “I want grandkids at some point.”
“I’m telling Dad you said that!”
“Love you!”
“Love you, too!”
I hurried back outside and found Bas waiting right where I’d left him.
“Good?”
“Yep!”
The ride to Bas’s apartment was even better than the ride to my parents’ house. His hand found my thigh again, but this time I wasn’t dreading the moment he pulled it away. Instead, I was filled with anticipation.
It wasn’t like sex was a foregone conclusion, though it wasn’t off the table either. I was just excited to spend more time with him than a couple of stolen minutes. I wanted to see his space and find out more about him than I’d learned in passing over the years. Was he a neat freak? A slob? Did he have a coffee pot, or did he buy it when he went out? Paper towels or terry cloth ones? Was he one of those guys who lived in a bachelor pad, or did he actually decorate?
There was still a nagging little voice in the back of my mind that said I was stepping into a situation that might end really badly and make me look like an idiot, but I made a conscious effort to ignore it. Even after the episode with my car, part of me was still riding the high of my dinner with Nova, imagining that I could make a spot for myself in Eugene. I could become more than a spectator in family and club events. Carve out my own little spot.
Of course, the logic in that was faulty, because if I pissed everyone off by spending time with Bas, none of that would come to fruition.
We parked in front of a gray building, and Bas helped me take off the helmet that seemed to have gotten even tighter the longer I’d worn it. My glasses fell off, and I had to fish them out of the eyehole of the helmet before I could get it completely off my head.
My hair was huge. I could feel it blowing in the wind.
“I know, I know, it’ll be hard to keep your hands off me,” I said ruefully as I put my glasses back on and tried to smooth my hair down. “You’ll have to restrain yourself.”
“You look like I just fucked you,” Bas said conversationally, dropping the helmet down by his side. “Hard.”
My eyes widened as he casually walked around the bike to grab my stuff out of the saddlebags.
I really wished I could think of something clever to say, but I had a hard time remembering my own name.
Holding the handles of the bags and my helmet in one hand, he laced the fingers of his other hand with mine and led me toward his building, only letting go to unlock his front door.
The apartment was dark when we stepped inside, but Bas seemed to know where everything was because he locked the door behind us and led me through the room to set my stuff on his kitchen counter. There was just enough light coming from the streetlights outside that I could make out large pieces of furniture, but not much else.
“Moment of truth,” he murmured, leaning past me to turn on the kitchen light.
At least, I think that was his plan. His hand never actually made it to the light switch behind me. When he leaned into my space, I automatically put my hands up, and they collided with the front of his hoodie, sliding beneath the cut he was wearing.
Both of us froze for less than a second before his head was descending and I was rising onto my toes to meet him.
The kiss went from zero to holy hell instantly.
For the first time since I’d looked at his smile and felt it in my belly, we were actually alone.
Bas’s hands were on my face and my neck, sliding down my back and gripping my ass. He boosted me onto the counter, and I quickly wrapped my legs around his waist. Frantic, I shoved the cut off his shoulders. He unzipped my jacket, and it joined his leather on the kitchen floor.
I shuddered as his hand fisted in my hair and he tilted my head back so he could kiss and nip at my throat. Reaching down, I slid my hands underneath his sweatshirt and T-shirt, finding smooth skin and hard muscle beneath it. I slid them upward, taking the fabric with me so I could run my fingers over his chest.