Total pages in book: 77
Estimated words: 75929 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 380(@200wpm)___ 304(@250wpm)___ 253(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 75929 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 380(@200wpm)___ 304(@250wpm)___ 253(@300wpm)
“Hey, those old ladies are a good time. I met one once who confessed to killing her first husband.”
“Seriously?”
“Yep. We can’t judge her too hard. She said he was always knocking her around. So she slipped a little belladonna in his nightcap. And she got to play the grieving widow, sell the house, and move to the city like she always wanted to. Then she married four more times.”
“Four?” Soren asked, looking suspicious.
“I know what you’re thinking. But she claims they all died of natural causes. Though, come to think of it, there was a strange look in her eye when she said the last one died.”
“How’d he die?”
“Stepped in front of a bus. Though, looking back, she never mentioned him stepping out in front of the bus. Maybe she pushed him.”
“And who would suspect the little old lady?”
“The perfect crime. Twice. I kind of have even more respect for her now.”
“So, to earn your respect, someone has to murder. Twice.”
“It certainly would help to bump you up toward the top of my list.”
“You know, I have a particularly annoying neighbor…”
I was determined not to be charmed by him.
But a little laugh bubbled up and burst out.
“How would you do it?” I asked.
“Stuff the harmonica he is always playing down his throat,” Soren said, smiling.
“Who plays the harmonica?”
“The spoiled grown child of two investment bankers who is desperate to come off as some fun beatnik who wasn’t raised in a twelve-million-dollar mansion in the Hamptons.”
“It’s no longer cool to be rich, I guess.”
“Shame for us, because our net worth is about to skyrocket.”
“You think it’s going to be that successful?”
“You don’t?”
“Well, I have no idea what to expect. Nightclubs are new for me.”
“Don’t take offense to this, but I wouldn’t even consider taking on a partner if I didn’t think this was going to be a wildly successful venture,” he told me as we started to walk out toward the elevator.
“I get that. I don’t play well with others,” I said as we moved into the elevator car.
“I wouldn’t say that,” Soren said as the doors slid closed.
Shit.
Why had I gotten in the elevator with him?
Things had been going so well.
No line crossing.
Even some fun, easy banter.
No flirting.
“Soren…” I said, hearing the pleading in my voice. And I honestly couldn’t tell you what I was begging for. For him to keep things professional. Or for him to throw all the rules out the window and kiss me again.
“Hm?” he asked, reaching out to press the button that had the car jerking to a stop between floors. “Soren, what?” he asked, stepping closer, towering over me as I pressed back against the wall.
My chest felt tight, like he was sucking up all the air in the enclosed space.
“Do this?” he asked, his hand sliding up the side of my thigh, hip, waist, breast. “Or this?” he went on, his hand moving inward to tease over one of the swells, making my nipple harden and press against the material.
Taking that as a silent encouragement, his thumb moved out, teasing around the point, making my head fall back as my breath shuddered out of me.
“Or maybe this?” he asked, taking advantage of my upturned head to lean down and press a kiss to the pulse point in my neck.
A soft whimper escaped me as my belly flip-flopped.
His tongue teased out, sliding upward, making a shiver rack my system.
“Or this?” he asked, teeth snagging my earlobe and giving a small tug as his thumb and forefinger twisted my nipple lightly through the material of my dress.
“Or did you mean to leave you alone?” he asked.
Then he was suddenly releasing me and walking over toward the far end of the car, eyes heated, smile devilish.
But he didn’t get to bask in his effortless control over me for long.
Already too needy to care about the consequences, I rushed across the car, reaching up, grabbing his tie, and yanking him down until my lips claimed his.
A rumble of approval moved through him. His arm slid around my lower back, hauling me against him as my lips grew harder, hungrier.
My hands slid up, wrapping around the back of his neck, crushing my chest to his.
For a long moment, he just held me.
But it wasn’t long before his hands started to roam down my back, then sank into my ass, using it to drag me more firmly against him.
A throaty whimper escaped me at the feel of his hardness pressing against me.
Soren’s hands started to gather my skirt, pulling it upward. My skin prickled, and it was impossible to tell if it was the chill or the heat of my desire.
I expected, as my skirt gathered around my waist, that his hand would shift down, slip between my thighs, tease me like he’d done at my office.
But as soon as my skirt was out of the way, he whipped around, pressing me back against the wall, then going down on his knees before me.