Total pages in book: 142
Estimated words: 134073 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 670(@200wpm)___ 536(@250wpm)___ 447(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 134073 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 670(@200wpm)___ 536(@250wpm)___ 447(@300wpm)
“Mr. Belmont?” she asks, and I nod. “Welcome, where would you like to dine this evening?”
I look at Brooklyn and then smile. “How about in front of the sloths?”
“Perfect, right this way.”
Brooklyn leans in close to me as the park worker goes ahead of us.
“Are we seriously allowed to do this?” she whispers, but I can feel her excitement.
“Your wish is my command.” I let go of her hand and wrap my arm around her waist so she stays at my side.
When we get to the sloth enclosure I see that an area has been set up close by for us to use. I let go of Brooklyn as I spread out the blanket on the grassy lawn and place the picnic basket down on top of it. We take a seat on the blanket, and when she looks up she gasps.
“What?” I look around like maybe she sat on something sharp.
“I see them!” she squeals and then covers her mouth quickly. “Oh god, I didn’t mean to scare them.”
I laugh as I watch her eyes widen in both excitement and pleasure. The park attendant comes over and places a battery-powered lantern on our blanket for us.
“These are our sloths Mango and Rocky. Normally sloths don’t have mated life pairs, but these two were rescued from the wild together and brought to us for medical treatment. We’ve tried to introduce other females to Rocky, but he’s only got eyes for Mango.” Brooklyn makes a little soft sound like she’s loving this story. “Every time we brought in another female, Rocky threw a fit. We are a sanctuary for these animals while they rehabilitate and we hope one day to be able to release them back into their natural habitat.”
“Thank you,” I say to the attendant, and she nods.
“Have a good evening and take your time. I’m here for the night on the property and I’ll see on the cameras when you exit. Enjoy.”
I open up the basket of food and start laying it out on the blanket between us.
“I have a confession,” Brooklyn says.
“Have you decided not to run away?” I tease and she laughs.
“I thought this date was going to be terrible. But you’ve somehow proven me wrong.”
I lean in and smile as she bites her lip. “I hope to keep proving you wrong.”
With those words I close the distance between us and give her a quick kiss. Her lips are so damn soft and warm against mine and I don’t want to stop. I force myself to sit back and not rush this. It’s not enough but it will do for now.
That one kiss was enough to whet my appetite. As I’ve already discovered, when it comes to Brooklyn, I’m starved.
Chapter Five
BROOKLYN
I lick my lips as he brings another bite of creme brûlée to my mouth. For the first time in my life I hate the dessert because it takes away the taste of him. The kiss was over too fast but I’ll never forget his flavor.
“I think we’re supposed to eat dessert last.” I open my mouth for him to give me another bite.
“We can do whatever we want.” This time he steals a bite for himself.
That seems pretty apparent after being inside of a closed zoo. They’re treating Dash like he’s the owner.
This cannot be the same man my friends all went on dates with. There is no way. He’s charming in the most aggressive way, which I didn't know was a thing until now. Clearly I’m into it, because here I am with a missing phone and letting the thief spoon-feed me dessert.
“Isn't that how they do it in France?” He gives me the last bite.
“I don’t know, but I’ve always wanted to go there.” Charlotte went after graduation, but I'm pretty sure the only reason she got her degree was because Dad gave the school a giant check.
“Quite a few countries do. It’s common in Europe.” He pulls out more food from the basket and opens the containers.
“I should visit them all and see if this is true. You can’t trust everything you read online.”
“So on our next date then.”
I laugh, because he has to be joking. “If you get a next date,” I tease as I take a bite of my steak and it melts in my mouth.
“There will be a next date.”
I wish I could be as confident as him. “Okay. We’ll have a next date,” I agree. “As long as you’ll come with me to my family reunion,” I add in quickly. Hey, if he can throw things out there with such certainty, then I can too. His fork pauses in front of his mouth. “I mean, you will go with me to my family reunion.” There, that’s more his style.
“If you want me to.” He takes a bite of his food and shrugs. Damn, that was easy.