Total pages in book: 18
Estimated words: 17724 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 89(@200wpm)___ 71(@250wpm)___ 59(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 17724 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 89(@200wpm)___ 71(@250wpm)___ 59(@300wpm)
Tonight, they fail. The words shift and shimmer until they become tempting sentences.
Go and be with your man.
Find Lex.
Love him.
I close my eyes. Shake my head as if I can dislodge the thoughts.
That’s when I hear the grunting. What? Is it coming from my backyard. My heart pounds frantically as I walk to the window and peel back the curtain a little.
Moonlight bounces off his shirtless back as he digs in the dirt. Piling gigantic mounds up beside the soon-to-be pool foundation. I bite my lip as I watch him. I was never much of a lip-biter before Lex came along. Now the habit has set in.
Maybe I should just leave him to it …
But screw that. I called him Daddy because it was hot as hell. But I’m not going to act like some scared little girl. I am not a scared little girl.
I walk through the house before I can talk myself out of it. Open the back door.
He turns, the blue moonlight drenching his rippled torso. He spears the shovel into the dirt. His voice is low and gravelly. “Didn’t mean to wake you.”
“What are you doing?” I hiss.
“Helping,” he says fiercely. “Trying.”
“You don’t have to do that.”
“I can’t stand to see you struggle, Rose. You deserve a man who makes life easier for you.”
I wrap my arms around myself.
“Is this the part where you tell me to fuck off?” he snarls.
Slowly, I shake my head. “I thought you’d forgotten about me.”
He steps out of the hole. Walks toward me cautiously like he’s afraid of moving too fast, scared he’ll snap and spiral us into irrepressible lust.
“Never.” He takes my hands, moves his thumbs over my knuckles with shocking gentleness. But I can feel the lust trying to burst through. “I can’t stop thinking about you. But you were right to push me away.”
“Because you’re involved in organized crime?”
He leans down. His nose brushes mine. His eyes stare at me … no, into me, like he sees things nobody else ever has.
“You shouldn’t say things like that.”
He’s too close. I can’t stop myself.
This time, I’m the one who kisses him.
He groans as I stand on my tiptoes. Throw my arms over his shoulders. The desire in me swells and tries to take over. I almost let it.
“Wait.” I place my hand on his chest. His heart pounds heavily through his muscled chest. “If we’re going to do this, I want it to… mean something.”
Does that sound cheesy?
Unrealistic?
Am I asking for too much?
He obliterates my concerns when he says huskily, “You mean everything, Rose. Everything to me. You make me feel more than a man like me should be able to.”
A man like me.
But he still hasn’t told me what that is.
He hasn’t denied it either.
He cradles my face. Brushes his hand across my cheek.
“You changed me the moment I laid eyes on you,” he murmurs. “I’m taking you out.”
A smile lights me up. “Out—now?”
He smirks. “Unless you’ve got other plans? Like maybe drag you inside and fuck you until we’re both raw and wrecked and hungry for more … so, yeah, out. In public, where I’ll have to play nice and, at least pretend to be civilized.”
My heartbeat gets as frantic as his. “Are you serious?”
He stares darkly at me. “Deadly. Go get ready. I’m going to treat you like the queen you are.”
7
LEX
You’re making another mistake.
I ignore the warning bells screaming through me.
Focus instead on how drop-dead gorgeous Rose looks as I lead her into my garage. She’s wearing a flowing blue dress that hugs suggestively—but subtly—to her curvy form. She’s unbraided her hair, let it flow to her shoulders.
Light makeup draws out her natural beauty instead of replacing it.
I open the door to my dark car, windows tinted. She steps inside, brushing my arm.
“I can’t believe we’re doing this,” she says. “I never go out this late.”
I smile. A real one. Not forced. Not savage.
Something like happiness sparks in my cold chest.
“You deserve it,” I tell her. “Hell, Rose, you deserve the world.”
She touches my arm. “How can you say that when you hardly know me?”
“The truth? I feel like I know you better than I’ve ever known any woman. One day with you is like a year with anybody else.”
As I drive out of the neighborhood and toward the city, I notice she’s gone quiet. Wringing her hands in her lap.
“What’s wrong?” I ask.
“Nothing,” she murmurs.
I place one hand on her leg. Slip beneath her dress and squeeze her naked thigh. My dick pulses. She touches my wrist like she’s unsure whether she wants to urge me higher or tell me to stop.
“Is Daddy going to have to make you tell me?”
“Other women,” she says quietly. “But it’s silly. I’ve got no right to ask.”
“Other women don’t exist to me,” I growl. “Only you, Rose. Nobody else matters. Look at me like I’m nuts if you want. I know it’s only been a couple days. But I mean it. You’re everything to me.”