Total pages in book: 141
Estimated words: 128313 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 642(@200wpm)___ 513(@250wpm)___ 428(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 128313 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 642(@200wpm)___ 513(@250wpm)___ 428(@300wpm)
“Let’s show these Brits how it’s done on this side of the pond,” Canyon said, and I followed him to the building next door. Night had fallen and the string lights around the food trucks looked like fireflies dancing in the night sky. The sound of country music quickly lured us downstairs.
As soon as we entered, the feel of sawdust under my feet and peanut shells discarded on the floor soothed my soul. Luke Combs and Lainey Wilson blasted from the speakers, and Canyon held out his hand. “Miss Hallie, may I have this dance?”
“You may,” I said, and let him lead me to the dance floor. It was packed, but we found a clearing with enough room for Canyon to spin me. I laughed as he threw me around the room.
“Don’t look now, but your man can’t take his eyes off you,” Canyon said a few minutes later, and I looked over my shoulder to see Jasper holding a beer, leaning against a nearby wall with Leon. Leon was animatedly talking into Jasper’s ear, but Jasper’s eyes were locked on me. He scraped his teeth along his bottom lip. It was heady, the power that I had in this moment. Jasper was dominant, and I was happy to be submissive to him in bed. I lived for those moments. But right here, right now, the way he was watching me, his empty hand balling at his side as he fought the need to hold me . . . It was addictive.
“Let’s tip him over the edge, hey?” Canyon said, as Willie Nelson played next and the tempo increased. As Canyon spun me around the dance floor, he said, “I think it’s working.” I looked behind me to see Jasper handing his beer bottle to a confused Leon and heading toward me.
He wasn’t . . .
He couldn’t be . . .
“She’s all yours,” Canyon said to Jasper, and gave him my hand.
“What about you?” I said to Canyon.
A woman placed her hand on his shoulder, pulling him her way. “You’re practically my sister, Hals, so I won’t go into it, but . . . I do okay.”
I laughed as he was dragged into the center of the dance floor by a dark-haired beauty and he spun her like he’d just spun me.
When I turned to Jasper, he placed his hand around my waist. “Jasper,” I said, and checked around us. Leon smirked at us and shook his head. There was nothing but amusement on his face. Atticus too, if his wink at me from across the dance floor was any indication. Turning back to Jasper, I said, “We can’t, someone might see.”
“My security team have checked and we weren’t followed. No one here knows us. We’re safe.”
I looked to our friends again. They were completely unbothered by our closeness. “I feel like the team may be onto our secret relationship.”
“Good,” he said, without looking around. “Then I don’t have to hold back in doing this.” Before I even knew what was coming, Jasper pushed me into a dark corner of the room and crushed his mouth to mine. Safely out of sight, I moaned, gripping onto his muscled biceps before melting into his embrace. People on the dance floor spun around, the music pounding out a fast beat, but we stood suspended in time, still, and falling into one another’s arms—our own pocket of peace in the chaos.
Jasper eventually broke away, and I wrapped my arms around his neck. “Are you here to two-step with me?” I asked dubiously.
“I have no fucking clue how to do that, or even dance in general, so I thought I’d just hold you instead.” His face shone with jealousy. “If one more of these fucking cowboys drools your way, there’s a real danger that I’m going to commit murder tonight.” I threw my head back, laughing. Lifting my hat from my head, I placed it on his.
I stepped back and looked my fill. Jasper Knighton in a cowboy hat should be illegal. “Fuck,” I said, and I squeezed my legs together when heat built between them. Then my gaze softened. “This was my daddy’s hat,” I said, and even over the music, I knew Jasper heard the bittersweet tone of my voice. Jasper lifted the hat off his head and placed it back on my own.
“Then it belongs on his little girl’s head.” Jasper kissed me again. In fact, he kissed me so much that I was ready to leave the bar and go back to the hotel so I could bend over and get fucked in just my hat and boots. I must have groaned out loud at the visual, because Jasper kissed along my cheek, whispering into my ear, “I’ll fuck you here and now in front of all these people if you don’t stop.”