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)
I ran my finger over my lip. In a perfect world, I would have kissed her there and then. I would have steered her back to this room, thrown her to the bed, bound her hands and licked that woman from head to foot before slamming inside her and making her scream. I’d have spent every hour of this journey making her fall apart, not giving one single fuck as to who heard her.
But this wasn’t a perfect world. This was the one I’d been given.
My only job was to protect her.
I just wished I could convince my heart of that too.
Chapter Eleven
Hallie
Doha, Qatar
“Shut. The. Fuck. Up,” Sage said as we arrived in my room on the top floor of the hotel Jasper had booked for us. Five star, of course. “It has a living room and a kitchen, Hals.”
I laughed at my best friend. “We’ve stayed in hotels like this before,” I said.
Sage eyed me incredulously. “No, we haven’t, Hals.” She walked to an intercom near the kitchen. “We have a butler here. A fucking butler.”
“True,” I said, then went into the bedroom. I sank onto the bed and groaned. It was like lying on a cloud. Sage ran from the doorway and dived on the bed beside me. “Sage!” I squealed as the bed bounced, and I pushed her away when she licked my cheek. “What’s with you?” I asked, wiping my face.
Sage turned, propping her chin on her hand. “We’re here, Hals. We’re here, entered in our first five-star Grand Prix and riding epic horses. All those years qualifying in the Unders, getting in the FEI, fighting for the top spots. And we’re finally here. In a couple of days, we’ll be on the main stage and then we’re off.”
Sage’s eyes glistened and her emotional speech made mine water too. “Yeah,” I said in a hushed tone. I reached out between us on the pristine white quilt. Sage put her hand in mine. “We’ll have a good season, then it’s on to Team USA. Together,” I said.
“Together,” she echoed. Sage and I had ridden for Team USA juniors, but now we wanted in the big show. We wanted to wear the iconic red jackets, and we wanted to compete in the Olympics on our home turf two years from now. California.
“Sage?” I asked, after a few minutes of silence.
“Yeah?”
“Why are you in my room?”
She rolled her eyes. “Because I saw Atticus going to his suite, and mine is right next door to his. I didn’t want him to know it.”
“He wouldn’t do anything, Sage. Yes, you have history, but all his antics are just playful.”
“I know . . .” she said, then looked around my room. “Hey! Do you wanna swap?”
I laughed. “Nope!”
“Hals!” Sage groaned pathetically.
“No. Be a big girl and put your history with Atticus to bed. Call a fucking truce. We need to be a team here, and for that y’all need to stop bickering like a ninety-year-old married couple.” Sage huffed, in a mood. But I knew my best friend, and by the slumping of her shoulders, she’d heard me and agreed.
“Don’t be moody,” I said, poking her in the ribs. “You know I’m right.” Sage squealed, but then knocked my hand away to lean forward, searching my face.
“What?” I asked.
“Are we going to talk about a certain hot moment on the plane?” she said mischievously.
“Nope!” I said, feeling tingles run up my thighs just remembering Jasper’s hard body pressed against them. He had towered above me, and when he told me he was far from vanilla, I didn’t care if he took me then and fucked me up against that wall. Fuck the private bedroom; who needed a bed when you had Jasper Knighton pressed against you and a sturdy surface to be devoured against?
“Shit,” Sage said, pulling me from my heated thoughts.
I blinked and tried to calm down. “What?”
“Oh, darlin’,” Sage said, Tennessee accent coming in strong. “You’re screwed.” She fanned my flushed face. “You want to drop to your knees for our boss and suck him until he blows.”
“Sage!” I said, and hit her on her arm. She rolled over, laughing. I pushed at her and tried to get off the bed. She grabbed my arm. “You won’t swap rooms with me because a certain alpha male brooding hunk is right next door to you,” she said. “Am I right?”
I was going to kill her. “No,” I said, but Sage laughed even harder. Clearly, I wasn’t good at bluffing.
“Well, that was convincing, Hals,” she said. Facing me again, she said, “Can you just fuck him already? I can’t take the tension between y’all. It’s like seeing a slow-burn novel being played out in real life. It’s driving me fucking insane! Ride that man like he’s Seabiscuit. Then tell me all about it. Every. Last. Detail.”