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 came to see if you are okay?” I said, and crossed my arms over my chest. The trailer was hot, the air-conditioning turned off and only the emergency low lighting illuminating the space. In the orange glow, Jasper looked like a god. A fallen, domineering god with stubble on his cheeks and fury in his midnight eyes.
“Am I okay?” he said, repeating my words. There was a mocking tone to his voice. Then he said, “I made it perfectly clear that you need to stay away from McGowen. And I arrive at dinner to find you on the dance floor, spinning in his arms.”
His words were fuel to my fire. “Excuse me?” I said. “I need to stay away from him?”
“He’s bad news,” he bit out. “And he’s only paying you attention to fuck with me.”
I laughed incredulously. I was so done with this shit. “So no one could be genuinely interested in me, is that it?”
“Don’t fucking put words in my mouth,” Jasper snapped, his hands opening, fingers stretching before closing into fists again. Even in the dim light I could see that his cheeks were flushed and his pupils dilated.
“But it’s okay for Camille Dubois to hang all over you like some cheap decoration?” I stepped closer and then closer still, until I was mere feet from where Jasper stood. “Tell me, Mr. Knighton,” I said, mockingly using his surname. “Have you fucked her? Have you let down your walls enough to screw Camille?”
“Careful,” he warned me. But I was past warnings now. This was one wild horse he couldn’t break.
“Why? ’Cause it’s true?” When all I got back was stony silence, pain sliced through my heart. So I laughed. I laughed right in Jasper’s face. “Perfect. You chastise me for dancing with a man I have zero interest in, all the while a woman you’ve screwed paws all over you and that’s acceptable?” I shook my head. “Fuck. This. I’m done!”
I turned and walked to the exit, full to the brim with anger, when Jasper commanded, “Do not dare leave this trailer!”
I whipped around, the hot-blooded Texan cowgirl rising up in me. Even as a child, I never let a bull or colt get the best of me, so I sure as fuck wasn’t letting Jasper Knighton. “What did you say?” I said calmly, measuredly. Threateningly.
Jasper rolled his lips together and his eyes roved over every inch of my body. My traitorous nipples hardened under his heavily lidded stare, but I wasn’t backing down. “I said, what did you say?”
Jasper stepped closer and his sandalwood and mint scent ghosted over me. “I fucked her years ago. Once. In my early twenties when we were at the Horse of the Year Show and I was drunk off my arse.” He laughed without humor. “Believe me, I wish I could be interested in her now. It would be a lot fucking simpler.”
“What does that mean?” I snapped.
Jasper turned, his head tipping back. I watched his broad back move up and down as he took a deep breath, then exhaled. “Because then I wouldn’t be thinking of you twenty-four-fucking-seven! I wouldn’t be convincing myself day and night to stay the fuck away from you. That you’re too young for me, that you’re my employee, that being in any way attached to me puts you in too much danger!” Jasper was breathless, his chocolate gaze wild. “God, I wish I hadn’t heard you come with my fucking name on your lips—twice! I wish I hadn’t heard you scream my name just imagining me fucking you!”
Deathly silence stretched between us. I’d been right. He’d heard me somehow, he’d actually fucking heard me . . .
I wasn’t sure who moved first, but one minute we were glaring at one another, thick static sparking between us, and the next our lips slammed together, and Jasper’s hands threaded into my hair. His fingers wrapped around my thick strands as he pulled me even closer. This wasn’t a soft, sensitive kiss. This was rough, raw, and passionate and the culmination of weeks upon weeks of endless wanting and pushing and pulling.
It was fucking explosive.
I moaned loudly, and Jasper used that moment to push his tongue inside my mouth. My legs weakened as his tongue slid against mine, hot and strong, and I was sure I’d never be able to be kissed by anyone else again. Jasper consumed me. I clung to his jacket as he walked me backward toward the wall, slamming me against it. Jasper’s tall frame crowded me so much that I was covered by him.
Jasper broke from the kiss, only to pepper more down my neck. He groaned with every nip at my skin, and every fantasy I’d ever had of what Jasper would be like if he kissed me, if he fucked me, were tossed out the window. He was more, so much more than I could have ever imagined.