Total pages in book: 146
Estimated words: 142214 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 711(@200wpm)___ 569(@250wpm)___ 474(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 142214 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 711(@200wpm)___ 569(@250wpm)___ 474(@300wpm)
“You haven’t seen all of me.”
“Then show me.”
He backed her into the wall, cupping his hand around her throat where her pulse beat wildly. His hand slid high enough to show her he wasn’t messing around. “You’re already shaking.”
“You’re holding my throat.”
“Are you scared?”
“No.”
“You should be.”
“Then you’re going to have to do better than that.” She relaxed into the wall, letting all the resistance melt out of her muscles.
His mouth slammed against hers, hard and punishing. His tongue swept into her mouth with dark promise, commanding control, as she surrendered to his lead. When he grabbed her breast, he wasn’t gentle. He tried to shock her, but he couldn’t.
His clothed body pushed against her naked one, grinding into her, showing her how much she affected him.
He dragged her hand to the bulge in his pants. “This is what you do to me.”
He bit her lip, as if to punish her. She gasped and covered her mouth. “Ouch.”
His hand tightened in her hair as he kissed away the pain. “This is my mouth, Wren. Do you understand? No more Soren, or anyone else. No one kisses you but me.”
“Okay.”
“Promise me.”
“I promise.”
“Good.” He released her and shivers chased over her skin.
“Why did you stop?”
“I’ve dealt with you. Now, I have to deal with my brother.”
“Grey—”
“Don’t. This is between me and Soren.” He picked her robe up off the floor and handed it to her, then adjusted the bulge in his pants. “Come to my place tonight.”
“When?”
“Seven. We’ll finish this then.” He scooped Tinsel out of the basket.
When he grabbed his coat, she quickly slipped back into her robe and followed him to the front door. “Grey, you can’t fight with Soren over this. You’ve won.”
“That doesn’t erase what he did.”
She caught his arm. “Greyson, please! Don’t turn this into a scandal.”
“It’s only a scandal if no one backs off. He’ll back off. You’ll see.”
CHAPTER 13
“Ding, Dong, Ding, Dong, Ding”
Greyson blew into Soren’s house like an unwelcome blizzard, his presence crackling with barely restrained fury. “Soren!” he bellowed, shaking the rafters. “Get your fucking ass out here!”
His brother appeared at the top of the landing, strategically keeping a flight of stairs between them like a shield. “I’m not doing this, Greyson.”
“The fuck you aren’t.”
“Look, the check was her idea.”
“It’s over.” His words sliced through the air with deadly finality.
“No. I’m not going through this with you again. She’s thirty fucking years old, Grey. You don’t get to control us like kids anymore.”
“She’s done with you.”
“Bull. Shit. We have something—”
“You have nothing.”
“Says who? You?”
“Says Wren. It’s over between you two.”
Soren’s spine stiffened as suspicion crawled up his rigid back. “What did you do?” He pulled his phone out of his pocket and shot Wren a text.
Greyson crossed his arms over his chest and waited, every muscle in his body coiled like a predator ready to strike.
The awkward silence stretched taut between them as they waited for her to respond.
“She’ll get back to me in a second.”
“I’m sure.” Greyson’s words dripped with skepticism.
“She will.”
“Maybe if you stare at the screen a little harder, text bubbles will appear.”
Tension radiated from his brother as he forked his fingers through his dark hair, sweat beading at his temples despite the cool air, the strands falling in disheveled waves. “She typically answers right away. Maybe it’s a bad signal.”
Bullshit. Wren was surgically attached to her phone, her lifeline to the world. She paid extra for her plan to ensure she had the best service, while everyone else barely got by with two bars.
She was probably panicking as much as Soren right now, her pulse hammering against her throat as she bit that sexy lip of hers. Greyson wouldn’t let things get any further between them until they cleared this up. Best his brother learned the truth sooner rather than later.
“She’s obviously ignoring you.”
“Give it a sec!”
Greyson paced toward the wall where Soren had a pretentious assortment of unopened champagne bottles displayed like trophies. It made quite a collection, yet he never saw his brother drink a single glass of champagne in his life.
“What are you saving these for?”
Soren shrugged, his shoulders heavy with something unspoken. “A special occasion.”
There were at least fifty bottles, some worth well over a thousand dollars, their labels gleaming like promises. “That’ll be some occasion.”
“Yeah. I guess I’ve been preserving them so long they seem a little too special to crack open.”
He understood that sentiment all too well, the ache of it settling deep in his chest. He’d been protecting Wren for more than a decade, keeping her at arm’s length like his most precious possession. Opening this particular Pandora’s Box felt wrong on every level. Dangerous and reckless. It also felt like the reward of a lifetime, the sweetest sin he’d ever consider committing.
“Did you hear that?” Soren frowned, his head tilting.
“What?”
“I heard a squeak. Did that come from your stomach?”