Total pages in book: 60
Estimated words: 60711 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 304(@200wpm)___ 243(@250wpm)___ 202(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 60711 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 304(@200wpm)___ 243(@250wpm)___ 202(@300wpm)
His voice was tight, but she couldn’t tell if it was because he hated having to say the words...or hated having to leave her
Stop it, Andie! You’re imagining things, and it’s not helping! So just stop!
She dragged air into her lungs in an effort to clear her thoughts. He seemed to be waiting for her to say something, so...
“I’ll be fine, thank you.”
“Let’s hope that’s true.”
He suddenly started towards her, and her heart began to race. “Um—” She wanted to tell him to stop advancing, but instead she found herself backing away. The room seemed to have shrunk in a blink. It was suddenly hard to breathe, and—oomph!
Andie found herself trapped between the wall and his body, his palm pressed flat against the textured panel beside her head while his other hand caught her chin. His scent wrapped itself around her like a cage, his heat enveloping her body like invisible chains.
He slowly tilted her face up, but she refused to meet his gaze.
“You don’t want to look at me?”
She shook her head, not trusting herself to speak.
“Why not?”
Instead of answering, she tried to break free, but this only made his grip tighten ever so slightly, his hold on her gentle but unbreakable at the same time. It was like being captured by someone who could snap her neck or stroke her cheek in a blink, whichever he was in the mood to do.
“I’m not going to hurt you, koukla mou.”
Yeah right.
“I simply want to say goodbye—”
Yeah right x 2.
“—and make sure you do not forget me.”
His words made her panic, and she pressed her hands against his chest, intending to shove him away—
Oh.
It was her first time to touch a man—any man—this way, and she was startled by the muscled hardness of his body under his shirt. She suddenly felt as if she had crossed a line, and there was no going back from here—
Oh no.
He was suddenly pulling her close.
Closer and closer and closer.
Until her soft curves were molded against his big, hard body, and no, oh no—
Her body jerked in shock at the way the tips of her breasts had tightened into aching points.
She needed to get away.
Now!
But when she opened her mouth to cry out—
That was when his mouth took hers, his lips claiming her first kiss so, so thoroughly that it had her toes curling involuntarily inside of her shoes.
His tongue swept into her mouth like she had always been his to possess, and the taste of him—mint, darkness, and danger—had her knees knocking against each other as her senses reeled.
His body urged hers back against the wall, and this time, oh, this time, every inch of them was plastered against each other, and so there was no way not to feel the hard length of his arousal pulsing against her belly through their clothes.
A whimper escaped her at the way secret parts of her started to ache. She couldn’t understand how this was happening to someone like her. And someone like him. They were strangers. And they were different. They were leagues apart. This made no sense at all, but instead of wanting the kiss to stop—
Nooo.
She barely managed to keep herself from crying out in protest when he suddenly stepped back.
All she could do was stare up at him in a daze, and she would have crumpled at his feet if not for the wall she found herself leaning against.
He gazed back at her, his expression brooding, calculating.
“Sweet dreams, koukla mou.”
He was gone before she even realized he meant to leave, and her knees buckled the moment the door closed silently behind him.
She slid down the wall, fingers pressed to her swollen mouth. Her breasts still ached, and her belly still felt the imprint of his need.
What had just happened?
The memory burned through her again and again, making Andie press her thighs together harder. The library felt too small now. Too full of his lingering presence. She fled upstairs, locked her door, fell into bed fully dressed.
Day One, and she already wanted to run.
But she couldn’t.
Mustn’t.
She would stay here, take it one day at a time, until she had done what she had come here to do.
One day at a time, Andie. We won’t go until we get what we want.
The words followed her into sleep, and they were the first thing she remembered when morning came.
Good.
The early night had helped. She felt stronger. More herself.
Then she touched her lips.
The kiss blazed through her like lightning finding ground. Her breasts tingled with the memory of being pressed against him.
She showered in water hot enough to hurt. Dressed in jeans and the nicest blouse she owned, which wasn’t saying much. Tried to look like someone who hadn’t been thoroughly claimed by a stranger twelve hours ago.
Failed.
The house was a disaster zone.
Bodies everywhere. Not dead—she checked the first one—just passed out. On the marble floor. Against walls. Draped over furniture like expensive laundry.