Total pages in book: 134
Estimated words: 124135 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 621(@200wpm)___ 497(@250wpm)___ 414(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 124135 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 621(@200wpm)___ 497(@250wpm)___ 414(@300wpm)
I didn’t do girlfriends. Never had. I was a use-them-and-move-on kind of guy. But from day one Bonnie Farraday had gotten under my skin. And Sod’s Law, the one girl I was chasing as more than a quick shag wasn’t having any of it.
I had no idea why. We’d both been into it last night. I’d felt her against me. Her hands hadn’t left me. Even afterward, she’d clung to my hand like she never wanted to let go.
But I was learning Bonnie Farraday was a complex girl.
Even though she’d pushed me away, I couldn’t let her go. I’d wanted her here tonight. I didn’t know why, but I needed her here. I wanted her to see me in a real setting. I wanted her to hear my new mixes.
One I’d made just for her.
The manager was up my arse the second I walked in the place. Apparently it was a sellout. I’d go on at midnight. It wasn’t far off.
“I’m gonna get shots,” Easton said, flashing his fake ID at Bonnie and me before leaving us alone in the ridiculous-size dressing room. Couches, a TV—even a bed sat in the corner. It was a good venue. I didn’t feel nervous about playing; I never did. But I was nervous about having Bonnie beside me on the podium.
Nervous about what she’d think of the new mix I’d made for her.
Bonnie sat down on the couch and rubbed her hand over her face. She was pale. But she looked good. She was wearing black flowery high-waisted trousers and a white long-sleeved top that showed off every inch of her curves. Her hair was in a high ponytail, and I wanted nothing more than to wrap it around my hand and pull her to my mouth.
I was making sure I had everything lined up on my laptop. The sound of the opening DJs came from outside. Colors, as always, danced before my eyes. But I blocked them out and concentrated on my own set.
“You ready?” Bonnie said eventually. We’d had no time alone since we’d got in the truck.
“Always.” I stared at her. Her hands were fidgeting in her lap. She looked so damn cute. “Farraday.” She looked over. “Get your arse over here.”
Bonnie looked as if she’d refuse, but then she got up off the couch and came to my seat. I shifted over, making enough room for her to sit down too. She hesitated. I groaned and pulled her down by her arm. “For Christ’s sake, Farraday, I had my tongue down your throat twenty-four hours ago. I think you can sit down beside me. It’s not like there isn’t room. You must weigh all of eight stone.”
“What?” she asked, brown eyebrows pulled down. “Eight stone?”
I threaded my arm around her waist, making her yelp. “It means you weigh nothing. Now.” I shifted her close enough that she was pressed against me and my hand could still use my laptop.
“Cromwell.” She sighed. “This isn’t wise.”
“No one ever said I was.” I pointed to my laptop. “My set,” I said. Bonnie’s love for music overrode any complaint she had about being next to me. She stared at the program.
“So these are your tracks?” I nodded. “Then how do you mix them?”
I shrugged. “I judge the crowd. Decide when I’m up there what to play next. See how far I can push them.” I tried to picture the crowd in my mind. “I just do what feels right.”
“You follow the emotion,” she said knowingly. “What you told me last night.”
“Yeah.” I closed my laptop and looked up at Bonnie. Her eyes were already on me. Then they dropped to my lips. “Farraday.” I inched closer and pressed my forehead to hers. “If you don’t want me to take your mouth right now, I’d stop looking at me like that.”
“Like what?” she whispered, cheeks flushed.
“Like you want to feel my tongue ring in your mouth again.”
She laughed, the sound causing the violet-blue circle I normally saw to spike and pulse with pale pink. “You’re a regular Romeo,” she said jokingly. “Feel your tongue ring again?”
I felt my damn chest expand and my lip hook up at the corner. I pulled her closer and ran my nose down her cheek. Her breathing was shallow and stuttered. My lips nipped her earlobe. “Never claimed to be,” I said into her ear. I moved back, my lips running over her cheeks and to her lips. My eyes were open, wide open, as hers locked on mine. She was breathing hard.
I closed in, forgetting that she told me we could never happen. Just as I pressed my lips to hers, a knock sounded on the door. “Cromwell?” a voice said. “Five minutes.”
I sighed, my head dropping to her shoulder. Bonnie’s hand fell into my hair. “We’d better go.”