Total pages in book: 135
Estimated words: 131916 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 660(@200wpm)___ 528(@250wpm)___ 440(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 131916 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 660(@200wpm)___ 528(@250wpm)___ 440(@300wpm)
I exhaled at the warmth that rolled through me as she gave me one more fierce squeeze, like her spirit knew mine needed soothing, before she edged back and gripped me by the outside of the arms. “You’re lucky you listened because five minutes more and you would have found yourself in the trunk of my car.”
A teasing smile pranced across her lips that today she’d painted blood red. “Come on, you need to meet my brother and his friends.”
I didn’t have time to renounce the idea and tell her I was only swinging by to see her before she had me by the hand and was dragging me between the small section separating her booth and the enormous one next to it.
I struggled to keep up, my wedges sinking into the soft grass beneath me as she hauled me along the side and to the back where a circle of four chairs had been set up.
One was empty, and the other three were occupied.
Two men sat facing our direction, lost in conversation, emitting a vibe that nearly made me trip.
Each covered in ink and radiating a foreboding ferocity that I was sure had to steal every eye, no doubt garnering attention and scrutiny and curiosity in this small town.
So out of place they stood out like menacing beacons you couldn’t look away from.
Brutally beautiful and screaming of trouble.
Exactly like the man who sat with his back to us with his attention fully focused on his cup that he held between two tattooed hands. The one who made the oxygen punch out of me on a wheeze when I was slammed with the recognition of who was sitting there.
There was no missing the crop of black hair and the tattooed tendrils of what looked like smoke that rolled up the back of his neck and disappeared into his hairline at the back of his skull.
I could feel that intensity radiating from him. Tension gripped hold of his bulging muscles and bunched his wide shoulders as he slowly swiveled around to look at me.
A blister of darkness streaked across the afternoon air. Arrows that impaled as those storm-ridden eyes devoured me from across the space.
Couldn’t get you off my mind…
His words from yesterday spun around me like a dream.
Raven only tugged at my hand when I faltered to a stop. “Come on, they’re right over here.”
She pulled me right up to where they were sitting.
“Hey guys, this is my new friend I’ve been telling you about, Charleigh Lowe.”
She waved a hand over me like she was presenting them a prize. I could feel River’s eyes penetrating me, so deep I thought they might cut through to the soul.
“Charleigh, these are a couple of my brother’s friends. Kane...” She pointed first at a man with short-brown hair and a full but trimmed beard. Tall and muscular, arrogance came off him in waves.
Raven gestured at the man sitting next to him. “And this is Theo.”
Theo jutted a sharp chin at me, his cheekbones harsh slashes that contoured his face in a way that promised he could likely seduce anyone into their destruction.
He was completely covered in tattoos, black ink that swirled and curled over his lean, packed muscle. My head dipped in a small hello.
“And this is my brother, River.”
Of course.
River was her brother.
My heart hammered as I tried to figure out how I was going to get out of this. Because I didn’t think I could handle being in his space. Not when he made me feel as if I was unraveling.
My mind twisted and my thoughts skewed.
Dangerous ideas slipping through.
Releasing my hand, Raven stepped up to River and ruffled her fingers over the super short black hair on his head, as if she was certain he wouldn’t bite when he looked like a viper ready to strike.
Coiled and rattling.
She looked back at me with a sly wink and mouthed, told you, like she was doing me the favor of introducing me to her brother’s friends when the only thing I wanted to do was turn and flee.
But no.
I was pinned.
Chained by those menacing eyes that ravaged me where he sat. So powerful that I had no defense.
No resistance.
“Good to meet you, Charleigh.”
The scruff-laden voice knocked me out of the stupor, and I looked to where Kane sat. His long legs were stretched out in front of him and he had one arm draped around the back of the chair like he might be lounging on a throne.
“Nice to meet you, too.” Somehow, I managed the sparse, shaken words, but my stupid regard was climbing right back to the pillar of a man whose tongue stroked over his plush bottom lip.
My stomach twisted, thoughts back to the words he’d whispered yesterday.
Temptation and a threat.
“Smart girl. Not the kind of guy a girl like you should go mixin’ with.”