Total pages in book: 39
Estimated words: 36671 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 183(@200wpm)___ 147(@250wpm)___ 122(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 36671 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 183(@200wpm)___ 147(@250wpm)___ 122(@300wpm)
“What brings you here, then?” he asks, his eyes burning into my skin. “A small town like this…it doesn’t have much to offer you. Why did you come here?”
I sigh quietly. “It’s hard to explain.”
“Try me.”
I swallow. “I…I wanted a fresh start. To get away from the life I had in the big city…I never felt safe there. I wasn’t happy. So when my landlord kicked me out…I saw an opportunity to try again somewhere new.”
“Your landlord kicked you out of your home?” Elijah snarls. His eyes are blazing with anger now. “How could he do that to you?”
I shrug. “He wanted to make the rent payments higher…I said I couldn’t pay. He only gave me a few days to get out of there.”
“That bastard,” Elijah growls. “Where can I find him? I’ll hunt him down and kick his ass for what he did to you.”
I blink in surprise. I’ve never had someone be so fiercely protective of me like this, either. Here we are, two virtual strangers, and already Elijah seems so willing to do anything to help me.
When I look at his face, I can see that he truly means what he says. He’s willing to hurt the man that hurt me…no matter the consequences. I shake my head slowly.
“It’s okay. Really, it is. Maybe this is a good thing. I got away from the life I hated. I get to try from a new starting point again. So many people get stuck in lives that they hate, and they never get a chance to run from it all. I’m lucky.”
“That’s very optimistic.”
I shrug, keeping my eyes on the pan as I begin to make the sauce. “I didn’t have a good start in life. I know what it can be like to suffer. But I don’t believe it lasts forever. I believe that anyone can turn their life around. If they find good people to surround themselves with.”
I look up, and my eyes lock on to his. His dark gaze holds me in place, and I can’t tear my eyes away from him. Not that I want to. My heart beats ever faster, driven by the lust in his eyes.
I want him so badly. I want to abandon dinner altogether and just explore his body. I want to have him deep inside me, his strong arms keeping me safe in his embrace.
I’ve never felt these desires for anyone before, and now, there’s no denying these feelings. They’re here to stay, maybe even forever….
“I hope you’ve found what you’re looking for,” he says, looking me up and down. I take a shuddering breath.
“I think I have.”
CHAPTER FIVE
Elijah
Watching Olivia cook is something special, for sure. Seeing her in her element like this only makes me want her more. She’s clearly passionate, and I like that about her. Her face is screwed up in concentration as she carefully plates up the pasta dish, twirling the spaghetti into neat piles.
“It looks almost too good to eat,” I compliment, standing close to her. She blushes.
“It’s one of my favorite dishes to make. It’s easy to make good pasta sauce if you know how, but all the sauces in jars taste so artificial. I think that’s why everyone overlooks tomato sauces. They’re used to cheap store stuff, and it’s never as good,” she blushes even deeper. “Look at me babbling on…this isn’t interesting for you.”
“Yes, it is,” I insist. “I want to hear everything you have to say.”
She’s so red now that the color has overtaken her entire face. It makes me smile, knowing that she’s a little nervous around me. It means she cares. She cares what I think of her and what happens here tonight. But the way things are going, I think that this night might end exactly how I want it to…
My cock throbs in anticipation. The thought of getting her alone in her room, of touching every inch of her sultry body, gets me so hard.
Of course, I’m rushing ahead. Maybe she won’t want to move so quickly. Maybe she has some reservations about this thing that’s sparked so quickly between us. But I’ve noticed the way she keeps stealing glances at me, taking in my physique, her cheeks heating up as she checks me out. I can’t read her mind, but if I could, I think she’d be having similar thoughts, same as me.
It doesn’t seem to matter that there’s a huge age gap between us. It doesn’t matter that we’ve only known each other for a few hours. It’s like this connection between us is impossible to sever. We’ve found something deep, something worth diving in headfirst for in a short amount of time. I don’t know her well, but I want to, and everything Olivia tells me, I know I’ll remember forever. I want her so much that I’ll never let this escape my grasp now.