Total pages in book: 102
Estimated words: 98671 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 493(@200wpm)___ 395(@250wpm)___ 329(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 98671 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 493(@200wpm)___ 395(@250wpm)___ 329(@300wpm)
“I haven’t fucked them all.”
“Do me a fucking favor and shut the fuck up,” she snarled.
Rory refused her request. “Not from lack of trying, I’m assuming.”
That there was no comeback was telling. He started playing imaginary drums with his fingers on the steering wheel.
“If I were a Last Rider, would you fuck me then?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“Because I’m not attracted to you.”
“Was it something I did?”
“You’re breathing; that’s all it takes.”
“Ouch! I’ve had women who aren’t attracted to me, but don’t you think it’s weird you’ve taken such an immediate dislike to me?”
“Not really. I dislike most people.”
Rory laughed at her unreasoning. “I’m the opposite. I usually like most people until they prove to me they aren’t worth the time of day.”
“Can I be one of those people?” she said tartly.
“Nope, too late. I like you more every day.”
“Like Viper? You want to fuck him, too?”
“No, he may be more than I can handle,” he teased. “He seems to live by his own rules, which I respect. With you, I only become more and more intrigued. You’re strong-willed, confident, a damn hard worker, yet you’re afraid of your feminine side. You own you’re a sexy woman, and sex isn’t a dirty word to you. You’re a man’s wish come true.”
“Depends on the man.”
Rory heard the hurt in her voice.
“You could never find your place in Reaper’s life. Reaper is cold and emotionless. You’re anything but. You’re more like a firefly—you light up the sky.”
Jewell stared at him sarcastically as she rolled her window down. “I have to air out the car from the crap you’re spilling. Do your clients really pay you for those cheesy compliments?”
“I’m serious. I’m also not buying what you’re trying to sell. You come across as a hard-nosed bitch, but nothing could be further from the truth, is it?”
“Keep fucking around, and you’ll find out,” she warned him caustically, venom dripping off her tongue.
“I’m not afraid of you, or that you hide behind The Last Riders to make yourself invincible. I believe in going after what I want.”
“What in the fuck does that mean?”
“It means I want you, and I know you want me.”
“Dream on, buddy,” she snorted out.
Rory took his eyes off the road long enough to give her a determined glance. “Sorry, I can’t do that.”
“Why not?”
“Because you’re what my dreams are made of.”
Chapter Nineteen
“If I’m your dream girl, you need a psychiatrist.”
Taken aback by her comeback, he wished they weren’t driving on the interstate, or he would have pulled over.
“What in the fuck was that?” Hearing the pity in her voice had set him on edge.
“Just saying.” She shrugged. “You’ve known me two, three days? From that you’ve determined I’m your dream girl? Dude, you need to set your ambitions higher.”
Rory was beginning to understand how Jewell reacted each time he made an overture toward her. She either shut him down with sarcasm or cut and ran.
“Are you saying you’re not worth getting to know?”
“I’m saying you’d have more success trying to grow oranges in Alaska than a relationship between us working out.”
“Because of me or you?” he tried to clarify.
“Does it matter?”
“Yes, it does.”
If a relationship between them wouldn’t work because of him, then it would be because of his choice of profession or his not being a Last Rider. If the cause was because of her, then what part of her life was she assuming would put a kibosh on anything developing between them?
“I’m not the typical girl next door,” she began cynically. “I’ve tried to be that type of girl and failed. Men, despite what shit they’ve done in their lives, love to rake women over the coals for the things they’ve done.”
“Like some things you’ve said to me about money?”
“There you go. My point exactly.”
“I’m not ashamed of anything in my past, and I don’t hide my past. I’ve been able to let my mother live the type of life she deserves, put my brothers and sister through college. Nor do I have to work at a dead-end job after which I have to go home to, to complain only to die after a few measly years after retirement.”
“Yeah, jobs like that don’t offer vacations in Greece, either, do they?”
“I paid for those vacations myself. My mother is from Greece. I took her there before my grandparents died so she could see them again, and then when my aunt’s daughter got married.”
“Okay, I was wrong there, but are you telling me that women haven’t paid for you to accompany them on other trips?”
“No. You talked about Greece, I explained. Just answer me one question: does it really bother you that women paid to be with me, or would you be jealous regardless if they hadn’t?”
Rory could tell his point had hit home when she sat up ramrod straight.
“I don’t get jealous over men!”