Total pages in book: 62
Estimated words: 59422 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 297(@200wpm)___ 238(@250wpm)___ 198(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 59422 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 297(@200wpm)___ 238(@250wpm)___ 198(@300wpm)
I cleared my throat. What did I say to a guy who had his face between my thighs and then wouldn’t screw me?
“Um, thanks, Mr. McIntire,” I bumbled. Yeah, real smooth. “I’ll, um… see you around.”
When I nervously lifted my eyes to his when he stayed quiet, I noticed his jaw was clenched.
“Cody,” he corrected then pointed at me. “Stay there.”
He climbed from his car and came around to open my door. He even reached in and undid my seatbelt. I picked up his scent. Clean and kinda spicy. I saw the flecks of gray at his temples. Noticed how full and… gah, perfect his mouth was. We’d kissed.
If I leaned in, I could do it again.
No, we had a bargain. He brought me home. No screwing. No telling.
He led me up the walk, his hand on the small of my back. “Code?” he asked, referring to the keyless lock Dad had put on Nana’s door, so we could get in with just a number code if there was an emergency.
“Six-two-four-seven,” I said.
He entered it and opened the door for me.
“I have to go to work,” he stated.
“Right,” I said, realizing it was close to dinnertime. He ran Cody’s Saloon. Not just ran it. Owned it. “Thanks for the, um… interesting time.”
He leaned in close, kissed me. Growled. Sniffed. “You’ll come by the bar tonight.”
My eyes widened in surprise. “What?”
“You heard me.”
“I can’t.”
“You can.” His voice was insistent.
“Besides not being twenty-one–”
“You can,” he said, cutting me off. “It’s legal. I just can’t serve you alcohol.”
I didn’t know why his invitation–or rather, order–excited me. Going to a bar wasn’t that special. Except it was. Cody’s Saloon was the only bar in town, and everyone my age was dying to be old enough to get to party there. It was the best–and only–nightlife in town. The place where bands played, people went dancing, and hook-ups happened amidst free-flowing drinks. I even heard about the mechanical bull. I had to admit that was some of Cody’s appeal, that he was legendary as the sexy bar owner. The host of Cooper Valley’s hookups and good times.
And he was into me.
Ordering me to come down to his bar. It was almost too good to be true, which meant it really was. He was a player who drugged me! I needed to avoid him and let my newly unleashed sex drive steer me back to guys my age.
“–and because I have plans,” I said, finishing my sentence.
His brow arched as if he thought I was lying. Or making up another excuse to avoid him.
“I’m going bowling with my friends Alice and Wendy.”
“Bowling?” he repeated, his mouth tipped up, clearly not expecting that answer.
I nodded.
His blue eyes held mine, and we just… stared with the sounds of the neighborhood–a lawnmower, a bird chirping in a tree–around us.
Eventually, he lowered his head and brushed his lips across mine. “I’ll see you soon then.”
I leaned against the door after I closed and locked it behind me.
Cody McIntire was sooooooo confusing. A player quickly slept with you and then left you at your door with a “I’ll see you soon” but wouldn’t mean it.
Cody had refused to take my V-Card. He refused to have sex with a virgin, which, from romance books and porn, was a thing no guy turned down.
Except he had.
And that meant that he really would see me soon?
I tossed my arms up in the air, giving up.
9
CODY
The beer delivery was short four kegs. One waitress called in sick. Someone took a shit and clogged the toilet in the men’s room. That all happened before eight. Then the customers started to really pour in, and I was helping out behind the bar, trying to keep up with the orders. Besides the clogged toilet, it was all no big deal. Another night owning the only bar in town.
What was different tonight was that I had a fated mate. Sure, I had fucking blue balls, but I couldn’t help but smiling like I got laid. Riley’s taste was on my tongue, soaked into my skin. I knew what she sounded like when she came. Looked like when I gave her pleasure.
My dick pulsed at the idea that I was the only guy who’d done so. And ever would.
Except she was bowling with her friends. My wolf didn’t understand that concept, didn’t like the fact that we were apart. He wanted to hunt her down. Chase her again and go primal on her ass. Shit, now I was thinking about fucking that virgin hole, too.
Someday.
Someday, I’d have every inch of her.
Hopefully before the full moon because that approaching tension was going to drive me and my wolf into a frenzy. I pulled another beer then set it on the tray with the three others, slapped the damp order slip beside it, and placed it in the pickup area for Wanda, one of the waitresses.