Total pages in book: 137
Estimated words: 131271 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 656(@200wpm)___ 525(@250wpm)___ 438(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 131271 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 656(@200wpm)___ 525(@250wpm)___ 438(@300wpm)
“For fuck’s sake,” Hayes says, sweeping a hand over his shorn hair. “This isn’t how to do this.”
“Oh, and you’re such an expert on seduction.”
Seduction. The word in this context makes me choke. “Is that what you’re trying to do right now? Seduce me?”
“Maybe proposition would be a better word.” Jacob opens his eyes fully for the first time since I arrived, blinking them a few times. Then he fixes on me with his intense, unfathomable gaze, shifting forward in his seat until he’s braced, elbows on knees, for a serious conversation.
“We’re not asking for an answer right now,” Hayes says gently.
“An answer?” I rub my mouth, then notice all the Drayton’s watching me intently, making me conscious of every move. Is my body language saying something different to my words? I drop my hand into my lap.
“We could make you feel so good,” Shawn practically purrs, and I shift in my seat as my clit fires to life. Jesus. He can do that with just seven words, flicking his silver tongue.
Hayes looks like he wishes the floor would swallow him up, but he manages to squeeze out something to temper Shawn’s sexual suggestiveness. “Just... think about it. That’s all.”
The room goes quiet, and I can’t breathe. Every cell in my body is in stasis, the very idea of saying yes trapping me mentally and physically on an alternative plane.
What are they even talking about?
Sex, Riley. They’re talking about sex. Group sex. Hot group sex with three hockey gods who just happened to know you before you lost the frizzy hair and dowdy clothes. Before you blossomed.
I focus on each of them in turn, finding Jacob with his chin propped on his fist like ‘the thinker,’ Shawn still nursing a happy sex-infused smirk, and Hayes so concerned, his brow needs ironing with maximum steam.
And me.
I’m the color of a tomato, and I’m sweating, which isn’t the most attractive look for a woman contemplating the kind of epic sex arrangement that is usually only found in books.
The episode of Icing the Cake, where I talked about hockey players passing women around, resurfaces, and I blanch.
“I think you guys have been hitting the hay.”
“No drugs in this house. Our bodies are temples.” Shawn tugs his shirt up to illustrate and ripples his abs for maximum impact.
I think I drool a little. Oh god. My tongue has expanded to fill my mouth like a dishcloth that’s soaked up too much water and needs wringing out.
“Riley?” Hayes approaches and drops to his haunches in front of me. His hand hovers above my thigh for a second, judging my reaction, then rests hot and heavy over my jeans. “If this is too much?”
“It’s a lot.” I hold his gaze, cocooned safely in the ocean swell of his eyes and anchored by his fingers, which squeeze reassuringly.
“If it’s a no, then that’s okay.”
“It is?”
“Of course.”
“And we’d go back to what we were…”
His eyes dart to Shawn and then back to me, and that one motion tells me what I already knew. They want what they want. They won’t let jealousy over me come between them.
I’ve entered a parallel universe where curvy baking enthusiasts gather a harem of elite, sexy hockey players on the brink of pro-careers with barely any effort.
A burst of laughter escapes my lips, and I cover my mouth with my hand as Hayes tips his head to one side.
“Riley,” Jacob says smoothly, his voice like warm caramel. “We’re looking for a girl to bring us together.”
“Together?” I clear the frog from my throat. “For sex? Is it so hard to find a girl each? I mean, this is sounding really lazy.”
“Not just for sex,” he says slowly, patiently.
I gulp. So they want me to believe that this isn’t just seduction. They’re not just bored with the effort it takes to seduce women. It’s about more. A relationship?
“Come on… you can’t seriously expect me to—” Hayes cover my mouth with his finger effectively silencing me.
“This isn’t about sex, Riley—”
“Although, it would be nice,” Shawn interrupts.
Patiently, Hayes continues. “It’s important for us to be together… so we don’t allow anyone else to come between us. We’ve lost a lot. We need an anchor and that person is you, if you want it to be?”
Do I? Could I do that? Be something so pivotal in anyone’s life. I’m not exactly experienced at life. A few dates and some awkward fumbling hasn’t exactly prepared me for life. I’m a virgin, for fucks sake. What if I don’t measure up to their expectations? They have experience. A lot of experience. They’ll find me boring. They’ll discover I’m an imposter. Nothing about me has really changed in the last eight years. I’m just the same girl who used to want them to like me, except now, I have a secret, and if they discover it, I won’t be their anchor. I’ll be the stone in their shoe, the dagger in their backs.