Total pages in book: 18
Estimated words: 17073 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 85(@200wpm)___ 68(@250wpm)___ 57(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 17073 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 85(@200wpm)___ 68(@250wpm)___ 57(@300wpm)
Hungry for a piece of you.
Thirsty for the river between your thighs.
“Both.” I settle on the simple, truthful answer. “Skipped dinner, and I wouldn’t mind a nightcap with a beautiful woman.”
Her cheeks instantly flush a rosy pink, and the sight is more alluring than even the mounds squeezing against her shirt.
“Both it is.” Silver swallows hard. “Have a seat. I’ll be right back.”
I hate to see her go, but I love watching her ass walk away.
Fuck. She’s incredible. Unafraid and unabashedly herself. She isn’t putting on airs the same way I must. I guess that comes with the lives we lead. I can’t spill my secret of being head of the Lion’s Den and expect her to look at me the same way. Silver, however, doesn’t need to hide. She runs a diner in a small town where everybody knows your name.
“How about I make the coffee while you sort out the grub?” I’m already making my way behind the counter before she can answer.
“Sure, why not? It isn’t every day I get free labor in my shop.” Another heart-melting chuckle graces my ears over the noise of a hissing stove top.
I’m in trouble, aren’t I?
Stuck between a rock and a hard place.
Wanting this, the normalcy of flirting with a stranger. Exchanging naughty looks between the kitchen window and the main room while the other isn’t looking. Pretending life can be a dream and we could be so happy in this winter wonderland.
But having the opposite. A cell phone constantly on blast from a crew of blood-hungry savages awaiting orders for our next move.
It’s lonely at the top, that’s for damn sure, but maybe it doesn’t have to be.
4
SILVER
Steaks served and eaten. Coffee poured and drank. Good music on the radio and a handsome man, acting dark, broody, and mysterious.
Getting snowed in has never been this good.
“Sure you ate enough? Minute steaks and a few potatoes on the side don’t strike me like enough for a man of your size,” I say while clearing the plates out of our way. If I weren’t entertaining, I’d wash them off immediately, but something about Salvatore keeps me glued in place.
Like a strong magnetic pull that, no matter how I try and break, will not release me.
“Happy as a clam.” He downs the last of his coffee, reaching for the pot I know is empty. “Dang, looks like I’ve gotta get another on the brew.”
“About that.” I drop to my haunches and rummage inside the counter’s cupboard. It hasn’t seen much love or attention since Dad worked the register, so it takes me a while to find what I’m after, but when I do, I return by slamming the glass bottle of Old Buck whiskey on the counter. “I thought we could move onto something a little more thirst-quenching.”
“Thirst quenching and lip loosening.” Salvatore reaches for the bottle and wipes away a thin layer of dust coating the label. He nods, satisfied, and pours two fingers into each of our mugs.
“My thoughts exactly. Might as well make the best of a bad situation, right?” I raise my mug, and he brings his to clink glasses before sipping.
Good Lord, age has not been kind to the Old Buck. It’s bitter and burns as it travels down my throat. I can’t imagine the funny faces I’m pulling, but they’re leaving a smile on Salvatore’s face, so it’s not all bad.
“Why don’t we play a game? Kickstart this party the old-fashioned way.” Salvatore rolls up his sleeves and goes for another sip of the whiskey as if immune to its poisonous bite.
“What did you have in mind?” I grab a bottle of water from the mini-fridge under the counter and pour it into the mug. Only way I’m getting through another sip of it is by cutting it down to something less disgusting.
“We go question for question. Failure to answer results in a shot.” He swirls his glass around to show it’s going to be a shot of the nasty stuff.
“And if we do answer?” I raise a brow, intrigued and excited by the possibility of breaking down his stoic walls.
“That’s the prize. Getting to know one another. We’re in for a long night ahead, so we might as well make the best of it.”
“I must say, I’m surprised. You didn’t strike me as the type who’d want to engage in a game of getting to know me.” I find myself leaning forward. A subconscious reaction of intrigue, my body’s instant desire for the man sitting opposite me, and the mind-melting effects of the aged liquor.
It isn’t much, but it gives Salvatore’s wandering golden eyes a better view of my chest. Not that he’s had any problem staring at my tits so far, but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t enjoying his attention.
“I’ve been full of surprises lately. Being here is probably the biggest.” His eyes travel away from me and settle on his cell phone, which has vibrated every ten minutes since we sat together.