Total pages in book: 122
Estimated words: 116031 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 580(@200wpm)___ 464(@250wpm)___ 387(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 116031 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 580(@200wpm)___ 464(@250wpm)___ 387(@300wpm)
Her wine spews. She hops backward in reaction to avoid the spray. When she stops laughing, she wipes her chin with the sleeve of her sweatshirt. “You stand there, a real-life rock god—”
“I’ll allow. Continue,” I say, rolling two fingers in front of me.
I’m popped on the arm before she can stop herself from laughing too hard to even speak. So one glass makes her sassy, and two leaves her with no inhibitions. Got it.
“You asked that like I have a say in the matter.”
“You could have asked me out,” I say, tossing it back to her.
“I could barely speak. I’m thrown into the deep end of the popular kids club simply because of my last name and the alphabet.” She stretches her neck. “Imagine being new, and you walk in your first day of school only to be sat next to Nikki, a teen beauty queen and lead singer of a rising beach band. Laird, who had girls scheming to sit next to him, and the prom king, Shane Faris, who had girls ready to hand over their V-cards. Like, how did I survive?”
“Just fine from the looks of it.” I take a long pull of beer. “You had guys lined up to date you, Cat.”
“Where?” she asks, throwing a hand out to the side. “Because they weren’t asking me out.”
“They were intimidated like I was. And just to set the record straight. Laird was prom king. I was homecoming king.”
She rolls her eyes, being absolutely adorable. “Tomato—”
“Tomahto.”
“Comme ci—”
“Comme ça.”
That earns me another laugh, and I’ll happily drink it in like this beer. She says, “You’re stealing my lines, kid.” Facing me like I can compete with the lake, she plucks the front of my shirt. “Let’s loop back to that part about you being intimidated by me. I’m going to need more details. Please explain.”
I recognize someone fishing for a compliment a mile away, but I don’t mind getting caught on her line. I’m happy to feed her. “You made me nervous. No girl had before. Why do you think I avoided you during junior year?”
“I thought you hated me for the longest time.”
“God . . .” I fill with regret. “Why would I hate you?”
“I don’t know. Insecurity from being a new kid because you were stuck seated next to me instead of Rachel Ferguson.”
“What? Why would I want to sit next to Rachel Ferguson?”
“Because she was beautiful and only had eyes for you.”
I laugh. Closing in on her, I wrap my arm around her shoulders. “If it matters, I don’t remember Rachel Ferguson, but I never forgot you.”
“If it matters? Yeah, it matters.” She leans against my chest with a gorgeous smile on her face. Turning to stand in front of me, she fists her shirt with one hand as she lowers the other with the glass in it. “You say the sweetest things. If you’re not careful—” She stops herself and takes a deep breath.
I cup her face, sliding my palm under her jaw and lifting until her eyes meet mine. “I’ll be careful with you, but I won’t be careful with how I feel. I’m all in, babe.”
Our gazes hold as the sun sets beneath the tree line. She nods slightly and then says, “Rachel Ferguson would be so jealous right now.”
“And how does Catalina Farin feel?”
Gripping my shirt as if the thin material could keep steady, she whispers, “Like the luckiest woman alive.”
I’m close to kissing her, but that’s not slow, so I lean down to whisper in her ear, “You make me feel like I did something right in this world.”
She raises her hand, sliding it over the rough of my unshaven face, and holds me to her. “I know you’re trying to do the right thing, Shane. I see you. I feel the change in you. I never asked for you to do that, but I won’t deny that I’ve never felt more cherished than with you. You make me feel like I’m your world—”
“My world. The universe. The stars. A goddess. My everything.” Closing my eyes, I angle to breathe her in but am met with soft lips that caress mine and a craving that her body can’t quite satisfy by how her nails scrape across my scalp and down my neck.
I drop the beer and take her face in my hands. “Are you sure?”
Covering my hands with hers, she says, “Kiss me, babe.”
I kiss her so good that I grab her when her knees go weak, our tongues caressing while our bodies find purchase against each other. This is what I dreamed of.
The warmth of her embrace.
The slick of her tongue as it dances with mine.
The bump of teeth doesn’t matter.
Only we do.
I bend down and scoop her into my arms. Our lips stay attached as I walk back to the house, backing through the door, and when I set her on the couch. But are ripped apart when I tug her by the ankles lower on the leather couch. Getting on my knees, I slide my body so she feels my full erection between her legs. I kiss her again as I lower down on top of her.