Total pages in book: 167
Estimated words: 164838 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 824(@200wpm)___ 659(@250wpm)___ 549(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 164838 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 824(@200wpm)___ 659(@250wpm)___ 549(@300wpm)
I’d been wrapped up in my own tragic tale and forgotten to pay attention to the boy next door. The boy Nana had always said was mine.
He called me Lori…
With a creak of wet clothes, Zander kicked the stand down and sat upright.
I pulled my arms away and scrambled off the back. No longer plastered to him, an instant chill soaked into me.
I needed to find Peng and apologise. I craved a warm shower and a cosy bed and a skull-masked stalker to tuck me in and hold me tight.
My heart panged with guilt that even though tonight had made me trip from crush to full-blown attraction toward Zander, I still had feelings for X.
Selfishly, I wanted them to be the same person because then I wouldn’t have to say goodbye to either of them.
I struggled with my helmet as Zander swung his leg off the bike, wrenched his off, then helped me with mine.
Rain glittered in his fire-dark hair as he placed both helmets on the leather seat. The quiet ping of splashing droplets sung around us. The lenses of his glasses had water streaks and his grey t-shirt under his unzipped jacket was sopping wet, clinging to every crease of his toned chest.
Studying Zander as he stood in the rain, I narrowed my eyes and imagined him with a mask cutting his handsome face in half. I tried to remove his glasses and paint his fire strands blue black…but I couldn’t.
All I could see was a slightly nerdy, extremely handsome doctor with a heart made of twenty-four karat gold.
My chest ached with fresh pangs.
I couldn’t imagine him kissing me with pent-up passion like X had.
I couldn’t picture him cursing under his breath as I made him come.
He didn’t seem the type to be that…aggressive in bed.
He’d be sweet and gentle and soft and—
You could seduce him to find out…
I froze.
If I got Zander naked, perhaps I could tell by his size and shape—
You were blindfolded. You never saw X naked…
My shoulders sagged.
I needed to go to sleep before I did something crazy like pounce on my neighbour all because I thought he had a fake identity.
“Thanks for the ride,” I said softly, backing up a step. “Don’t worry about my car. I can get Lily to drop me off in the morning to collect it.”
Without a word, he wrenched off his leather gloves and tossed them onto the handlebars. Glancing at his house, he captured my fingers, threaded his with mine like he had on the bike, then tugged me up the drive.
I gasped.
Wait. Is he taking me back to his place?
Had he read my mind and shared my crazy idea?
A part of me braced to stop him—the part so used to overthinking and living in fear. But then the vixen who’d decided she liked to swing a punch and fly on the back of a motorbike chose to live a little.
Tonight had driven us from friends to something more.
I was single.
He was single.
So what if the romance of sharing a storm ended with us in bed?
X wouldn’t be creeping through my window tonight or any other night.
He’d made it perfectly clear we were done.
Pain pinched, followed by a hot, violent thrill.
What did that say about me that I was happy to kiss another guy after being with one a few days ago?
“It makes you a slut, that’s what.”
Clutching Zander’s hand, I marched bravely at his side, my gaze locked on his front door. Did I have the courage to do this? What would happen when he got me inside? Should I cut to the chase and kiss him or wait for him to kiss me?
Zander cut in front of me.
I ploughed right into him, all my focus on his front door.
“Ooof.” He tripped and almost took me down with him, stumbling over the grass verge bordering his property from mine.
Grabbing me around the waist to keep me upright, he held me close, our soaking skin sticking together. “Shit, Sailor, are you okay?”
I blinked.
I frowned.
I couldn’t catch my bearings.
His eyes searched mine, slowly darkening as he looked back at his house and the trajectory I’d been on. He swallowed hard, his throat slicked with rain. “Eh…I was walking you back to your place, but…did you want to come in? I just assumed it was late, and you’d want to see Peng. But—”
“No! No, you’re right!” My cheeks blazed as hot as the sun. “Of course, I want to see my kitten. I was cruel to go out for so long! I better go. Thanks again for the help and the ride and—goodnight!”
Wrenching my hand from his, I bolted up my front path.
He hadn’t been dragging me to his house.
He’d most likely taken my hand to stop me from slipping in the puddles. He was a gentleman. Not a sexual deviant. Of course he was walking me to my door. Of course he wasn’t going to rip off my wet clothes and warm me up with his tongue.