Total pages in book: 81
Estimated words: 75592 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 378(@200wpm)___ 302(@250wpm)___ 252(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 75592 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 378(@200wpm)___ 302(@250wpm)___ 252(@300wpm)
I can’t tell if that’s a compliment or a put-down, but I’m going with the latter since he’s a Mardraggon. “Yes, well, not everyone is born with a silver spoon in their mouth.”
Gabe tips his head back and laughs. “Oh, come on, Kat. The Blackburns are filthy rich, same as the Mardraggons.”
“Except we break our backs for that wealth. We don’t sit on gilded thrones and have minions do our work.”
“Is that what you think I do?” Gabe asks pensively, tucking his hands into his pockets.
“I really don’t care what you do,” I say primly. “You don’t interest me at all.”
Gabe’s eyes flash and darken, and I wonder why that offends him so much. “I imagine being a lowly stable hand makes it nearly impossible for you to comprehend the intricacies of finance and business.”
A flush of fury wells within me, because I’m pretty sure he just called me stupid. I have no good comeback to prove my intelligence since I did, in fact, drop out of college and before that, Gabe had to tutor me in math. So I hit him below the belt instead. “Big words coming from someone with a little dick.”
The minute the words are out, I’d sell my soul to the devil to pull them back. They’re stupid, trite and nowhere near the truth. Gabe Mardraggon is a well-proportioned man in all ways and I just sounded like a toddler hurling nonsensical insults.
I expect him to laugh at me or possibly walk away. I am wholly unprepared for his hands to come to my shoulders before he’s pulling me into him and mashing his mouth against mine. I’m so stunned that for a moment, I can’t even react and then I’m horrified when my mouth opens and accepts his kiss.
It seems as if flames are licking at my tongue, and oh my God, a tiny moan slips out of my mouth. I feel completely powerless to stop the free fall and that’s because this isn’t the nineteen-year-old boy who I used to kiss on the down low but rather a powerful man who has learned a thing or two over the years. One hand cups my face, the other grazes down my bare back before latching hard onto my hip to pull me against his tall frame.
His lips leave mine and move to my ear. “Feel that?”
Oh yes… I feel it. As I said, it was an out-and-out lie that he has a small dick. I can’t answer him though because his mouth is on my neck and I’m nearly incapacitated by the swiftness of the lust he’s induced. An ache between my legs forms and I press against him.
Gabe nibbles his way up to my jaw, feathers his mouth across mine and then lifts his head to peer down at me. “Next time you insult my dick, I’m going to do the same thing to you. So choose your words carefully.”
I blink at him stupidly. “What?”
His grin is evil and triumphant. “I didn’t realize I could hold such power over you still.”
Power over me?
Because…?
It dawns on me what he just said and while the kiss didn’t bother me in the slightest, I’m beyond offended that he thinks he can control me. I slap my hands against his chest and shove him hard. While he’s got several inches in height and many more pounds of muscle, he’s unprepared for my anger or my strength and takes two stumbling steps before he rights himself.
I dramatically wipe my mouth with the back of my hand, snarling, “That was gross.”
“You were practically humping my leg,” he says dryly. “But if it makes you feel better to say that, you do you.”
“Kiss my ass,” I snap, again unable to come up with anything to put him in his place. But Gabe isn’t a man who’s easily knocked down a peg.
I start to turn away, but his hand is on my arm, halting me. It’s not tight but gentle. “Kat…”
Glancing back at him, I tug my arm away. “What?”
“I actually have something important to talk about regarding Sylvie.”
The kiss is forgotten as is my anger—not just at him, but at myself for responding—because I hear the hesitation in his voice. And as powerful, intelligent and confident as this man is, he sounds near to begging. “What is it?” I ask.
“Sylvie’s getting out of school for the summer soon. She told me she doesn’t have any major plans, just hanging around the farm, and that your parents might take her to France in August. I was wondering if perhaps I could take her when she gets out of school. I need to check on some things with the winery, and I know she’d like to go back and see her friends—”
“Ethan won’t allow it,” I say, stopping his speech. It doesn’t matter how sweet that offer is, I know my brother.