Total pages in book: 116
Estimated words: 114011 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 570(@200wpm)___ 456(@250wpm)___ 380(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 114011 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 570(@200wpm)___ 456(@250wpm)___ 380(@300wpm)
He smiles back. “Why would you say that?”
“You’re too much. Too handsome, too kind, too smart. Definitely too charming.”
“I am pretty charming, aren’t I?”
I snort.
His fingers move against my skin. It’s a light tapping, a smooth brushing of the fingertips against my cheeks, but it ignites a fire inside me that burns in an instant.
“Cole,” I say, forcing a swallow down my throat.
“Yeah?”
“I didn’t know that my cheeks had a line connecting them to my libido, but it seems that they do.”
His face splits into a wide grin. “Now that’s interesting.”
He widens his stance. He boxes me in, sandwiching me between him and the wall.
Shit.
I’m not sure what I’m doing here. I know what I’m doing here, at the Beck house, but what am I doing in this particular situation?
It’s clear where this is headed. And damn it if I don’t want it. Bad. I want it so bad that I think I need it if I ever want to function without sex brain again.
But is giving in the right choice? Is it the right answer? Is there even a right answer at all, or am I going to be screwed, one way or the other, regardless?
I drag in a lungful of air and will myself to stay calm. At least attempt to keep a handle on your emotions.
I’m opening my mouth to speak, to tell him what I want, when my phone rings in my pocket.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
PALMER
I still.
Cole drops his hands from my face and watches me with muted disbelief. “Do you ever turn that thing off?”
“No. Someone might need me.” I tug the phone out of my pocket and spot Val’s name. By the time I see it, the call has ended and she’s sent a text to call her later. “It was just Val.”
“You realize that you don’t have to be on call for every person in your life all the time, right?”
“Yeah. Kind of.”
“Do you ever just . . . I don’t know. Turn your phone off?”
“No. What if Ethan needs me?”
He shifts his weight. “Ethan is with my parents right now. I assure you, one million percent, that if anything happened to him, they would call me. Send the National Guard. Hell, Mom would release carrier pigeons if she had to—the woman is unstoppable.”
I laugh.
“Palmer,” he says, lowering his voice a couple of octaves, “I can’t promise you everything you deserve or want.”
“I know, Cole—”
“But fuck, I want you. Right here. Right now.”
Holy shit.
My mouth goes dry, both from his words and the heat in his gaze. I can feel my heart pound, pulsing blood through my veins at a tempo that probably isn’t conducive to staying upright.
My resolve weakens to the point that it breaks altogether. I’ve made the choice to be with men far less tempting or deserving many times before. So why not Cole?
I know the answer. It’s because he’s dangerous.
While that might be true, I’m in control of this relationship or situation or whatever it is between us. Unlike with Jared or Charlie, I’m not going into this with any hopes or dreams. There are no promises—only the guarantee that he’s not going to be around forever. That’s a fact. It’s on the table. I already know how this ends.
And while this ending would be a terrible movie, it does make it easier.
I just won’t get my emotions involved, and it’ll be fine.
I’m tired of fighting this. There’s no false pretenses. I can trust myself . . .
I hold my phone in my palm. And turn it off.
A slow, sexy smile splits his cheeks as I toss the device onto the sofa.
“Is that your way of saying you want me too?” he asks, grinning.
“No.” I smile. “That was my way of saying I need you. Right now.”
He grins. “Are you sure?”
“Well, I mean, I said ‘right now.’”
The words are barely out of my mouth before his lips find mine.
The contact disintegrates the invisible barrier between us. It’s as if the red flags I initially saw in him have all switched to green, and now we’re racing toward the checkered flag waving in the distance.
Cole cups the back of my head. His fingers lace through my hair, and he holds me still so he can kiss me.
His mouth moves against mine with a lazy thoroughness that drives me crazy. I part my lips. His tongue doesn’t miss a beat, tangling with mine as my hands curl around his neck. He walks me back two steps until my back hits the wall. A giant basket filled with fake flowers hits my shoulder and then topples to the floor.
I pull away, laughing. He buries his face into the crook of my neck and sweeps me off my feet—literally.
“The flowers!” I say, pointing to the chaos on the floor as he carries me through the room. My legs dangle over one of his arms. The other arm supports my back.