Total pages in book: 141
Estimated words: 134531 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 673(@200wpm)___ 538(@250wpm)___ 448(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 134531 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 673(@200wpm)___ 538(@250wpm)___ 448(@300wpm)
The skin of his arms was exposed, the cords of his muscles looking like they were carved from freaking marble.
It was then I remembered he spoke.
“I look lonely?” I repeated, my voice scratchy. I cleared my throat and downed more of my beer to hopefully lubricate it.
Other parts of my body were already well lubricated in this man’s presence.
His eyes were on my throat and had been since I swallowed. The gaze was unbridled and uncensored. There was need there. Want.
He wanted me.
Me.
Out of all of the attractive women in this room, one of the arguably most handsome and badass wanted me.
He nodded, watching me intently.
I waited for him to say something more.
He didn’t.
He just stood there, much too close for a polite stranger to stand, staring at me with a gaze that burned off my clothes, my very skin. A gaze that set my panties on fire.
I was not aware that men could turn women on with a simple fricking look. It seemed I’d been missing out on a lot.
My hand shook as I took another sip of my beer.
“What about me looks lonely?” I asked in a husky voice that did not sound at all familiar.
He leaned forward even closer, and I held my breath, unsure of what I was supposed to do.
The wood bar pressed into my back.
Slowly, his eyes flit over me from top to bottom. It was pure torture. As if he were staring at me naked, uncovering every one of my secrets.
Unable to stand it, I let my breath out in a low puff.
His hazel irises locked with mine. They were hickory fire. He didn’t speak for at least thirty seconds. It could’ve been a full minute. Could’ve been a lifetime. The music was no longer playing. There were no more people around us. The air stilled. We were the only people on this planet.
“Your eyes,” he said finally, voice a rough whisper that cut through the silence we’d created.
The thump of the music returned. I heard laughter and cursing once more.
“You have lonely eyes,” he continued. “Mesmerizing. The most mesmerizing eyes I’ve been lucky enough to look into.” His hand lifted, and he brushed hair from my face, fingers skimming my cheek as he did.
If I’d heard this interaction anywhere else, from anyone else, it would’ve been cheesy. I would’ve rolled my eyes at such a line, designed to get into my pants.
While this man was making it clear he did want to get into my pants, there was nothing cheesy about his words. About the way he said them. There was an intimacy in his gaze that should’ve been impossible for someone I’d just met.
Not even technically met. He’d walked up to me and started speaking about my mesmerizing, lonely eyes.
All of this washed over me like a rogue wave, in addition to the buzz from the beer I’d drained in less than five minutes. Though I’d acquired a taste for beer, I had not acquired a tolerance.
So I think the beer was partly to blame for what I said next. The cocktail of emotions that I was feeling and the freedom that was wholly foreign to me also in play.
Oh, and because this man was hotter than Hades himself.
“I would like, very much,” I said, my voice breathy. “If you would have sex with me.”
I had not planned on those words coming out of my mouth. I did not know who was more shocked, me or the man in front of me. My face flamed with embarrassment and discomfort… for a hot second. Until the shock cleared from his face and his expression turned into pure lust.
My stomach dipped, and my skin burned with something other than embarrassment.
The man stepped forward so his body pressed into mine, hand moving to my chin to tilt it upward.
Desire pooled in my stomach at what I found in his eyes. No one had ever looked at me the way he was looking at me right now. Certainly not a man.
I didn’t know men looked at women like that in real life.
It was him branding me with a mere look. It was a promise of something that I wasn’t quite sure I was able to do.
“You came,” a deep gravelly voice exclaimed.
I struggled to tear my eyes from the hazel gaze that was driving me crazy, but I managed. On reflex, I’d tried to step away from the man in front of me. He caught my hips in his large and strong hands, pulling me so I collided with his body, his arm moving to tuck me into his shoulder.
It was an intimate move that should’ve felt odd since I was tucked into the shoulder of a stranger. His body was warm, his muscles hard, but I somehow found something soft. Something that felt natural. I leaned into him because I liked that, but also because his hand told me he wasn’t going to be letting me go any time soon.