Total pages in book: 28
Estimated words: 25825 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 129(@200wpm)___ 103(@250wpm)___ 86(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 25825 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 129(@200wpm)___ 103(@250wpm)___ 86(@300wpm)
I’m surprised to find I don’t care.
I’m taking her home either way.
If this prick is her boyfriend, they just broke up.
If they’re married, we’ll get those papers signed.
I’m not going anywhere without her. And that certainty…is insane. I hear my thoughts and know they’re crazy, completely unlike me, but as soon as I saw her, it was like a shot of adrenaline and possessiveness, all at once. A Molotov cocktail of lust and guardianship. Mine. Fate has whispered in my ear for the first time in my life. I don’t get it, but that’s the end of the story.
The man I’ve just pushed starts to charge me, until he realizes who I am and he holds up his hands, stammering over the music. “Hey man. I was just being friendly. She’s overreacting.”
“Friendly?” repeats the blonde. “I saw you put that powder in my drink.”
She tries to charge past me, but I catch her around the waist at the last second, holding her several inches off the ground. I bite off a groan when she tries to get free, her butt wiggling around in my lap. God help me, my dick is rock hard in an instant and an animal inside me gnashes its teeth, wanting to throw her facedown over the closest table and claim her in front of everyone. Mark her as mine. And I should be ashamed of myself for even thinking it, considering the accusation she just made. One I believe, one hundred percent.
“Listen up a second, angel?” I manage through my closing throat. “I’m going to make sure this asshole goes to jail, all right? Trust me on that? But if you punch him again and he retaliates, I’ll be the one in an orange jumpsuit. Understand?”
She twists in my arms, trying to pry my hold open. “I can fight my own battles. I don’t need you to do it for me.”
“That’s pretty obvious. You’ve got a mean right hook.” Some of the struggle goes out of her and she cranes her neck to look up at me curiously, frown still intact, and Jesus Christ, she’s the most beautiful female I’ve ever seen in my life. Can she feel my heart slamming against her back? “But if he’s the kind of man who’ll dose a girl’s drink, I don’t trust him not to hit back. If that happens, I’ll tear down the fucking ceiling of this place with my bare hands.”
“That doesn’t sound very ‘silent,’” she says, briefly dropping her head back against my pec. “So much for your nickname.”
Amusement tickles my throat. “You know who I am.”
She finds something about that amusing, green eyes twinkling. “Maybe.” A beat passes. “Get him out of here before he does it to someone else.”
Nodding, I set her down, my hands lingering on her hips, unable to resist giving them a squeeze, listening to her quick intake of breath. For a basketball player, I’m on the shorter end of the spectrum, but I’m still six foot four, meaning she has to tip her head back to meet my eyes, her lips parted slightly, her medium-length blonde hair falling down her back.
Fucking hell, if my cock gets any stiffer, I’m going to spend down the leg of my jeans. I’m going to have her in every position tonight. I’ll be lucky if I manage to tear myself off her long enough to sign the contract with LA tomorrow. Might have to bring her along to limit the amount of time we spend apart. Because Christ, this little green-eyed beauty is under my skin and I’m not getting her out. I already know it. How did this happen so fast? One minute I’m aching for solitude, the next I don’t want to be without her.
“Don’t move,” I tell her. “Wait right here for me.”
After a small hesitation, she nods. “Fine.”
Resenting the distance I have to put between us, I nonetheless gather the piece of garbage off the floor and drag him toward the security guard who is already approaching, walkie-talkie hovering in front of his mouth. His eyes go wide as silver dollars when he realizes who is escorting the scumbag and he nods solemnly through my explanation of what happened.
“We’ll take care of it right away, Mr. Bentley.” He takes the struggling man from me, securing his hands behind his back with a zip tie. “The cops are already on the way.”
“Lucky for him.” I look the perpetrator in the eye. “And extra lucky for him we’re surrounded by witnesses or you’d have to be carried out of here on a stretcher.”
Hearing the truth in my voice, he pales.
As soon as the guard hustles the man toward the door, I turn on a heel and stalk back through the shocked crowd, looking for my girl. I want her now. I want her standing in front of me, looking at me, smelling like crushed berries. From my vantage point, it’s not difficult to find her, though she’s not standing in the same spot I left her and it takes a few minutes, causing a cold sweat to break out at my hairline, panic to wrap around my vocal cords. Relief is a living thing when I get to the back of the club and she’s standing at the end of the neon bar, in one of the darker corners. I come up beside her in time to hear her request a glass of water from the bartender.