Total pages in book: 104
Estimated words: 97836 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 489(@200wpm)___ 391(@250wpm)___ 326(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 97836 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 489(@200wpm)___ 391(@250wpm)___ 326(@300wpm)
I wondered if his best friend had been the sexy sheriff, the one whose arm I’d wanted to rip off earlier. “You can have a gay best friend and still be homophobic,” I pointed out. “You could be gay yourself and still be homophobic.”
He stepped closer, his eyes flicking down to my lips. “Fine. But I’m not.”
I licked my lips without thinking. His eyes flared as he glanced from the movement to my eyes. Time tripped and slowed. I wanted to challenge him, to murmur prove it, but I kept my mouth shut. I wouldn’t complicate things between us. I wouldn’t be the reason he got found out here among everyone he held dear.
“Okay,” I breathed.
“I kissed you that night,” he hissed, eyes flicking down at my lips again before his scowl deepened.
“I remember.” My voice came out as a low rumble. My heart skipped too fast in my chest. Holding myself back from tasting his lips was damned near impossible. I wanted him more than ever. Maybe it was because I couldn’t have him—not here in this town. Or maybe it was because my tongue seemed to choose that moment to remember exactly how sweet he’d tasted.
I held my breath and closed my eyes. Maybe if I couldn’t see the thick, wavy blond hair curling out from under the brim of the hat, or the little patches of scattered, faded freckles under each eye, or the microscopic scar bisecting his lower lip… Maybe if I couldn’t see them, I’d stop wanting him.
“You were drunk,” I offered softly, giving him an easy out.
“It wasn’t… it wasn’t the alcohol,” he said, although he didn’t sound so sure.
I opened my eyes. “Wasn’t it?”
He took another step closer until our bodies were pressed together, stomach and chest. I didn’t dare move, didn’t dare pull his hips closer so I could feel more of him. Instead, I stayed frozen, only moving my eyes left and right to see if anyone was around to witness this.
We were alone in the alley.
“No,” he whispered, eyes firmly locked on my mouth now.
Prove it, I thought again in desperation. Please, god.
His hands came up and grabbed my face before he leaned in and kissed me hard. It wasn’t a tentative, testing kind of kiss, the kind that wondered whether Saturday night had just been a drunken Vegas mistake. No. This was a confident, crushing kiss, one that set out to make a point.
To devastate.
I made a surprised sound in my throat before grabbing his hips and yanking him closer. I’d thought of him over and over for the past forty-eight hours, and in the dark hours of the night before, this had been the way I’d imagined him.
Way’s tongue joined mine, and more memories from the other night flooded in. His confidence. His magnetism. His strength. The soft, tender touch of his lips and the downright bossy way he’d shoved a muscular thigh between my legs.
Oh fuck. This was… this was…
I grabbed at his clothes, keeping him from pulling away, but he didn’t even try. His thick fingers were in the back of my hair, the brim of his hat dug into the side of my head. I grabbed it off his head and held it against his back the way I had on the dance floor.
Something about the movement surprised him, and he pulled back with a gasp. His eyes were wide with shock but a little glassy with lust, too.
“Fuck,” he said, looking around frantically before landing his gaze back on me. “Fuck.”
FIVE
WAYLON
I stared at the man I’d just assaulted. My face still tingled from rubbing against his short beard, and the sweet coffee taste of him remained on my tongue. Silas didn’t seem nearly as horrified by my actions as I was.
“I wish,” he muttered, reaching down to adjust himself with his free hand, a move so distracting it took me a full second to realize he was reacting to my muttered Fuck. When I did, my face went fire hot.
“Okay, so you’re on board with the, ah… gay thing. Check.”
My heart couldn’t find a steady rhythm. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean…” I clamped my teeth closed and stood up straighter. “I didn’t mean to just lay one on you like that with no warning.”
Silas let out a laugh. “Mayor Fletcher, if you are ever inclined to lay one on me like that again, I do not require warning. I’m happy to have you prove your point orally anytime you’d like.”
I let out an exhale that sounded a little like a laugh. At least he hadn’t punched me. “Understood.”
The moment stretched awkwardly. I wanted to kiss him again, to feel his hands on my ass and press my hardening dick into his. But I knew that would complicate an already fucked-up situation.
My attraction to him was throwing me for a loop, not because he was a man or for any of the reasons Silas had suggested, but because I’d never wanted anyone this badly before. It had come out of the blue and swarmed me like some kind of plague of locusts. I was mixed up and turned around, wanting to try things I’d never truly considered trying… and wanting to try them with the man I most needed to stay the hell away from.