Total pages in book: 115
Estimated words: 106948 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 535(@200wpm)___ 428(@250wpm)___ 356(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 106948 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 535(@200wpm)___ 428(@250wpm)___ 356(@300wpm)
His huge pool even had a sunken seating section in the middle of it, complete with a fire pit and mood lighting.
How neat was that?
Thankfully it didn’t take me long to find Leo in the kitchen, speaking on his phone in Spanish. I’d picked up a phrase or two growing up, but he was obviously fluent. His eyes tracked me the moment I entered and I gave him a little wave. He didn’t wave back, but he did continue to watch me as I spotted my purse and jacket laid out on the big kitchen table. I dug through my bag until I found my phone, sighing when I saw the battery was at ten percent.
While Leo continued to talk, I responded to my messages then checked my school email for any assignment updates.
“Sorry about that,” Leo said from right next to me.
I gave a little startled gasp, then shook my head. “Jeez, for someone so big, you’re really quiet.”
He shrugged, then gave me an appreciative look. “You’re absolutely stunning.”
“Thank you—I mean, thank you for the dress and everything else. You really didn’t have to. I would have been okay with something from Target.”
“Allow me to spoil you. It makes me happy.”
“Spoiling women makes you happy?”
He shook his head. “No, spoiling you makes me happy.”
“Why?”
“Because you deserve it.”
“Oh.” My phone chimed with a text from Kayla, telling me she needed me to stop by the dry cleaners for her, then to go to the drugstore for her.
I love my friend, I really do, but sometimes I feel like she thinks I’m her servant.
Frowning, I typed back a reply that I was busy and got a pleading message back, begging me to do it for her.
Kayla doesn’t like to be told no. She likes it even less when being told no resulted in her having to do something she didn’t want to do, which was everything. Seriously, the girl was twenty-one years old and she’d gone grocery shopping for herself, by herself, once. It was always “Hannah, can you” and “Hannah, while you’re out”, and stupid me, I always put up with it, afraid I’d make her mad and lose her friendship. Normally I’d cave, but there was no way in hell I was leaving Leo’s side to run errands for Kayla.
I sent her a brief “no” back and got a bunch of frowny faces in return.
Great, I’d be getting the cold shoulder from her when I got home.
“When do you have class next?”
“Um—Monday.”
His rough, calloused hands cupped my face and I set my phone on the table before I dropped it. “Stay with me.”
“What?”
Leaning forward, he brushed his tempting lips over mine, causing a wave of heat to unfurl inside of me. “Stay with me. For the weekend.”
“Seriously?” I meant for my statement to come out as incredulous, but instead it sounded hopeful.
Even though I fought it, my ultra needy side loved the idea of never leaving the man who made me feel so amazing. It was like being drugged around him, my entire being tingling at his touch, my nipples hardening with anticipation. I knew how well he could fuck me, how good it felt to have him inside of me, and like a kid who’d just had her first bite of ice cream, I wanted more.
“Yes. There is no one I’d rather spend time with than you.”
Remembering all of Joy’s speeches about not thinking every man I dated was the love of my life, and not grasping on to every guy who gives me any attention, I tried to pull away, but one of Leo’s hands slid into the back of my hair and fisted it.
My voice came out breathy as I said, “I don’t want to be an imposition.”
His grip eased into a caress, and my eyes went half-lidded with pleasure as he began to run his fingers through my hair, slow and steady in a soothing rhythm. “Do you want to stay with me? Honestly.”
The seductive, yet demanding tone of his voice flipped some submissive switch inside of me. “Honestly, yes.”
“Then stay.”
“It’s not that easy. Kayla has dry cleaning,” I said lamely, scrambling for an excuse.
On some level, I knew this was all happening too fast, that something was off, but the strength of Leo’s personality overwhelmed me. “What does your roommate’s dry cleaning have to do with us?”
“I…well…nothing?”
“That’s right, nothing. I like you, Hannah, and I don’t like many people in this world. I’d like to spend more time with you. You may not have enough experience to recognize it, but what we have between us…it’s special, and I’d like to explore it further with you.”
My inner teenage romantic just swooned, but I managed to rally my defenses and not melt into a dreamy-eyed puddle at his feet. “I like you too, but I hardly know you.”