Total pages in book: 125
Estimated words: 117201 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 586(@200wpm)___ 469(@250wpm)___ 391(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 117201 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 586(@200wpm)___ 469(@250wpm)___ 391(@300wpm)
“Jesus. Fine.” He closed a hand around her wrist and guided the drink higher, closing his teeth around the straw and tugging it upward, so he wouldn’t have to crane his neck. And hell if he didn’t feel the pulse leap in the small of her wrist. Her eyelashes fluttered ever so slightly, her gaze trained on his mouth as he sucked down a healthy gulp and let go of the straw, licking his lips. If she wasn’t a stupefyingly gorgeous, intelligent, and young grad student who could have her pick of any man her own age in Boston, he might have wondered if she was attracted to him, too. But there wasn’t a shot in hell.
“Well? What’s your verdict?”
Only the truth for this woman. “That’s vile, Tallulah.”
Her mouth fell open. “You don’t even like it a little bit?”
“I like knowing what you like.” It took him a moment to register what he’d said—and more importantly, that he’d said it out loud. She was blinking up at him, obviously thrown off by the statement, as well, so he backpedaled as fast as he could. If he wanted her to reconsider the au pair position, the last thing he needed was Tallulah being aware of his totally pointless mega crush on her. “I mean, knowing you happily drink liquefied dog food will make me feel less self-conscious about my terrible cooking.”
A smile lifted one side of her mouth. “See you later, Burgess.”
“Bye, Tallulah.”
He inhaled her basil and orange scent as she skirted past him to the door, then turned and watched her ass move right to left in a hypnotic sway until she was out of sight. A chuckle from behind the counter snapped Burgess out of his trance—and there stood the smoothie guy behind the register, smirking and drying his hands on a white towel. “Would you look at that? Sir Savage has got it bad.”
Burgess gave him the middle finger on his way out, but the guy only laughed harder.
Not until he was inside the elevator did Burgess allow himself to smile.
Tallulah was coming to dinner.
Chapter Five
Tallulah selected a Styrofoam tray of chicken breasts from the refrigerated trough, making a face as she tossed it into the red handbasket. As a vegan, she didn’t make a habit of handling raw meat, but she could tough it out for one single meal—and once she reached the produce section, she planned to gather eggplant, zucchini, peppers, and onions for a vegetable dish for herself. Her mother’s Saksuka to be exact.
What a difference a day makes. Suddenly, she was shopping with a man’s dietary restrictions in mind. High-protein, low-carb. Blech. Why was she in the store buying supplies to cook dinner for this man and his daughter, anyway? She didn’t have an answer to that. Except her mind continued to replay his rasping plea of help me across the table in the smoothie shop . . . and she’d kind of just ended up at the closest market to The Beacon.
One time.
She’d cook once.
Even if a miracle happened and she changed her mind about living with Burgess, her duties would not include cooking. This was a favor. A whim. Nothing more, nothing less.
She hung a right out of the refrigerated section and came face-to-face with an endcap full of peanut butter jars. As if she needed a reminder of Burgess taking a sip from her smoothie that morning. She’d only been thinking about it since it happened. During her meeting with her counselor, the woman’s mouth had been moving, but no sounds were registering, because every last one of Tallulah’s thoughts were on those strong white teeth. How they’d yanked on the paper straw, somehow contracting muscles in her tummy that hadn’t been exercised in far too long. That imagery was plenty distracting on its own, but throw in the flex of his throat as he swallowed, his eye contact intentional, curious, and the memories had caused her to leave the air-conditioned administration building flushed head to toe.
Now she had two reasons not to take the au pair position.
One: she didn’t want to live in a constant state of worry that Burgess’s temper might extend beyond the ice, an invisible boil just below the surface.
Two: she suddenly wanted to know if he’d use those same teeth to take her panties off.
The combination was alarming, to say the least. To be attracted to a man without knowing exactly what lay under his hood. Although, did anyone ever truly know what was lurking inside of someone? No, right? She’d been tricked before.
The monster had hidden himself so well. So well.
Tallulah tore her unseeing eyes off the peanut butter and headed for produce. She’d already picked up the chicken. Now she threw a green pepper, an onion, a lemon, and a garlic bulb into her basket. A potato, too, which was not part of her mother’s Saksuka recipe and would probably get her disowned, but the call of carbs drowned out the shame. Hopefully Burgess had a few basics in his kitchen, like cooking oil, sugar, and vinegar, or she’d have to send him knocking on his neighbors’ doors.