Total pages in book: 190
Estimated words: 181992 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 910(@200wpm)___ 728(@250wpm)___ 607(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 181992 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 910(@200wpm)___ 728(@250wpm)___ 607(@300wpm)
“You should know better than to make a pact lightly.” He cocked his head. “What’s currently in the way of you going through with it? Tell me.”
“Why? So you can blow holes in my reservations?”
“Yes.”
I snorted.
“You’d never be in any danger with me, if that’s a worry for you. I may not have a lot of respect for the system, but I don’t dabble in anything dark or ugly.”
He didn’t need to assure me of that. I was very aware he had a code, nontypical as it might be, of sorts. “If I thought differently, I wouldn’t even consider marrying you.”
He hummed, his head moving in an excrementally slow movement that made me tense. The shit was totally eye-banging me.
Fuck, if my nipples hardened, I was gonna murder them. “Stop it,” I said.
“What?” he asked in a lazy drawl.
“You know what.”
“Do you remember that night I fucked you in a hot tub?”
A memory of me sitting on the edge of the tub, my limbs wrapped around Dax as he took me slow and hard, surged to the forefront of my mind. I felt my face flush.
“You wore a similar bikini then.”
Uncaring that it would show how unnerved I felt having him loom over me, I swung my legs off the lounger and then stood. “Did I?” I asked airily, turning my head slightly as I flicked a look at my lacy beach wrap.
“There’s little sense in covering up.” He whipped off his glasses, and I almost sucked in a breath. There was a truckload of banked heat in his gaze. It made my skin prickle and my thighs clench. It also caused the tension to kick up.
“I’ve seen you in less,” he went on, his voice dropping an octave. “In fact, I’ve seen every inch of you. Touched every inch. Tasted every inch.”
Cursing my body for turning into a hot mess, I narrowed my eyes. “You’re an ass. You know that, right?”
“I do.” His gaze intent on me, he inched closer, sending a wave of his dark cologne brushing over my senses and making my gut tighten. Something dark moved behind his eyes as they raked over my face. “Do you still care for him? Is that why you’re hesitant to honor the pact?”
I felt my brow furrow. “Care for who?”
“Grayden.”
I almost reared back. “No.”
He gently slipped off my glasses. “Are you sure?”
“Absolutely certain,” I firmly stated.
His eyes delved into mine, searching, probing, seeing everything. “Good.”
The continuous slap of flip-flops made me look to see my sister approaching, a tray in hand. She glanced from me to him, a default smile on her face, a pinch of hesitance in her eyes.
“Alicia, I’m sure you remember Dax,” I said.
“It’s good to see you,” she told him.
“Likewise,” he smoothly responded.
I was glad he didn’t do as most guys did and flash her a sexy smile, because I would have later regretted having subsequently kicked him in the junk. Probably.
He resettled his attention on me and handed me back my sunglasses. “Two days, Addison. We’ll talk again then.”
“Living for it,” I quipped.
His lips bowed, and he then stalked toward where his youngest brother stood. It took everything I had not to watch that tight ass as he left.
Alicia set the tray on the end of my lounger and then perched her butt on the edge of her own. “I take it he was wondering if you’ve made up your mind yet. Although that doesn’t explain why your cheeks are all red.”
Having placed my glasses on the small table, I sat back down, crossed my legs lotus-style, and then plucked a box of nachos from the tray. “He used his sex voice on me.”
Her lips twitched into a smile. “Mystery solved.”
Chewing on my nacho, I fought the urge to glance in his direction. I wouldn’t look. I wouldn’t.
“Why didn’t you just tell him that you’ve already decided what you’re going to do?”
“Because I haven’t decided.”
“Liar. We both know you’re going to go ahead with it. You’re just struggling to admit it to yourself. You feel like you shouldn’t want to do it, and you’re letting that hold you back. Fuck what you should and shouldn’t do.”
“Dax said something similar,” I muttered.
“Great minds think alike.” Alicia bit into one of her fries. “Do what you’ve always done and go after what you want. Or let me have him.”
Telling myself that my belly did not do a nauseating little roll, I grabbed my fresh bottle of water and opened it. “He’s likely got a backup woman in mind,” I grumbled, not sure I wanted to know who it was. “He’s a guy who always has his bases covered.”
“Maybe. But he would obviously rather have you or he wouldn’t have suggested marriage to you—pact or no pact.” She ate another fry. “Be honest, you’re going to do it, aren’t you?”