Total pages in book: 27
Estimated words: 25839 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 129(@200wpm)___ 103(@250wpm)___ 86(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 25839 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 129(@200wpm)___ 103(@250wpm)___ 86(@300wpm)
“Me? I’m the pain in the ass? You’re the one acting like some alpha bosshole. Guys like you are usually compensating for something, you know…” Her sassy spark turns into wide-eyed wonder as her eyes dart down to my tented pants.
She falls silent, lips open, and I take my chance. I grab her arm and lead her the rest of the way through the restaurant, just as the low music from the surrounding speakers starts playing a horrible instrumental rendition of Madonna’s, “Like a Virgin”.
I bet she is. I fucking bet so. And I’m going to find out, soon enough.
Chapter Five
Natalie
He drags me down a back hallway to an open door leading into the kitchen. The place is roasting hot, filled with steam, the sound of sizzling pans, bustling movement and a ferocious little woman checking plates and shouting orders at the staff, tossing out curse words like Mardi Gras beads.
Her eyes flick our way as we pass, and there’s a moment of disbelief in her gaze before she nods at the sexy but overbearing guy I’m toddling behind. Before I can even ask his name or where we are going, he’s barreling through a door, slamming it behind us, and flicking on the lights.
“Jesus,” I manage, more out of breath than if I’d just been chased by a serial killer. “You’re bossy and handsy.”
“My sister’s office.” He turns, spinning me toward him, and his blue eyes bore right into the center of my soul. He backs me up against the desk, and I feel the wooden edge bite into my butt. “She runs the restaurant, but I’m her silent partner.”
Those eyes. God, those eyes. Not just blue. Topaz or turquoise. Sort of otherworldly, surrounded by dark lashes and lust. And I’m sure they have some superpower because I keep losing the ability to speak and that’s never happened to me before.
Something is about to change. Chaos ripples through the air shivering inside me. This stranger is somehow shifting the tectonic plates of my life under my feet.
I know I should run, but I also know I won’t.
The longer he looks at me, the more my emotions unravel. I’m raw and exposed under the unflattering florescent tube lights, but it’s not just my physical being that feels under scrutiny, it’s my heart. My soul.
There must have been some magical mushrooms in that Angel whatever drink he ordered for me, because if I didn’t know better, I’d swear I was on a long, strange wonderful trip.
Or, I’m falling in love with this guy.
I shake my head, trying to find the magic door back to my normal, boring reality, but I’m frozen in place by those eyes as my entire body trembles. His jaw is set. His pupils constrict.
Such purpose. Such power.
The broad expanse of his chest covers my entire visual field. His shoulders could support a Mini Cooper easily.
Something about him makes me feel safe and wildly unsure at the same time.
“Your sister, huh?”
I scan the walls and the desk as he raises his arm and points. “There we are. Me, my sister, brother, mom and grandmother.”
I squint, but he’s right. It’s him.
My lips fall open as his eyes drag up and down my body.
“I’m ready for my dessert,” he whispers in a voice that could melt the polar icecaps, and the room feels like it’s spinning.
“I would have shared my Creme Brule.”
I battle the knot in my throat, watching how his shoulder muscles round and his biceps pull at the dark fabric of his suit jacket.
He laughs in this dark, throaty sound that somehow moves the needle in the direction of my heart’s demise.
“You’re going to share something way better than that.” His smile is wicked, scary, but his eyes are blazing and there’s a glow around him that warms me like a security blanket.
Something about him makes me eager to please, to do things I’ve never done before.
I want to tear down the walls of my boring, mid-level corporate lukewarm life and replace it all with something impulsive and reckless and, God, fun.
I need fun, and it sure feels like what’s about to happen here is fun with a capital fuck yeah.
Tiny pulses are tapping out Morse code between my legs.
SOS
Come save me.
SOS
This man could surely have any woman he wants. I wonder if this restaurant is just his playground. Finding women in distress, swooping in, then…
I don’t want to think about that. I want to ride this dark wave of pheromones and bad decisions right into the fucking wall right now.
His hands circle my waist as he presses against me. The rock-hard length in his pants feels way bigger than it looks, and my breath turns to a lump in my throat.
“You’re a goddess,” he seethes, his lips warm on the shell of my ear. “I bet you’re a naughty goddess, too. For me, that is.”