Total pages in book: 129
Estimated words: 121764 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 609(@200wpm)___ 487(@250wpm)___ 406(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 121764 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 609(@200wpm)___ 487(@250wpm)___ 406(@300wpm)
“That’s a blunt assumption,” I said, regaining my composure.
“It’s a fact. Look at you,” she said, waving her hand over me. “Your shoulders are up by your ears, and there’s a vein popping out of your neck.”
I had to bite down my laugh, along with the urge to tell her that my tension came mostly from keeping my hands to myself right now.
“You read body language, I take it.”
“I do,” she said with a smug smile, admiring her nails before she took another sip of her beer. I noted that her nails were cut short and void of polish, which made me even more amused by the gesture. “Palms, too.”
“You read palms?”
“And tarot cards.”
My eyebrow ticked up. “How very witchy.”
“Careful, or I just might put you under my spell.”
She wiggled her fingers with her eyes all big and bug-eyed in an attempt to rattle me, but I kept my gaze fixed on hers, taking a lazy swig from my beer.
She dropped her hand against her thigh with a smack, her lips flattening at my lack of response. “See? You’re ramrod stiff.”
The corner of my mouth quirked up.
If only she knew how ramrod stiff she could make me.
The party bus rolled to a stop at the edge of 6th Street, and my teammates spilled out into the rowdy Austin night one after the other. I sucked down the last of my beer, ready to join them, and as soon as my hand was free — Grace grabbed it.
It was so small in mine, so smooth where mine was rough, warm where mine was cold. And I felt it, from that very first touch — a jolt of electricity like Zeus himself had cast down a bolt of lightning. It was a warning sign and an invitation to the brave all at once.
I took the bait like a fucking sunfish.
“Come on,” she said, tugging me down the aisle.
She let go only long enough to throw herself at the stripper pole in the middle of the bus, looking more like a primate swinging from a tree than anything close to sexy, before she snagged me again and pulled me behind her.
“Let’s dance.”
“I don’t dance.”
She sucked her teeth, glaring at me over her shoulder. “You’re not allowed to be a fuddy duddy tonight. Not on my watch. So, drop your ego at the door, Brittzy.”
She smiled auspiciously when I laughed at her using the nickname only my teammates called me by. Then, she stopped her forward movement, turning around until she was pressing up onto her toes with that smile right in my face.
“Tonight? You dance.”
I tongued my cheek, shaking my head at her before she was skipping into the first bar with me having no choice but to let her pull me with her. I half-expected Vince to stop me with a hard fist to the chest when she hauled me right past him, but he was completely oblivious — already tangled up in Maven at the edge of the long bar.
Grace weaved us through the thickening crowd, pushing farther and farther until we were damn near crushed between those dancing in the back and those swarming the DJ booth at the front.
When she found the spot she liked, she twisted so quickly I practically ran into her. Her arms threaded around my neck as much as they could with me being so much taller than she was, and I had no choice but to find her hips with my hands — more to stop us from toppling over than anything else.
She beamed up at me, mischief and a dare sparkling in her eyes.
Then, she swayed her hips where I held them, side to side in a slow, teasing rhythm as she leaned in even closer.
“Don’t look so scared,” she said over the music, and then she turned, her back against my chest.
I removed my hands, holding them up like I was surrendering as she backed up even more, until her ass was slowly rubbing against the zipper of my slacks.
Fucking Christ.
She leaned her head back against my chest, smirking at the expression on my face before she grabbed my hands and moved them to her hips again.
“Relax,” she said, the word drowning in the bass thumping from the speaker. “It’s just dancing.”
My nostrils flared when she slowed her tempo even more, one hand gripping me by the back of the neck while the other covered one of my hands on her waist. She wound her tight little body against me, and from this angle, I had a perfect view of the two modest swells hidden under her thin-strapped black dress.
She wasn’t wearing a bra.
I groaned, biting my lip and looking up at the ceiling. I was halfway through naming all the Canadian provinces and territories when Grace dragged one finger along my jaw line.