Total pages in book: 83
Estimated words: 78631 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 393(@200wpm)___ 315(@250wpm)___ 262(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 78631 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 393(@200wpm)___ 315(@250wpm)___ 262(@300wpm)
Nash half expected her to protest. But no. She threw her arms around his neck and parted her lips wider.
That was all the invitation he needed.
He drove his tongue into Haisley’s mouth possessively, thrilled as fuck when she lifted her legs and wrapped them around his hips. He gripped her ass in his hands, dying to devour her, to lose himself in her intoxicating embrace. She had to feel how hard he was for her, like he’d always been.
God, he’d give anything to erase the last two years.
As suddenly as he’d kissed her, Haisley wrenched free, her chest heaving. She stared up at him, her eyes shimmering with a firestorm of unspoken emotions. “I can’t do this.”
Her trembling whisper nearly took him out at the knees.
Nash brushed a calloused thumb across her cheek and searched her gaze. “Why? Tell me what the hell happened between us.”
Tears pooled in her eyes. Her pain, her raw vulnerability, was like a stab to the heart. “Nash, I…”
“What?”
“I can’t do this. Again. With you.”
He strained to hear her whisper above the din of the rowdy crowd. But in that moment, as far as he was concerned, no one existed except them.
“What can’t you do? Talk to me? Touch me? I don’t understand.”
Haisley bit her lip to hold back tears and shoved out of his embrace. “I know.”
The loss of her touch left him frozen and aching. “But I don’t. Spell it out.”
She shook her head, tears falling down her cheeks. “Please believe me… It’s better this way.”
When she tried to push past him, he grabbed her arm. Yeah, he knew he was riding a dangerous line. No meant no, and he respected that. But he wasn’t trying to force her to have sex with him; he just wanted answers.
“The fuck it is. Why did you walk away?”
She yanked free and retreated. “It’s in the past. Leave it there.”
Without another word, she fled, disappearing into the throng of partygoers.
Nash watched, cursing under his breath. He ran a hand through his hair, bitter regret burning his tongue. Why wouldn’t Haisley talk to him, tell him what had upset her? Why wouldn’t she tell him what the hell had torn them apart?
As he had for the past two years, he thought through their last days together. At the beginning of that week, she’d been as welcoming and hungry for him as she’d been from the start. By the weekend, she’d told him to fuck off. In nicer language, yes, but the end result had been the same. She’d claimed he was too rough, too overbearing, and too kinky. Since she’d embraced those sides of him for the previous twelve months, he’d intended to call bullshit and make her be fucking honest—before he proposed.
Instead, he returned from an op that Monday to the news that she’d left town for good.
Nothing in his life had been right since.
With burning eyes, he watched Haisley grab her purse, hug her girls, and leave the bar.
For the past two years, he’d sworn that if he ever saw Haisley again, he wouldn’t let her go without getting answers. Then he would fight tooth and nail to win her back. But as he watched her disappear into the cold, humid night, he couldn't help but wonder if he was too late. If he’d lost her for good.
Cursing, Nash turned away, his every step weighted with despair, as he returned to his brother and his gang.
As he approached the table, Trees whistled. “That was a hell of a show.”
“Bite my ass.”
Laila laid a gentle hand on his forearm—a huge step forward for the woman who had once been a prisoner of a drug cartel and, until Trees crashed into her life, had known only abuse and violence at the hands of men. Thanks to his brother’s protective embrace and marshmallow interior, his sister-in-law was no longer afraid. “She has feelings for you.”
He turned to the petite Hispanic beauty with a shake of his head. “I know you’re trying to make me feel better, but—”
“She does,” Tessa seconded. “I may not know Haisley well, but women understand women.”
Were they insane? “She wrenched away from me and ran as if her ass was on fire.”
I can’t do this. Again. With you. The finality in her tone had been like a knife sliding between his ribs, gouging out his heart, and shattering the last of his hope.
Laila sighed. “Sí, but how did she kiss you before that?”
Tessa pointed at his sister-in-law as the women exchanged a knowing glance. “What Laila said.”
The reason seemed obvious to him. Every time they’d had sex, it was off the chain. Of course he loved pussy, but with Haisley it had been so much more… Every moment with her had been scorching. Consuming. Indelibly etched into his memory.
The ladies were suggesting her reason for clinging to him had less to do with her genitals and more to do with her heart. Nash wanted to believe that, but honestly, he didn’t fucking know. And he needed to.