Total pages in book: 51
Estimated words: 48412 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 242(@200wpm)___ 194(@250wpm)___ 161(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 48412 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 242(@200wpm)___ 194(@250wpm)___ 161(@300wpm)
How did I manage to make a joke when he just confessed out loud that he wants to sleep with me? There’s a wave of hot tension traveling up from the tops of my thighs into my tummy and I’m trying desperately not to show how he affects me.
“I don’t think associating with you is a good idea,” I whisper, imploring him with my eyes to let this go. To let whatever is building between us die. “I’m out of my depth and you know it.”
He doesn’t bother denying it. “Let me take you out. Once.”
I purse my lips. “You think that’s all it will take to get me into bed?”
Giving me a slow once-over, he drags his tongue along the inside of his bottom lip, and I feel that contact beneath my belly button. A twisting lick of flames.
“I’ll take you out as many times as it takes, angel.”
“As many times as it takes to…”
“Fuck you. There. You wanted me to say it? I said it.” He eliminates the distance between us, pushing his open mouth up against my temple, his knuckle tracing my exposed skin just above the low waistband of my shorts. “I want to fuck you. I’m also willing to put in the time to make sure you’re comfortable enough to let me. Especially after what happened.” His breathing accelerates. “Especially because you’re a virgin.”
Heat swamps me. “How do you know that?”
Using my belt loop, he tugs me up against him. “Never felt anything tighter.”
Am I supposed to like having my private parts discussed out loud?
Am I supposed to feel a fizzy yearn all the way down to my toes?
“Let me take you out and spoil you. Let me earn it.”
Spoil me?
Every fiber of my being rebels against that suggestion. I don’t want to be bought. I don’t want to be seduced with fancy things. This man might be capable of buying everything he wants in this world, but I’m not going to be one of them. I’m going to be the exception.
Plus, if I allow him to spend a lot of money on me, doesn’t that create an expectation to sleep with him? Because that is not a foregone conclusion. I will maintain the right to say no.
“No,” I say, just as his mouth brushes against mine.
He lifts his head. “No?”
“No, I don’t want to be taken out and spoiled. If you want to go out with me…” Am I really doing this? Against all common sense? “I’m picking the place and we’re splitting the check.”
His half grin is decidedly disarming. “Like fuck we are.”
I’m not sure where I get the bravery, but I touch the very tip of my tongue to his bottom lip, pleased when he shudders in response. “Take it or leave it, sir.”
He makes a low, growling sound in his throat. “Could you save that for another time? I’m just Tripp right now.”
“You only want to be called that when…If we…”
If he weren’t wearing sunglasses, somehow I know his pupils would be expanding right now. “Yeah. I want to be called sir when and if.”
My nipples tingle and stiffen at the image of Tripp on top of me, naked and sweaty, while I moan and call him sir. I’ve never pictured myself having sex with a specific person. Now, I’m not sure I’ll ever be able to picture anyone else.
“I’ll think about it.”
He lets out a short, punctuated laugh, but there’s a tension around his mouth. Hunger. “You’re going to drive me fucking crazy, aren’t you?”
“I’ll think about it—”
His mouth cuts me off with firm contact and I lose all my bravado in an instant. If I had any doubts that I’m out of my depth with this man, they vanish in the face of his potency. The hard, smooth texture of his mouth and how he exudes capability. Confidence. Need. I’m instantly overwhelmed, and that reaction only intensifies as he parts my lips and draws on me slowly but insistently.
Yesterday, I was just a high school graduate with a summer job. Now, I’m kissing the heir to the Sterling fortune, and my panties dampen with the first stroke of his tongue against mine. His fingers thread through my hair and tilt my head back, allowing him to feast on me from above, making me feel preyed on by sensuality. Experience. I’m the virgin and he’s hunting me. Wanting me. Determined to have me.
His free hand corrals my hips closer, and I whimper at the feel of his erection, so thick against my tummy. And I can’t help but skate curious fingers down his hard abdomen and brush my fingers over the proud ridge, his mouth working, working, working mine with building need, before he breaks away, tilting his hips to push into my touch.
“Just say the word, angel, and I’ll make a call. One single phone call and your only job this week will be to milk me dry.”