Total pages in book: 99
Estimated words: 96129 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 481(@200wpm)___ 385(@250wpm)___ 320(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 96129 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 481(@200wpm)___ 385(@250wpm)___ 320(@300wpm)
I was about to ask her what the hell she was talking about when I realized what she was doing. I looked up at Dom who was watching me closely. Only because of what he’d just said to me, what he’d made me picture, I made my lips move and said, “He was kind of cute, right?”
“So cute,” she said across from us, egging him on. She winked at me as she walked away, and I couldn’t help but laugh. He took a step closer.
“Why are you playing with me?” he growled.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“I think you do.” His eyes darkened, jaw twitching.
“What are you doing here, Dominic?” I asked again.
“What, I can’t check in on my brother’s girl?”
My heart stopped for a solid beat. “I am not his girl.”
“No?” His smile bloomed slowly, and when it reached its peak, my pulse raced.
“No.”
“Is that why you want Terrance to come back over here?” He spit the name out like it was a bad word. The intensity in his eyes made my knees feel weak. I had to remind myself to breathe.
“I can’t concentrate when you look at me like that,” I said quietly.
“Like what?”
“Like you want to eat me for dinner.”
He chuckled, a low sound that sank its claws deep in my belly. He moved so close that I had to crane my neck to continue to meet his eyes. He was so tall. Too tall for me, I decided. Too handsome. Too dangerous. I wished my body would hurry up and catch up to the logic my mind was trying to feed it.
“Oh, tiny dancer.” He lowered his head, bringing his mouth to the shell of my ear, the light beard on his face grazing the side of mine, his cologne invading my senses. “If I had you, I’d eat you for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. And maybe even snack in between.”
I inhaled sharply. When I was little, I had asthma, which thankfully I’d grown out of by the time I was a teenager, but this was how I remembered it feeling, like I couldn’t get enough air in my lungs. It was the kind I’d treat with albuterol every four hours or else run the risk of it being too late and going into a full-on asthma attack. I hadn’t felt this way about a guy in . . . maybe ever.
“Dominic,” I whispered. He inhaled deeply as if he was trying to consume me through his nose, before pulling away slightly. “Why are you doing this?”
“Doing what?”
“This.”
“Flirting?”
“Flirting?” My jaw dropped momentarily. “This isn’t flirting. This is foreplay.”
He chuckled, leaning in again. “Are you admitting that I’m making you wet?”
“No.” I swallowed, tilting my chin up slightly. It was a total lie, but what the hell? Who said stuff like that?
“No?” He pulled back and raised an eyebrow. “You sure about that?”
“Dominic.” It was supposed to be a warning, but my voice shook.
He reached a hand out and brushed the top of my chest with his knuckles, where the bruises had been. I shivered. He held my gaze. “Come home with me.”
“No.”
“We live together.” His eyes danced because he knew exactly what he was doing to me.
“We don’t live together.” I took a shaky step back and it had nothing to do with tequila. “I’m only there because God knows what Gabriel has gotten into.”
At the mention of his brother, he finally – finally – tore his gaze away from me and let his hand drop. I’d have to remember that. Gabe would be my albuterol. Dominic turned sideways and steepled both hands at the edge of the table, which was as tall as my chest but made him look like even more of a giant somehow. He let his head hang and breathed out as if he was trying to work out a battle in his head. I decided that I didn’t like seeing him like this. I lifted my hand and placed it on his forearm, which twitched underneath my touch. He lifted his head and looked at me. I wasn’t sure what I expected to find in his eyes, but the carnal need in them rushed through me and settled in the pit of my stomach.
“I love my brother.” He straightened slowly and faced me, the motion making my hand drop back to my side. “But I want you.” He took a step closer, closing the gap I’d created. He searched my face. “And I know you want me too. I see it every time you look at me. Tell me I’m not making this up. Tell me I’m not crazy.”
Other men shot their shot and moved on or skirted around as they tried. Dominic infiltrated until he was settled so deep inside your walls that you couldn’t even think of the reason you’d tried to keep him away in the first place. I could’ve told him he was crazy for thinking I wanted him. I could’ve made myself laugh and walked away then. I could’ve told him a lot of things, but they’d all be lies, because the truth was that I did want him. God, I wanted to give in so badly. I wanted to know what it felt like to be in this man’s arms, in his bed. A part of me wanted him to consume me, but the logical side of me screamed that it was a terrible idea. In the end, I threw caution to the wind, because why the hell not? I’d had a hard life and the last few years had been awful. I’d given up too many things that made me happy and right now, I just wanted this one thing. Him.