Total pages in book: 155
Estimated words: 154379 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 772(@200wpm)___ 618(@250wpm)___ 515(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 154379 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 772(@200wpm)___ 618(@250wpm)___ 515(@300wpm)
Those eyes blew wide, and that tempting mouth parted on a tiny gasp.
I had the sudden, uncontrollable urge to claim it.
The air whirled around us.
A vicious, deadly hurricane.
Pain came bounding in right behind it, a dull blade that cut through my middle.
Hadn’t had a girl on the back of my bike in years, and I’d never fucking have one there again.
Needing to get my damn head clear, I stepped back.
Piper floundered, as if I had been what was holding her up.
“Let’s go,” I grunted, ripping myself from her lure and striding for my truck.
Might be a dick, but I still opened the passenger side door for her.
She remained standing in the same spot as if she was locked in the stupor that had gripped us.
A second later, she seemed to shake herself out of it. She swallowed hard and tossed me one of those adorable scowls.
Her brow all knitted up.
Nothing but a feisty little kitten.
I gestured at the seat. “Told you I planned on being nothing but a gentleman while you’re staying here.”
She scoffed though she moved, muttering under her breath as she climbed inside, “I imagine you are many things, Theo Mallin, but a gentleman is not one of them.”
SEVEN
PIPER
Theo rounded the front of his truck. I swore, the man was nothing but a viper ready to strike.
His entire being rippled with that stealthy, intimidating strength. Black hair a mess from the number of times he’d run his big, tattooed hand through it, lips full and so damn red.
But it was those eyes that were sinkholes.
A black sea lit in the moonlight.
As if you had no clue what you were wading into and, a second later, you were slipping.
Falling into an endless abyss that would forever keep you trapped.
He hopped into the driver’s side.
I tried to hold my breath against the onslaught of his presence.
Moss covered woods and crisp snow and worn, weathered leather.
All delivered on a punch of sex.
He pushed the button to start the truck, and the powerful engine roared to life.
It was one of those giant, lifted things, the seats as dark as the man, all black, luxurious leather.
He shifted into reverse and looked over his shoulder as he backed out, that unrelenting gaze raking over me as he went.
I shivered beneath its weight, and all the visions I’d tried to fight last night rebounded at full force.
He pulled out, pushed a button on the visor to lower the garage door, then shifted into gear and started down the paved driveway that wound back through the thicket of trees and dumped us out on the curved, long drive that led to the motel.
He turned right on it, taking it to its end where it T’d at a street called Vista View.
Its name wasn’t an exaggeration.
The setting was absolutely awe-striking as we followed the two-lane road that wound along the crystalline expanse of lake.
Snow covered the trees and the rooftops of the houses and cabins interspersed between them, every inch of ground a glittering white, all except for the roads that were stained even darker from the moisture.
“Sun’s out enough that ice shouldn’t be a problem in town,” Theo said as if he needed to fill the strain that echoed between us. The tension that bound and pulled and made my chest feel like it might cave.
Another beat of silence, his tattooed hands tapping anxiously on the wheel as he stared ahead. Then he glanced my way, and his deep voice lowered farther. Rolling through the cab like a seductive caress. “That accident wasn’t your fault, you know. Black ice is fuckin’ impossible to see, especially if you’re not familiar with it. The terrain you were traveling makes it even worse.”
Blowing out a sigh, I fiddled with the zipper on my purse. “I know, but accidents always make you feel like you did something wrong, don’t they?”
Since it happened, my mind had spun with everything I could have done differently.
Theo grunted as he slowed and flicked on his blinker to make a left onto Culberry Street.
I remembered from last night it was the main street that ran through the middle of the small town.
“Yeah. Think we all wish we had hindsight. Wish we could go back and change every misstep we make. Know I’d change a million things.” Regret twined with his words.
Deep and gutting.
His flesh oozing shame.
I didn’t even want to consider the things he might have done. The things he might have been involved in. All while a very reckless part of me wanted to dip my fingers all the way in.
Air puffed from my nose as I sank into the heated seats, the warmth pumping from the vents wrapping me in a comfort that I shouldn’t feel.
“Same,” I murmured in the quiet.
It was the only thing I could give him that felt safe.
Easy.
Zero actual details.