Total pages in book: 18
Estimated words: 17451 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 87(@200wpm)___ 70(@250wpm)___ 58(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 17451 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 87(@200wpm)___ 70(@250wpm)___ 58(@300wpm)
Alex arrives at the door at the same moment as me. I step aside. Try to be polite. He steps forward. Doesn’t care about being polite. Not that I want him to.
He leans forward, his manly scent moving around me. Through me. A smile barely touches his lips. “Are you enjoying the tour?”
“Yuh-yes,” I murmur.
“I’m glad. What’s been your favorite part so far? Wait.” His wolfish eyes glimmer. “It was the vines and the fields. I saw your eyes light up.”
“You noticed that?”
He nods like it’s just us. Like the other tourists aren’t gathering and waiting to get up the stairs.
I notice everything about you, stranger, his intense expression seems to say.
“You had an artist’s spark in your eyes,” he says. “Or are my instincts wrong?”
I lick my lips. He looks savage. Almost angry, like he thinks I’m trying to seduce him. Which is crazy because I’ve never seduced anyone. Definitely not a man like him. Over six foot, jawline that could cut glass without breaking it, hair that shines silver with his experience and maturity.
Muscles that could break my nails …
“No, you’re right,” I murmur.
More than a ghost of a smile now. Just. “Thought so. If you like, you can try your hand at painting it. If that wouldn’t be unacceptably forward?”
His tone is heavy with irony. As if nothing could be too forward with us.
“Uh, sure,” I say. Warmth sparks through me.
He read me without me needing to say a word. He wants to fulfill my desires …
My artistic desires. That’s all.
I look aside. At a group of five people waiting to get past us. Cameras on straps and selfie sticks, guidebooks in their hands. Confusion on their faces.
Do they know each other?
That’s the vibe they’re giving. It’s the only explanation for how close he’s standing.
He steps back, waves a hand up the stairs.
“After you …” he pauses.
It takes me a second to realize he’s asking my name.
“Oh … Bella,” I say, voice weak. Knees weaker. Nipples aching so badly I’m starting to wonder if the friction of my clothes is going to make my toes curl and an orgasm erupt in me right now.
“After you … Bella,” he says.
I walk up the stairs.
The whole way, I know Alex is watching me. I can feel his savage gaze on my ass.
So, sue me …
I move my hips from side to side. Something I never would’ve dreamed of just thirty minutes ago.
But a man like Alex wanting me—if that’s what’s going on here—makes me feel powerful.
And that’s one hell of a feeling.
2
ALEX
“Are you sure this is okay?” Bella asks.
Leaning against the balcony railing. Her sundress holding on for dear life as it rides up her thick thighs like her clothes know she’s hungry for me. She looks at me over her shoulder. Pouts those perfect lips.
“I don’t want to put you out,” she murmurs.
It’s a struggle to speak. My steel pushes against my pants.
“We’ve got paint. Canvas. All the supplies you need.”
She turns. Rests her back against the railing while facing me. Her cheeks are flushed and red and naïve. Her eyes are wide and curious. Her pretty lips look ready for kissing. And for other things—for my huge hungry cock sliding between them.
Every time she moves, her gorgeous curvy breasts shift in her sundress. I somehow don’t reach down and press my hand against my pole. Somehow fight that urge. A fucking miracle.
“What about getting back to the village?” she asks.
“I can arrange that for you,” I tell her.
“Are you sure?”
I step forward. Only mean to take one step, but when I smell her perfume, I almost lose it. I close the distance until I’m standing so close to her I could reach out and sink my hands into the voluptuous beauty of her hips. Squeeze to feel her soft flesh give me a little resistance, then yield.
She arches her back. Tilts her head up at me.
She looks shy, excited, cautious and reckless all at once. In other words—so perfect.
“Bella, you need to have more confidence.”
She huffs out a laugh. “How do you know? Maybe my art is cruddy.”
“Nope,” I growl.
Giggling this time. “You seem pretty sure.”
“The way you look at this place, Bella … the passion, the gleam in your eyes.”
“Maybe I’ll try to disappoint you,” she says breathily.
Is she feeling it too? This flood of sudden hunger? This fucking certainty that something meaningful is happening here?
I take a few steps back before I lose it. She’s a soft young thing, too fragile for a man like me. I might break her.
She brushes wavy brown hair behind her ear. Smiles awkwardly. My hand twitches as I wonder if she’s getting wet. If I slid my hand between her legs, would I feel the heat first? Would her slick tight young slit tempt me with fire? Then, would I feel the waterfall of boiling release waiting to blow.