Total pages in book: 108
Estimated words: 105803 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 529(@200wpm)___ 423(@250wpm)___ 353(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 105803 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 529(@200wpm)___ 423(@250wpm)___ 353(@300wpm)
“We met in town one night.” He tightens his arm around me. “And the rest is history.”
“It’s kind of a whirlwind. One minute you’re no one and the next you’re everything,” she says, her cool gaze bouncing between the two of us. When she tilts her head, the gold ribbon woven into her elaborate shieldmaiden braided hairstyle glints in the light.
“You need to lighten up, cousin,” Beast warns her. But it’s not growly like his warnings usually are. This one has a hint of warmth. “One would think you aren’t happy for me.”
She smiles at him, and it’s soft and genuine. “I’m happy if you’re happy. You know that.”
“Good, now let me show my girl how happy I am to see her. It’s been a few hours and I need a fix.” He gives his cousin a wink. It’s a side of him I’ve never seen. It’s almost playful. Almost like he’s enjoying this.
He presses a kiss into the side of my head.
Annika gives him a playful grimace. Like she’d rather jump off a cliff than see her cousin make out with his girlfriend.
Tucked under his big arm, I look up at him and the fake affection on his face is nothing compared to the fake expression of desire. It’s dark and hot and I feel it hit every erogenous zone in my body. He looks like he’s about to devour me right here in the middle of the bar. And according to my hardening nipples, I’m here for it.
Out of nowhere, a flash of déjà vu washes over me. This place. The smell. The people. There is the same familiarity I felt on the back of Beast’s bike when I put my arms around him and rested my head against his shoulders.
It unnerves me, and I start to panic Annika will pick up on it.
But today is not that day, because she does as her cousin asks and leaves us alone.
Relieved she’s gone, I relax. I really need to up my game when I’m around her if we’re to pull this facade off without her learning the truth.
“You and Annika are close,” I say.
“We are.”
“Then why doesn’t she know about this plan like Mya does?”
“The less people who know the better. Besides, she would tell me it was a bad idea and try to talk me out of it.”
“I knew I liked her.”
He holds back an eye roll.
“I don’t think she approves,” I add, watching the icy blonde walking away. She glances over her shoulder at me, distrust in her eyes, and then looks away.
“She doesn’t trust people easily,” Beast says.
“Wise woman,” I mutter.
He drags my attention away from Annika by turning me in his arms and looking down at me with so much warmth on his face it almost feels real. But that would be insane. Still, I find myself stiffening in his arms because it feels intimate and genuine. And I don’t know why there is a part of me that wishes it was.
“Relax, this is supposed to be a party,” he grumbles.
I smile up at him brightly. “You do realize I would rather be eating a bowl of razorblades than doing this, right?”
Beast smiles back. And despite it being forced, it’s so damn beautiful, it almost knocks the wind out of me. Who knew there was such a handsome man under all the scowls and dark expressions. “And I’d rather be having brain surgery with an icepick than doing this, but here we are.”
I sigh as I continue to look at him with fake adoration, well aware that we are being watched. “I’ll happily help with that. There’s bound to be an ice pick behind the bar. Should I ask?”
He leans in closer, and his lips brush my ear, sending goosebumps across my skin. “How about we concentrate on what we already agreed on.”
The move is intimate and my smile slips. “What are you doing?”
“Getting close to you and making sure everyone sees it.”
He hoists me up and sits me on the edge of the bar. His big hands part my thighs, and he steps between them, and even though my butt is firmly planted on the bar, he’s still taller than me.
He parts my thighs even wider so he can get his big body between them, and I’m reminded that it’s been a long time since any man has been between my legs.
Beast tucks a lock of my hair behind my ear. “You need to look at me like you want me to kiss you.”
“That’s kind of hard to do when I’ve spent the last twenty-four hours wanting to put my fist in your mouth, not my tongue.”
He ignores me. “Put your arms around my neck.”
“How about my hands around your throat?”
“Later, if that’s what you’re into, princess. But right now, we need to sell this.”