Total pages in book: 53
Estimated words: 50759 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 254(@200wpm)___ 203(@250wpm)___ 169(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 50759 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 254(@200wpm)___ 203(@250wpm)___ 169(@300wpm)
I smiled at the memory, even though I hadn’t smiled at the time. I’d been embarrassed, as I always was of my mother. But in L.A., the place where it was impossible to be ‘weird,’ my mother fit right in. In fact, everyone at my launch party thought she was some eccentric billionaire and had sucked up to her, then subsequently came to me about opportunities to stock my jewelry after my mother had done nothing but sing my praises. Well, and also read everyone’s auras.
“They made the effort to see me, both of them, even when I didn’t deserve that effort.” I shook away the tears I was not going to let fall. “There were no guilt trips about me not coming back.”
“And when my father died, I just…” I paused, looking at the snow falling outside. “I couldn’t come back,” I whispered. “Because if I didn’t come here, if I didn’t watch him get put in the ground, if I didn’t step foot in a house that didn’t contain his laughter, then I would be able to believe he was still here… Alive.
“It’s a fucking bullshit excuse for me being a coward.” I shook my head. “My brother was right… Losing everything I worked for was my karma.”
Suddenly, Brody was not across the sofa from me. He was no longer holding a wine glass and mine had clattered on the coffee table. He’d done all of this in smooth movements, his hands now on my neck. “You stop that fucking shit right now,” he growled, pinning me with a fierce gaze. “No fucking way in hell did you deserve a second of what happened to you, and I won’t hear another second of you trying to lay any blame on yourself for how you dealt with your grief.”
I froze, not knowing how to respond to the emotion in his words. At his hands on my neck. His grip was firm, dry, yet his fingers were rough against my skin.
My heart was a hummingbird in my chest.
I was going to have sex with Brody Adams. I’m not sure at what point of the night I made that decision. I’d like to think it was after the wine, but I was also good at lying to myself. But whenever I decided something, I did it.
The sexual tension between us had been simmering since that night in the bar. Yeah, I told myself I was going to seduce him purely to get back at him, but I had reasons of my own.
“I think, I’m done talking,” I whispered, our mouths inches apart. “In fact, I think I’m ready for bed.”
I replicated the seductive tone I’d used in the bar, but this time it was huskier, roughened by true need.
“I’ve got a guest room,” he murmured, veins in his neck pulsating. I saw him trying to hold on to his control. Trying not to take my words for the double entendre they were.
I licked my lips which tasted like red wine and bad decisions.
“I don’t want to sleep in the guest room,” I rasped. “In fact, I don’t plan on sleeping at all. But I will feel your bed against my back.”
Chapter Twelve
WILLOW
As soon as I spoke the words, Brody’s gaze zeroed in on me with a carnal hunger I felt in my pussy.
“Will…” he tried to lean back, but I grabbed on to the sides of his shirt. “You don’t say shit like that to me,” he warned as I held on to him. “Not if you don’t mean it. You’ve been drinking, you had a scare, an emotional moment with your family... I’m not takin’ advantage of that.”
“No,” I leaned forward, gripping the sides of his shirt tighter, inhaling his scent and tilting my chin upward so my lips were almost brushing his. “I don’t want the good guy sheriff thinking about whether or not I’m in my right mind. I want the guy who will fuck me into oblivion because he’s wanted to since the moment he saw me.” My breath hit his face, and I almost kissed him. But I pulled back at the last minute.
“But if you’re not that guy…” I leaned back on the couch, letting go of his shirt before acting as if I were about to get up from the sofa.
Brody’s hand circled my wrist tightly. The skin protested just a little, but in a way I liked, then he yanked me back to him, lifting me so I was straddling him.
I gasped. We were both wearing soft sweats, and his rock-hard cock found my clit through the fabric. I rubbed against him on instinct, already ready to explode from the friction.
“I’m that fuckin’ guy,” he growled against my mouth. “I’m the fuckin’ guy who’s gonna fuck you so good you’re only ever gonna be mine from this moment on.”