Total pages in book: 86
Estimated words: 81009 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 405(@200wpm)___ 324(@250wpm)___ 270(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 81009 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 405(@200wpm)___ 324(@250wpm)___ 270(@300wpm)
Since shooting my load wasn’t happening, then I needed some whiskey.
Stepping through the door, I headed directly to the bar. I could hear Pepper’s laughter already and figured she must not be pissed about Micah’s extra security. He’d said she might give me lip, but to tell her to call him. It wasn’t like I fucking wanted to be here tonight. The last thing I needed to deal with was Pepper Abe getting all pissy.
Prepared to deal with her bossy ass, I walked up in her line of sight and then stopped. I fucking froze. A slender, smooth, delicate neck was arched as long black hair hung over one shoulder. Tits, pressing against a white shirt, almost bounced as she laughed loudly. I didn’t see her face, but I knew that laugh, and I’d licked, kissed, and sucked that neck enough to recognize it. My body remained rigid as she straightened from having her head thrown back. Then she turned and I saw her profile. That fucking beauty mark.
How many times had I kissed that spot?
Pepper was saying something but instead of looking back at her she turned in my direction, her eyes caught mine, and she stilled. The cornflower-blue pools swirled with so many emotions before she blinked and stiffened. Her smile was gone, as if I had walked in and sucked the air from the room, along with the joy.
“Oh, for fuck’s sake,” Pepper snapped, and Salem jerked, startled. “What the hell are you doing here!”
Tearing my eyes from Salem, I met Pepper’s furious glare.
“Security,” I replied coldly, trying not to swing my eyes back to soak in the sight of Salem.
“Security?” Pepper asked, confused, but it seemed to click with her. “Micah fucking Abe.”
I watched as she pulled her phone from her pocket and punched a button angrily before putting it to her ear.
She then pointed at me. “You, go. To the back. Just away.”
I cocked an eyebrow. Was she fucking serious? I wasn’t her goddamn lap dog. I narrowed my gaze, then walked right behind the bar where she was and snatched up a glass while she watched me.
Salem’s eyes following me felt like an electric current. It wasn’t that I could just feel her; there was energy pulsing through me because of it.
“Get your whiskey and go,” Pepper demanded. “Micah!” she then shouted into the phone and walked out of the space behind the bar as she began to ream him a new one.
I lifted my eyes from the glass to meet Salem’s. Damn, that face. Jesus, it was still like a kick in the gut. Would I ever be immune to it?
“You got the job,” I said, then picked up my glass and took a drink.
She nodded and began to fidget with the stem of the martini glass in front of her. “Yes.” Her voice was soft and unsure.
I studied her hand and saw the wedding rings were still gone. Just like they’d been at the art gallery. Why? Had she been leaving her husband? Was that why she’d come back south?
Her hand moved away then, and she stuck it in her lap, out of my view. My eyes lifted slowly back to hers, and I took a moment to memorize how good her tits looked in that shirt. The creamy mounds peeked from the top, tempting a man like Eve with her fucking apple. Her swift intake of breath made them slightly bounce. I smirked and set my glass down, then met her eyes.
“How long have you been here?” I asked her.
Her tongue came out and licked her lips. That bottom one a little bigger than the top. I used to bite it until she cried out. I’d been obsessed with it.
“Almost two months,” she replied, then cleared her throat. “I, uh…we should be going.”
We? I cut my eyes to the woman beside her. A blonde, wearing a pair of orange glasses, was staring at me with a mixture of surprise, interest, and I thought amusement.
She gave me a small smile. “Hi, I’m Marlana. I work with Salem,” she said brightly.
“We should go,” Salem told her. “I think Pepper has some, uh, issues to deal with.”
“Just her brother trying to keep her safe. She’ll be back in a moment,” I said, not wanting her to leave. “I didn’t know you had been back around. Pepper didn’t mention it.”
She dropped her eyes, and a tight smile touched her mouth. “Yeah, well…” She lifted a shoulder in a shrug.
She’d asked Pepper not to tell me.
“Don’t tell me you’re trying to avoid me, Angel Face,” I drawled, using the name that I had called her back then.
Like I’d intended, her eyes snapped back up to meet mine, and along with the anger displayed, I could see hurt. Even now, all these years later, there was an instant unsettling inside me at the idea that she was hurt.