Total pages in book: 24
Estimated words: 22950 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 115(@200wpm)___ 92(@250wpm)___ 77(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 22950 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 115(@200wpm)___ 92(@250wpm)___ 77(@300wpm)
I’m supposed to be in Michigan by next week to convene with my former colleagues. We have meetings lined up and rental spaces to tour, but I’m not budging until I figure this thing out with the girl on the other side of the glass.
Drawn to her like a sailor toward a siren, my feet climb the steps without permission and I watch her little butt twitch around inside a tiny pair of red spandex shorts as she scrubs the marble. My dick fills with hot pressure, stretching the fly of my jeans. My hurried breath fogs up the glass and she turns, popping out her earbud and staring at me with wide eyes. “Open the door, little girl,” I say.
A few seconds tick by and she shakes her head.
I raise an eyebrow. “No?”
“It’s a bad idea.”
“Why?”
“I know why you want to come in here.”
“Oh yeah? Why?”
She tugs down the hem of her crop top, but it flies back up. “To do bad things to me.”
“Ah, no, princess. I want to do good things to you. Really good things.” With her shifting around on her bare feet, I can see I’m getting nowhere, so I take the dark chocolate candy bars out of my back pocket and press them against the glass. “Let me in and I promise we’ll just talk.”
Oh, she wants that chocolate. Badly. She’s licking her lips looking at it and I vow to have that pretty mouth wrapped around my cock someday real soon. This one would take me deep enough to choke out of pure pride and I’d really love to test that theory about now, but she’s wary of me and I do not like that. I want to be her safety zone. The person she can let down her guard around because she knows I’ll slaughter any trouble that comes her way.
“You can break down this door in one kick, anyway, can’t you?” Ophelia says, more to herself than me. “If I open the door, I’m avoiding having to explain a broken door to my father and I get dark chocolate, so it’s really no choice at all…”
Finally, she turns two locks and opens the door.
I step inside and damn near strain a muscle stopping myself from grabbing her. “What are you doing cleaning the goddamn floor?”
She gives a jerky shrug. “I like cleaning the floor.”
“Try again.”
A gust of a sigh leaves her. “Your mother’s nap ran a little long today and she didn’t get around to finishing up. If the floor is dirty, my father docks her pay, so…”
Fuck, I’m in love with her. She’s never getting rid of me now. “You’re a secret sweetheart, aren’t you, Ophelia?”
Her nose wrinkles. “No.”
“Yes, you are. You thought I’d buy it earlier when you stomped into the kitchen and demanded my mother draw you a bath. But I’d say you’re more likely to do that for her.”
She sniffs and removes her AirPods. “Can I have my chocolate?”
“Nuts or no nuts?”
“No nuts. The presence of nuts means less chocolate.”
My lips jump. “Now I know.”
I kick the front door closed behind me and hold up the candy bar, forcing her to come take it from me. When she reaches for it, I hold it just out of her reach. I use my teeth to open the package and break off a chocolate square, rubbing it against her lips. “Open up for me.”
Her little nipples turn to points under her shirt and I exult in the fact that she can’t hide her attraction. She parts her lips and I slide the chocolate onto her tongue, growling as she chews. “Thank you,” she whispers. “It’s the good stuff.”
“Only the best,” I murmur, breaking her off another piece. Goddamn, I would kiss her mouth until those lips were sore if I hadn’t promised we’d talk. And truthfully, I want to talk to Ophelia. I want to know everything about her. How she thinks, what scares her, what she wants out of life. Most importantly, I want to know why she’s pushing me away when I can damn well feel the gravity between us and know it’s something real. After pocketing the chocolate, I cradle the side of her face in my hand. “Why were you at my mother’s house the other day? The truth, princess.”
“She forgot her heart medication,” she grumbles.
My pulse pounds harder. “Ophelia?”
“What?”
“You’re mine.”
“I can’t be yours, Ezra.”
“Too fucking late.”
Just like the first time we met, I see excitement dance in her eyes and I know there’s so much inside of her. So many hidden truths and quirks. She’s a little Pandora’s box and I’m going to pry her open and let everything out if it kills me. Hell, it’s killing me to stand still and let her study me when I want my hands all over her body, but I like that she seems to be growing less nervous the longer I refrain from mauling her.