Total pages in book: 140
Estimated words: 129207 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 646(@200wpm)___ 517(@250wpm)___ 431(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 129207 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 646(@200wpm)___ 517(@250wpm)___ 431(@300wpm)
My jaw clenches, not wanting to fall to pieces right in front of him. I’ve always seen him as mine, as the other half of my soul, but technically, he never has been. Nothing has ever happened between us. He’s never touched me, never kissed me, never done any of the things I hear Rock, Dylan, and Axel brag about doing with the girls who come to watch them perform.
“A girl, huh?” I ask, my voice wavering, on the verge of tears.
“Hypothetically,” he reminds me, watching me a little too closely as I inch back again, only for him to pull me right back in.
“Well, hypothetically, who is she?”
He thinks on it for a moment. “She’s someone I maybe want but can’t have.”
God. Why can’t he just be straight with me? The more he dances around the answer, the harder it gets to keep my composure. “Why not?” I mutter, more than aware of the fire in my tone.
“Because she’s far too beautiful for an asshole like me,” he says as his fingers dance across my face, pushing my hair back behind my ear. “She’s got this thick auburn hair with eyes that somehow penetrate right through to my soul. Since the day I met her, everything that I am has belonged to her, but it doesn’t change that the one thing I want most in this world is the one thing I can’t have.”
Ezra holds my gaze as my heart races for a whole new reason.
How stupid could I have been? I’m the girl.
I swallow over the lump in my throat, not knowing how to respond, when his hand circles around the back of my neck and he pulls me in just enough to drop a kiss to my temple. “I wanna write her a song,” he continues. “But hypothetically, if I did, I’d want to know that she’s okay with me putting it out there.”
“I see,” I mutter, purposefully taking a long sip from my soda just to give me a moment to rearrange the wild thoughts racing through my head. “I think if you hypothetically really liked this girl with the soul-penetrating eyes enough to write a song about her, then you should have the guts to tell her what you’re really feeling instead of dancing around the topic. But I also think that if you were to write a song for her, that would be really sweet.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah,” I say, “Though, I don’t know why all of a sudden this song has you feeling like you need to start asking questions. It’s not as though this hypothetical girl doesn’t already know that every song you’ve ever put forward to the guys has been about her. Hypothetically, of course.”
“Fuck. She already knows that, huh?”
I nod. “She does.”
His eyes glisten with silent laughter. “Even Scarlett Rose?” he asks, questioning the one song that’s a clear metaphor for all the nasty thoughts he’s ever had about me.
My cheeks flush, and I have no choice but to glance away, unable to take the heat in his eyes. “Even Scarlett Rose.”
“Shit.”
“Yeah . . .”
I can’t help but laugh, but as his fingers brush a searing trail down the length of my arm, a seriousness falls over us. “I wish it could be different, Rae,” he murmurs as those dark eyes stare so deeply into mine.
“Are you sure?” I whisper, airing my insecurities for the first time. “There are so many girls out there who throw themselves at you, and they’re beautiful . . . and older than me. You could be with them without having to fear Axel wanting to kick your ass. Not to mention, you wouldn’t have to wait. It would be okay.”
“Okay for who? Okay for you?”
I shake my head. “You know it would crush me.”
“Do you know the difference between you and those girls?” he asks me. “I don’t even see them, don’t even notice when they walk into a room, but you? Just knowing I’m under the same roof as you makes everything feel as though it’s going to be okay. When the guys talk shit and use those girls, I couldn’t care less, but the thought of anybody even thinking about touching you drives me insane with rage. I’m yours, Rae. Always have been since the day I first walked in here and you stood right here in this kitchen gaping at me.”
I push up onto my tippy toes, my lips barely a breath away from his, though I know he’ll never cross that line, never risk it. “All mine, huh?”
A stupid smirk stretches across his lips. “Hypothetically, of course.”
I roll my eyes and groan, and as I pull out of his arms, he jumps down from the counter and steps into me again, his eyes dancing with silent laughter. “You were jealous though, huh? When you thought I was talking about some other girl.”