Total pages in book: 160
Estimated words: 155798 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 779(@200wpm)___ 623(@250wpm)___ 519(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 155798 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 779(@200wpm)___ 623(@250wpm)___ 519(@300wpm)
His hand slid from my back to my front, and he toyed with the bottom of my shirt. His knuckle grazed against my skin, teasing me. Little wisps of lust grew, dancing inside me.
“That’s okay.” I wanted his whole hand against my skin. Under my shirt. “We all mess up now and then.”
He chuckled. The sound washed over me.
I loved the sound of that.
“I can more easily count the times I’ve not screwed up. That’s also the kind of guy I am, so you know.”
“Why are you telling me all of this?” I was also touching him. My hand smoothed down his arm to his wrist.
“Because I don’t want to fuck up with you. I just dumped out most of my skeletons, and now that you know all that, you can decide.”
“Decide what?” I tilted my head up and was caught again by his eyes.
They were so close.
His whole face was so close.
His lips… If I stood on my tiptoes, mine would brush against his.
It’d be so easy.
“I want to know you. Do you want to know me?”
“Want you?” My mind was all muddied. Desire blanketed me, making everything fuzzy at the corners. Except his mouth.
What would it feel like to touch those lips? Press against them?
Taste them?
Taste him?
How would he feel?
He groaned. “Billie.”
“What?” I breathed.
“I gotta ask. Do you—”
“What the fuck is going on out here?” An angry voice sounded, intruding.
Brett lifted his head, and I felt cold seep in, but he kept his hand pressed against my stomach, under my shirt. He hadn’t altogether pulled away.
Thank God.
“Give us some fucking privacy.” He wasn’t asking.
“I would, except that’s my date you got backed against the wall.”
What? Date?
Brett went tense.
I was disoriented.
“You’re here on a date?” he asked.
Am I? My brain was having a hard time catching up. It kept wanting to pull Brett back toward me, to feel all those wonderful feelings I’d never felt before, not the way he was making me feel them.
Then, shit. I blinked again.
Reality set in.
Travis had come looking for me, and both men were not happy.
I bit on my lip. “Uh…” Wait a minute. Wait a goddarn minute. I jerked from the wall and had a finger up. I stepped toward Brett. “This is your fault. And you.” I swung to Travis. “You said some seriously heavy stuff in there. Really heavy. It’s a first date, Travis.” I went back to Brett. “And I’m only here because of you.”
“Me?”
“Yes, you. You met me. You made me feel things. You made me feel, and that was just in the back of an SUV. Then you turned asshole. So yeah, I’m here on a date because I thought maybe, just maybe, it wasn’t you. Maybe it was me. Maybe I actually did want to date someone again. Maybe I do want to let someone in, though after round two, I’m realizing no one could make me feel what you do. But I needed to find that out. So excuse me, both of you, because I’ve not done anything wrong here. And both of you, stop—” I wavered on Travis, who looked admonished, but also like something else I couldn’t place. “—dropping emotional bombs on me and being all up in my face.” The next was for Brett. “And making me forget who I even am in the process. I’m going inside, and I’ll have a drink with Olvander because now I need one.”
I huffed, stalked inside, and slammed the door behind me.
6
BRETT
Billie left the dude and me staring at each other.
“I’m a cop, so you know. Homicide.”
“You brought her on a date?”
He grunted, shaking his head. “Lo, who’s like her sister, set us up. Said Willow gave the go-ahead.”
“She prefers Billie. How long have you been waiting for a date?”
He laughed abruptly. “Clocked her two years ago, but I was in a relationship. Once it ended, I made it known six months ago that I was interested. She’s a ball buster, and she doesn’t even know it.”
I nodded. “Got no clue.”
“She told me tonight she hadn’t even asked for me. It was between me and another guy. Lo picked me.”
I had to laugh. “This was just my second time meeting her, but that sounds right.”
“Jesus. Your second time?”
I eyed him. “Yeah.”
He raked a hand over his head. “Shit, man. I should back out. I can see your connection, but a woman like that? All that she just did? That sealed it for me. I’m in.”
Well, fuck. “Are you serious?”
He gave me a glimmer of a grin. “I know who you are, you know.”
I slanted him a dark look. “I know who you are too.”
His chin lifted.
“You’re the dickhead who took my girl on a date.”
He burst out laughing. “You messed up, and I got a chance, so thank you. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m here on a date.”