Total pages in book: 36
Estimated words: 34054 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 170(@200wpm)___ 136(@250wpm)___ 114(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 34054 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 170(@200wpm)___ 136(@250wpm)___ 114(@300wpm)
She’s acting like we don’t matter to her, which has my head spinning. Regret and desire circle my veins like venom with the soul's desire for destruction.
I lean into her, caging her on the spot. “You need a reminder of who you are, Tinkerbell. Seems like you’re suffering from amnesia.”
Billie licks her lips. “I’m well aware of who you are, Cain. I did what you told me to do. I walked away and pretended I didn’t know you. Now, please sit down so I can complete this assignment.”
I grab her nape and pull her close, my mouth at the shell of her ear. The scent of her invades my mind, infecting my nerve endings and taking me back to the last time I had her beneath me. Seconds tick by, but it seems like an eternity. All my bravado slips away, and my nerves take hold.
Billie fucking Richmond, the girl of my dreams, the untouchable memory right here in front of me.
I fill my lungs with the same air she breathes, a high all its own. “You can lie to yourself all you want, Tinkerbell, but you’ll never be able to lie to me. We will never be just another assignment to you.”
I glide my fingers through her long tresses, gripping them and yanking her head back. We stare at each other, pain, misery, longing, and lust dueling to see who’ll become the victor.
A single tear rolls down her soft, round face. “What do you want from me, Cain?”
I don’t respond with words. Instead, I brush her lips with mine, holding us frozen in the moment before I crush my mouth to hers. She tastes the same, like gummy bears and sunshine. I never grasped how someone could taste like a summer day, but Billie did.
She holds her mouth still at first, lips firm in a straight line, refusing to kiss me back. But then her body relaxes, and she sighs, allowing me access. Our tongues dance, unleashing pent-up passion, anger, and desperation.
I knew kissing her would be like fire, slowly rising until it swallowed me whole, but I never expected that the inferno she created would also be a siren song calling me home.
I pull away from her, breath heavy, gazing into her moss green eyes, the urge to fight and run battling within me. I’ll never understand how this woman still has a hold on me.
“You,” I whisper against her lips.
“What?” Billie asks. Her face is flushed, and her breathing speeds up.
I push away from her, needing the space to clear my head. “You asked me what I want from you.”
“I-I’ve got to go.” She rushes past me, ducking under my arms as she stumbles toward the door. But she stops abruptly when she sees Lars.
He smirks. “Where do you think you’re off to, Billie Goat Gruff?”
“Can you stop calling me that?” Billie huffs. “Get out of my way. You can’t keep me here against my will.”
Lars laughs. “Billie, cut the crap. If you wanted to leave here, you would. You would’ve called your editor as soon as you realized who we were and been on a plane back to New York.” He pushes off the doorframe and walks toward her. “You aren’t here for some stupid interview. You’re here for us.”
Billie crosses her arms and glares at Lars. “You’re so full of yourself.”
“I’d rather you be full of me,” he says, stepping toward her. Billie retreats until her back is flush against my chest, and Lars is pressed to her front. “Admit it, Billie. This is where you want to be. Between us.”
“So what? I enjoyed fucking you both. What’s that gonna do? We’ll fuck and go our separate ways. What’s that gonna accomplish? We still have a fucking tidal wave of issues. All that shit from the past is still there.”
I trail my fingers up her cardigan-covered arm until I reach the collar, sliding it from her shoulders and letting the fabric pool at our feet. “Look at you, Tinkerbell, all grown up with a filthy mouth. When did my good girl turn bad?”
Her head falls back on my chest as I trail kisses along her neck. “When you threw me out like trash.”
7
Billie
Cain’s gentle kisses are like lightning strikes against my flesh. “No one threw you out, Tinkerbell. You throw out trash, not diamonds.”
My whole life, I wondered how my mother kept going back to drugs when they had taken so much from her. But now I understand. Because, like my mother, I have an addiction. It’s not pills or heroin. No, it’s these two men. No matter how much I tried to kick my habit, it dragged me back into its murky depths.
Cain’s hands on my T-shirt are the equivalent of a junkie being in the same room with her poison of choice—temptation offering me a warm welcome. A prelude to delude me into believing that one hit won’t hurt.