Total pages in book: 114
Estimated words: 107710 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 539(@200wpm)___ 431(@250wpm)___ 359(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 107710 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 539(@200wpm)___ 431(@250wpm)___ 359(@300wpm)
“Congratulations,” she panted. “You’re not as dumb as you look.”
He tilted her chin up, glazed eyes looking down at her. “You’re underestimating how much I love a challenge, too, princess.”
She would not be making that mistake again.
Before she knew what was happening, August’s fingers slid up into her hair and fisted a thick bunch of it, using his grip to tilt back her head. Expose her neck. And then . . . oh. Oh God. His teeth and the tip of his tongue and his lips moved like a sensual trio up the curve of her throat, then over to the right. To a spot behind her ear that had her toes spreading so quickly, one of her heels fell to the floor with a thwack.
“I can’t believe you waited until we’re on a train full of people to kiss me again.” His teeth closed around the shell of her ear and razed up and down, up and down. “Maybe you did it on purpose because you know exactly what we’d be doing if we were alone.”
“Fighting?”
“Fucking.” He licked a circle behind her ear, traced a path back to her mouth, and suctioned her lips into a hard kiss. “But I’d start with two fingers in deep between your legs and I’d keep them there until you’re wet enough to take it hard.”
More vaginal flexing. Accompanied by a soft moan she tried to disguise with a cough.
Fooling no one.
The tables were quickly being turned.
She could see him in her mind’s eye, moving roughly on top of her in a mess of bedding, her ankles locked behind his big, flexing back. They would be agitated and sweaty and trying to outdo each other and it would be mind-blowing, but she would regret it afterward. Giving in to this man who thought she was nothing more than a spoiled brat.
Time to regain the upper hand.
“Maybe I’d be giving instead of taking,” she murmured, dragging a finger down the front of his shirt and toying with his belt buckle, reveling in the way his breath stuttered. “It might be so good you wouldn’t even make it to home base.”
“Princess, if I had to slide home on a bed of razor blades, I’d make it to that base with you.” He bit off a sound. “Stop moving that tight ass, or I swear to God . . .”
“What?” She caught his bottom lip between her teeth and rotated her hips, enjoying the privilege of watching his eyes glaze over. “What are you going to do about it?”
“Cry, probably.”
A laugh hopscotched out of her. A genuine giggle at his strained admission.
Eyes closed, he smiled against her mouth.
Something unexpected leapt in Natalie’s chest and her lips paused in the act of teasing him into another kiss. What the heck was that? Under no circumstances should anything be happening in the place between her brain and her vagina. He’d been ready to leave town. He would have left town if it wasn’t for her offer to help him secure a loan. He’d pegged her as a spoiled rich girl. They weren’t even in a real relationship, yet he’d already firmly rejected everything about her. It would be a waste of time and energy trying to prove him wrong. Especially when their potential arrangement was founded on the release of her very healthy trust fund.
She’d be wasting her breath.
“Come back here,” he rasped, studying her. “Torture me. I can take it.”
Get up. She needed to get up.
They’d almost definitely been spotted kissing in the reflection of the window. The purpose of the Lovers’ Nest had been served. So why was she leaning in again, craving the fullness of his lips and the way his hands traveled over her slowly, memorizing the dip of her side, the shape of her kneecaps, everywhere.
Natalie’s mouth was half a centimeter from August’s, her heart pounding riotously. The gauntlet between them was blurring. This kiss was going to be all about pleasure. Exploring. Them. Desperately, she tried to recall all the insults about her drinking and the way he’d intentionally blindsided her in the tent, but all she could feel was his heart banging like crazy and her own leapt in response to the proof that he was so affected—
“Natalie.”
It took her a full five seconds to realize her mother was speaking.
From where?
Natalie lifted her head and leaned to the side and there was Corinne, arms folded across her trim middle, regarding her with an impassive expression. “Oh my God,” she whispered. “Caught making out by my mother. Did I accidentally board the train back to middle school?”
“Could we speak privately, please?” Corinne continued.
“One minute.”
Natalie ducked back into the privacy of the chair, willing her face back to a normal temperature.
August’s head dropped back on a groan. “Christ.”
“Antichrist is more her vibe, actually.”
His chest rose and fell on a pained laugh. “You’ll have to give me a minute. Or . . . sixty. For this thing to go down.”