Total pages in book: 116
Estimated words: 114068 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 570(@200wpm)___ 456(@250wpm)___ 380(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 114068 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 570(@200wpm)___ 456(@250wpm)___ 380(@300wpm)
Judging by the way Wheeler keeps leaning forward, her leg pressing into mine and her tits on display, I may not have much choice in the matter.
“Surely I ain’t the first one who’s told you that.” I nod at her beer. “Want another?”
Figure that’s a good way to slow things down—one more beer, which I’ll nurse as long as possible. Gives me an excuse to keep the conversation and the darts going in the world’s best, worst game of edging.
“Yeah.” Wheeler nods, doing that thing where she digs her teeth into her bottom lip. She’s looking at my mouth now. “Sure, I’d love one. Thank you.”
“Be right back.” I gather our empty bottles between my fingers before gesturing to the board. “No cheating.”
“I’d never!” She gives my arm a playful shove. “Well, I would if it meant winning. But I don’t need to cheat to win.”
“Always so confident.”
“Well, yeah.” She’s grinning as she teases me.
She doing this on purpose? Veering into flirtatiousness so I don’t hit on any more sore spots? The shit she said about her parents makes me think that maybe…I don’t know, maybe she’s going through something. Is she close with her family? Do they talk? Are they fighting? I’m sensing sadness, but she’s given me so little to go on that I could be projecting.
I gotta be careful not to overstep. She’ll tell me what she wants me to know when she’s ready to tell it.
Problem is all of a sudden, I want to know everything.
Ryder picked right up on it: I like Wheeler.
She may want me. But that doesn’t mean she likes me back. I’m okay with that.
I’m okay with that, I repeat as I order another round and fight the growing crowd to bring the Shiners back to our table.
Only I’m not okay with the idea of hooking up with Wheeler tonight and never getting to talk to her so honestly—so openly—again. What if we sleep together, and then she wants nothing to do with me? What if getting naked makes things awkward?
Still, when Wheeler slides her hand onto the underside of my forearm as she accepts the beer I hold out to her, arousal bolts through me. I try very hard not to let it blot out my desire to get to know her better.
“Thanks, Duke.”
“Welcome, Wheeler.”
Relax. Shit’ll happen the way it’s supposed to.
I step into her touch, our legs mingling. I’ve rolled up my sleeves, so her fingers meet bare skin as she wraps them around my arm. She sips her beer. I sip mine. For the first time all night, I hear the music that’s pumping through the speakers overhead.
Garth. An oldie but a goodie.
“Do cowboys dance?” Wheeler starts to rock side to side. Her body, tits to thighs, brushes against mine.
I look down at her, unable to resist putting a hand on her waist to hold her against me. She feels impossibly soft. Impossibly warm. “The good ones do.”
“You wanna be good to me?”
Sweetheart, I’d be so good to you.
So fucking good.
My dick throbs. I take a deep breath. Let it out.
“What about our game?” I glance at the darts on the table. “You haven’t finished kicking my ass yet.”
Her eyes are dark as they rake over my face, catching on my mouth. “We’re done with darts, aren’t we?”
She’s not talking about darts. Well, she is. But she’s also talking about…talking. She knows all she needs to about me, and now she’s ready to get physical.
I’m not hurt. Just doesn’t feel right.
“I like playing darts with you, though.” I sip my beer.
Is that a flicker of surprise I see in her eyes? For a split second, I panic. I hope she doesn’t think I’m turning her down, does she?
I just don’t get why me wanting to get to know her better would come as a surprise to Wheeler. Surely I’m not the first guy to think she’s hot and interesting. Intelligent. Funny.
“I think I’d like dancing with you better,” she replies.
I look her in the eyes. “How ’bout this? You let me pick your brain for the rest of this game, and then we’ll dance. That a deal?”
Wheeler blinks, a funny expression on her face. “What do you want to know?”
“Everything.”
She goes still.
Very, very still.
So does everything inside me. I swear I can feel my heart trip and fall over the curb of my rib cage.
Shit. I came on way too strong. I’ve made her uncomfortable, and now she’s not gonna talk to me. Definitely not gonna be yelling my name later.
I’m crushed by disappointment.
Crushed by the knowledge that I fucked up my one chance to make this bright, beautiful stranger mine.
CHAPTER 3
Risks Not Worth Taking
Wheeler
That’s not my cowboy.
It’s my one thought as I look up into Duke’s blue eyes, alive with all the things: curiosity and lust and hope and disappointment.