Total pages in book: 96
Estimated words: 91402 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 457(@200wpm)___ 366(@250wpm)___ 305(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 91402 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 457(@200wpm)___ 366(@250wpm)___ 305(@300wpm)
At what point would his arrogance stop shocking me? I looked around the tarmac, surprised not to see a car waiting.
“How were you planning on getting home?” he said.
“I was going to walk.”
The rain had slowed to a stop but looked like it could resume at any moment. He nodded, tilting his bag onto its wheels as if ready to follow me.
“It’s fifteen blocks,” I added.
He considered my statement and shook his head as if amused. “Should that bother me? I’m European. It’s you Americans who dislike walking.”
His bag looked heavier than mine. Good.
Without a word, I took off for the gate. I dragged my suitcase along as fast as I could manage, challenging him to keep up and doing everything I could to try to lose him.
The sooner I got home, the sooner I’d be rid of him.
9
SHAWN
I was so frustrated with myself, thoughts were difficult. I wasn’t sure how to get back on track with Kara.
As I pulled alongside her, she looked like she longed for a shower and a bed. Yeah, me too. But I longed for her even more, and the feeling was powerful and intense. We needed to fuck and get it over with. Deal with our lust and dispel the sexual tension.
So far, she had followed through on her threat. I’d set a hand on her elbow while we were waiting to cross a street, and she’d jerked away. It was going to be much harder to convince her I should stay the night if I wasn’t allowed to touch.
Difficult.
Not impossible.
Dragging our luggage over damp curbs and sidewalks through the bricked streets of Maastricht was rough, but she went as if it were no trouble. Most likely to spite me, and I could hardly blame her. My typical instinct to dominate had seized control, and I’d crossed a line, and then I spent the remainder of the flight thinking about how I was going to correct this.
Kara’s apartment was an older, three-storied brick building with a large white door. It had a generic look to it, and I wondered if it was corporate housing for Incentive Systems.
“What is it you do for Incentive, specifically?”
“I’m a project manager.” I gave her a look telling her that wasn’t really an answer. She sighed. “They bring me in to diagnose problems and solve them in the most efficient way possible.”
I carried both of our bags up the few steps, through the main door, and into a narrow hallway. She uttered a polite thank you but stayed quiet as she strode to the second door on the left. It was when she fished out her keys that I abruptly realized what was about to happen.
She was going to go inside and shut the door in my face.
I’d never been rejected when seducing a woman. The floor was unstable beneath me.
“Wait,” I said, putting a hand on her doorframe. And then I set the other on the wall just outside of her hip, caging her in. I left her with no choice but to put her back against the wall and face me. I didn’t want to move aggressively on her, but I needed to regain control of the situation.
“What?” Her voice was edged with annoyance.
The words weren’t difficult to say because I meant them. “I’m sorry. Let’s talk about it inside.”
She gave me a dark look.
“Also,” I said, “you didn’t thank me.”
“Actually, I did, but thanks again for letting me use your plane so you could grope me at twenty thousand feet.”
“Anytime.” I leaned in, and she shifted away when my lips brushed hers.
“I’m pretty sure I said—”
I was only a breath away. “I haven’t touched you. Not with my hands.” I set my mouth on hers and heard the dull thump as the back of her head connected with the wall, trying to escape our kiss. It was only a few short seconds before her body betrayed her mind and she answered back.
Yes. Relief that I hadn’t lost her eased some of the tension in my chest.
I used every skill I’d cultivated over the years to convince her. There could only be one answer to the question I was going to ask momentarily. We were getting closer when she slipped a hand behind my head, her fingertips creeping into my hair. Her rule stated I couldn’t touch, but she was allowed to, apparently. Her tongue was in my mouth, and my hand against the wall balled into a fist, the knuckles pressing into the plaster since it couldn’t go elsewhere.
I couldn’t take any more when she drew my bottom lip into her mouth and bit down gently. The question was rising in my throat. I lifted my head, looking down at her and her kiss-swollen mouth—
“All you have to do,” she whispered, “is forget about the security detail and you can come inside.”