Total pages in book: 149
Estimated words: 142050 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 710(@200wpm)___ 568(@250wpm)___ 474(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 142050 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 710(@200wpm)___ 568(@250wpm)___ 474(@300wpm)
“Ass?” he said as he turned around, his expression confused.
“I’m sorry?” Except then she did a two plus two on things. Had she really said that out loud? “Ass-tounding, I mean.”
“That I’ve been here for a year?” He raised a brow. “You’re a woman with a deep appreciation for the calendar, then.”
No, it was ass-tounding that she was allowed out of the house without a minder. Because clearly, she was insane. And also, this wasn’t her, this was not something she did, going to a male’s—a man’s—place alone, because…
Well, she wanted to have sex with the guy.
“Can we start over?” She unwrapped her scarf and took off the puffy jacket. Then glanced around for somewhere to put her things. “I was commenting on how neat everything was, and you were apologizing for things being not much.”
His eyes grew hooded. “And then I hung the jacket up… and you looked at my ass. Did it pass inspection?”
“Oh, my God.” She put her heated face in her hands. “Have I mentioned I’m terrible at this?”
The chuckle that came back at her was a low rumble. “I’m just giving you a hard time. And don’t feel bad. I suck at… whatever this is, too.”
“And yes, your ass is spectacular,” she muttered.
Now he laughed, good and properly, and she drank the sight of him in as the man arched back on his solid hips, his muscular legs flexing in their second-skin running tights, the hard cut of his chin raised.
So his throat was exposed.
The tingling in her fangs was sudden and strong, and as a blast of heat went through her body, the hunger to bite and suck and have him inside her was nearly overwhelming—
He righted his head. And then stilled as their eyes met.
Over day, she had been able to remember his face, but now that she was staring at it again in person? His rugged features and his dark hair and his arching brows were hitting her anew.
“Sorry,” she said as she walked—anywhere.
Oh, look. A window with a blackout drape. Annnnnnnd here was another one. The apartment was a standard studio, with a galley kitchen running down one wall, and a door on the far side of the bed that had to be the bathroom. The furnishings probably came with the place, she decided, as he didn’t seem like a man who would bother to think about decor, and yet everything matched, was neither too big nor too small, and worked off a pale pinewood and white accent vibe.
“Lyric.” When she stopped and turned back to him, he shook his head. “Don’t apologize for the way you just stared at me. Ever.”
“You don’t know what I’m thinking,” she said in a low voice.
“I don’t care. I want that. Whatever it is.”
Her fangs throbbed as they descended in the dental equivalent of a round of applause, and as she measured the span of his chest, the power in his legs, and the thick bulges of his biceps, she imagined herself stretched out on top of him, feeding from his vein.
She was pretty sure he could defend himself against her if she lost control and bit him.
But not completely sure.
And oh, yeah, the news flash that vampires were alive and well in Caldwell would be one hell of an icebreaker.
“You know, maybe I shouldn’t have come after all,” she whispered.
He shook his head again on his way over to her. When they were nearly chest to breast, she had to tilt her head to keep meeting his eyes, and she was relieved by how much bigger than her he was—and that he worked construction as a job, so none of it was fat.
There had to be a good chance he’d be able to keep her from killing him—
Guilt over everything she wasn’t talking about made her take a step back. “I’m sorry.”
“Whatever it is, you’re forgiven.”
“Are you always so reckless?” She tacked on, “Running into the street to arm-wrestle a billboard… being here alone with me.”
She expected some kind of he-man put-down at that, but only got a raised brow. And then his shrug was offhand, even as the statement that followed was not: “I’m not afraid of anything or anyone.”
So much confidence, and going by the size of him, she could well imagine he hadn’t yet met anybody he couldn’t beat.
Yet.
In the silence that followed, he took her parka and scarf and laid them out on top of the dresser.
“Now, about the food.” He went over to his shallow countertop where a tray with many bowls had been set. “My neighbor is determined to put me on a bulking diet.”
Lyric glanced at the door that led out into the hall and told herself to turn it into an exit. Except she didn’t really want to leave. She’d said she wanted to do something important.