Total pages in book: 89
Estimated words: 84401 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 422(@200wpm)___ 338(@250wpm)___ 281(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 84401 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 422(@200wpm)___ 338(@250wpm)___ 281(@300wpm)
I whirled around, startled, and swatted his chest. “You scared me!” I didn’t take my hand off his chest. Why wasn’t I pulling away? He was even closer than I’d expected. One arm propped up on the kitchen island, leaning half over me. Breathing became difficult with him so close, with his manly scent, with the way his tall body made me feel delicate for once, with the way his eyes undressed me like I was actually sexy.
His face came closer. Hell, he was going to kiss me again. I knew where it had led last time we were alone in his apartment.
I quickly turned back around to the counter, and Xavier let out a chuckle against the back of my head. Even that low rumble sent a sweet shiver down my spine.
This was such a bad idea. The worst idea of a long string of bad ideas.
I should leave before I made an even bigger mistake.
I grabbed both beer bottles and used one to open the other, then handed it to Xavier before I took a spoon from the drawer and opened my beer with it.
“You are the only woman I know who can do that, and it’s fucking sexy,” he said with a strange smile. “From the moment I first saw you do that, I knew you were perfect.”
I took a swig from my bottle. “Not perfect. Deep down I’m lazy. I was tired of searching for the opener all the time and since I never had a boyfriend who could do it for me, I had to teach myself how to do it.”
Xavier watched me strangely over his bottle, then took a deep swig as well. “Why did you never have a boyfriend?”
I sighed, flushing. That wasn’t a topic I wanted to go into detail over, but at least it distracted me from more dangerous thoughts, like how much I wanted to grab Xavier by his jeans pockets and jerk him toward me. I leaned back against the counter to bring more space between Xavier and me. “As long as my sister still lived with us, boys always only saw her, not me. She was the athletic cheerleader and I was the chubby bookworm.”
Xavier made a disgusted face. “I don’t get the appeal.”
“Come on,” I said. “Fiona is your type, don’t pretend it isn’t so. I’ve seen the women you took into your bed in the last few months.”
I glanced down at myself. I wasn’t anything like them. Shoving that unpleasant thought aside, I took another gulp of my beer.
“She’s good-looking all right, but she’s annoying as fuck.”
“But you made a move on her before she was with Connor.”
Xavier grimaced. “She told you?”
I snorted. “We’re sisters. Of course she told me. I’m really glad she turned you down. That would have been too weird.”
“I’ve done weirder things.”
“Don’t remind me,” I muttered.
Xavier became serious again. “Come on, Evie. I can’t believe there weren’t any guys making a move on you. I’m sure one of them would have gladly helped you with your V-card.”
“There were a couple, but I didn’t want to do the deed just to get it over with. I wanted it to happen with someone I cared deeply about and who cared deeply about me.” My insides pulled tight. Why couldn’t I keep my stupid mouth shut? This was the second time I’d as good as admitted to Xavier that I was in love with him. I was such a stupid cow.
I downed the rest of my beer, avoiding Xavier’s gaze. Damn it. I could feel the waterworks beginning. I fought it and when that didn’t work I quickly pushed past Xavier, opening the fridge to grab another beer for myself. If I kept up the tempo, I’d be drunk before we even started the movie.
When I turned back around with the bottle, one traitorous tear slid down my cheek. Xavier brushed it away with his thumb and I wanted to die on the spot.
“Evie—”
“Don’t say something only because you feel guilty,” I interrupted him.
Anger flashed on Xavier’s face and he backed me into the counter, then supported himself to both sides of me and glared down at me. “Don’t assume you know everything about me, Evie, only because you know me better than anyone else. You are important to me and I care about you. And I fucking cared about you when I popped your cherry.”
I swallowed. “I know you better than anyone else?”
Xavier chuckled and pulled back. He took my beer, opened it with the spoon and nodded toward the living area. “Let’s watch a movie.”
“That was my beer. Give it back,” I said.
Xavier smirked. “Make me.” He took a provocative swig as he walked backwards toward the sofa. Something snapped in me, and I stormed toward him and tackled him. Tackled Xavier—The Beast—Stevens. God help me, Xavier must have fucked my brains out.