Total pages in book: 58
Estimated words: 53466 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 267(@200wpm)___ 214(@250wpm)___ 178(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 53466 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 267(@200wpm)___ 214(@250wpm)___ 178(@300wpm)
It is that sweet woman I can’t jerk around anymore, giving her mixed signals about what I want from her. Because I know damn well what I desire. The question is whether or not I can have it … and still let her go when the job comes to an end and she takes off for a bigger, brighter life.
* * *
Summer
After everything that happened at Echo Nightclub, I can’t sleep. I still can’t quite process that the threat against me is real. Sure, I have Ben living here, and that should be enough for me to take things seriously, but not until I saw the warning in lipstick was I scared.
But Ben said he won’t let anyone near me, and I believe him. His words and fierce protectiveness make me breathe more easily. Besides, I’m not about to let anyone stand in the way of my dreams finally coming true. I can’t imagine what I will do if this opportunity slips through my fingers and goes to Tawny. For the first time, I’ll have to take a good look at my life and decide what kind of realistic career I want to have. Voice-overs are lucrative for now, but can I count on them long term? Do I need to consider returning to college?
I shudder and refuse to dwell on it, because having to do so means I’ve failed. And I don’t think that way. Ever. I never have. From the time I was a little girl, all I wanted to do was perform. And I will succeed doing it, no matter what whoever wants me gone from the competition thinks. I am not dropping out.
And I have Ben to look out for me, which brings me to the next reason I can’t sleep. Our sensual dance heightened my awareness of the man, and I have no doubt in the moment he felt the same way. It was only when he had time to think that he pulled away.
Which means I can’t give him that time.
I rub my hands together and pace my room, debating doing what my body is begging me to do—walk into the other room and seduce Ben. On his own, he’ll never come to me, and we aren’t alone except in my apartment. If I don’t take advantage now, I am wasting precious time to be with him. Time that will be ticking down if I do win the competition and go off on a world tour. Time I could be spending with him.
I don’t own a negligee, but I have something much better and more enticing, I hope. I have my body.
I look down at my oversized tee shirt, gather my courage, and walk out of her room.
* * *
Ben
I roll over, jarred from sleep by a warm presence in my bed. A soft hand slides over my chest and down my stomach, inching lower, toward my now erect dick.
“What are you doing?” I ask Summer in a gruff voice filled with sexual need.
“Going after what I want,” she murmurs. “And I want you.”
I groan, wondering how I am supposed to resist her. She smells like flower-scented body wash, a fragrant reminder of our shared erotic past. Times when I’d slide deep inside her slick channel and lose myself to her in our short but intense affair. One that ended badly.
As that wayward hand strokes ever closer to my aching cock, I try to remind myself that I don’t want to repeat past mistakes like my father did, and that this woman makes me do stupid things. Like get involved with a contestant and violate my security contract.
And now she is the client of a firm I really like working for. Although there are no contractual rules to violate, there is the moral notion of not having sex with a woman I am protecting.
“This is not a good idea,” I say to remind her as much as myself that we are dangerous together.
“Says you. I say, stop thinking so hard.” As she speaks, she slips her hand into my boxer briefs and wraps her fingers around my aching shaft.
I let out a low groan, the pleasure incredible and actively short-circuiting my brain cells. All the reasons to keep my distance flee in the wake of her tempting touch. If she keeps this up, I’ll come in her hand, and that isn’t something I am willing to let happen.
Acknowledging she’s won this round, I push myself up and flip her onto her back, coming over her, my hands braced on either side of her shoulders. Her dark hair fans out against the white pillow, and I meet her gaze, taking in her dilated pupils and the stark need in her expression.
No man could resist her pull. “Fuck it,” I say and lower my mouth to hers, slicking my tongue over her lips, taking in everything that is Summer.