Total pages in book: 129
Estimated words: 132097 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 660(@200wpm)___ 528(@250wpm)___ 440(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 132097 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 660(@200wpm)___ 528(@250wpm)___ 440(@300wpm)
The last decade of my life could’ve been very different.
“Why did you leave Maine again? Was it your parents? I mean, being here, I can see why you’d want to get away from New York. But I get why Portland wasn’t far enough.” She looks at me, questions swirling in her eyes.
Fuck.
“Margot never knew you were thinking about the military until you joined up,” she adds. “You just up and left.”
Dammit, I did.
If there’s one thing I don’t want right now, it’s falling down that rabbit hole, the self-inflicted hell I endured—let alone how much of it was my fault.
Especially not when Hattie looks insanely gorgeous tonight with her blonde hair falling in supple waves over one shoulder, and that halter-neck dress showing smooth skin, inviting my mouth.
That dress hugs her, showing her tits in sharp relief as she takes a deep breath.
I know I shouldn’t keep staring at her like this.
I know, but I don’t stop.
This can’t end well, no matter how good it’s going today.
She looks damnably alluring in the evening light, her eyes glinting like jade, and I don’t realize I’ve taken a step toward her until she catches her breath.
“Ethan,” she whispers. “Why did you leave?”
I don’t answer.
I’m too busy looking at her mouth, another mistake.
Delectable, lush lips with a permanent pout that’s asking for my teeth.
She has a mouth made for fantasies made of pure filth.
When I slide one hand around her neck, tilting her head back gently, she doesn’t move.
Her lips part as she draws another breath.
“It was a mistake, Hattie. I have a terrible habit of making them,” I whisper.
Then I kiss her with the force of my entire soul.
9
ALL THE APOLOGIES (HATTIE)
He’s. Kissing. Me.
Ethan Blackthorn is flipping kissing me!
And not just any kiss.
His mouth is volcanic, hot and demanding and greedy.
My toes never had a chance.
They curl up like caterpillars in the sand, trying to keep me tethered to the ground before this man flings me into the heavens.
In Regency books, the heroines always have weak knees when the brash rake or the noble prince finally breaks down and claims what’s his.
After reading a few dozen books like that, I sometimes scoffed and skipped past the all-consuming first kiss.
Not one kiss in my life has ever made me airborne.
Until now.
Until I taste pure sorcery.
Until Ethan shatters the laws of gravity.
With one rough hand in my hair, cupping my neck, he urges me closer.
His other hand slides to my waist. Although he’s not after anything else, I know he could take it so easily.
A shiver rips through me.
This is my first time kissing a man this tall, too. The way he looms over me, his body practically surrounding mine, makes me dizzy.
There’s a delightful power imbalance here.
If he wanted, he could do almost anything.
But he doesn’t, of course.
Ethan isn’t totally senseless, and this is a public beach.
No matter what we’re feeling in the moment, we’re not so drunk that he’s about to throw common sense to the wind.
But the thought is there, and it leaves me breathless.
Along with a sharp pulse between my legs I haven’t felt in ages, especially with kissing.
But this isn’t just kissing.
This is a ruthless conquest.
My nipples peak, my skin flushes, and before I know it, I’m wrapping my arms around his neck, holding on for dear life.
Chest to chest.
Heart to heart.
Breath to breath.
Ethan groans, shifting his hand to the small of my back with a hunger that’s insane. I had no idea it was such an erotic place until now, and I’m pressed flush against him.
I can feel a bulge I’m almost certain might be—
Oh my God, is it?
I’m very, very lucky his arms are snug around me, holding me up.
Otherwise, I’d have fallen and face-planted in the sand.
Ethan, you madman, what have you done?
He pulls back like he’s asking himself the same question, freeing his hand from my hair to steady my waist as I stumble slightly.
Cool air floods the space between us.
Reality bleeds back in.
The upside-down life where I just kissed Ethan Blackthorn.
Oh, boy.
On my list of no-good horrendous ideas, this is top tier brainless material. Gold medal imbecile stuff.
He’s breathing so raggedly, though, and—
Do not look down.
Do not.
I swear, if I get one glimpse of the enormous package he’s sporting, if I even acknowledge it’s there, I’ll go down in a fiery blaze, mortified forever.
Yes, he kissed me first, so it’s not like there’s a reason I should be feeling so embarrassed.
But something warm and liquid churns in my belly and I don’t want to think about it.
“Good practice,” he says after a torn second.
“Huh? What practice?” I shake my head, trying to get my senses back. “Oh. Because we’re dating, you mean? Fake dating. Fake engaged. Fake—whatever!”
I’m so flustered I’m rambling, sweat coating my palms like sticky syrup.
“We need to kiss sometimes, Pages,” he says flatly. “To make it more believable.”