Total pages in book: 113
Estimated words: 107660 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 538(@200wpm)___ 431(@250wpm)___ 359(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 107660 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 538(@200wpm)___ 431(@250wpm)___ 359(@300wpm)
She rolled her eyes with a heady sigh. “Fiiiiine. I guess.”
Finished with her exaggerated dramatics, she giggled and delivered a smile that almost knocked me off the doorframe. I’d seen smirks, evil smiles, smiles of retribution, smiles of relief, and many more. But I couldn’t remember ever seeing a smile like that. A smile that wrinkled her nose. A smile that lifted her eyes with her cheeks. A smile that consumed her face.
A smile like she liked me.
I mentally recoiled from the thought that left me sounding like a teenage girl desperate for attention. What the hell was wrong with me?
Standing upright, I shook off the odd sensation and pushed to end the moment, done with my curiosity. “So, any ideas?”
“Have you ever had Raíces?”
“Can’t say that I have.”
“Nnnng,” she groaned, and I almost reconsidered my decision to not order her to kneel. “They have some of my favorite food. The pollo asado and mofongo are so good.”
“Then I’ll order from there while you get settled.”
I told her to send me what she wanted and got the hell out before I changed my mind, or any more random feelings emerged.
CHAPTER 27
LUCIAN
If I thought the moan she made earlier had me questioning my decisions, it was nothing compared to listening to the sounds she made while enjoying each bite.
“God, this is so good.”
I clutched my bottle of beer tighter, focusing on the cool drop of liquid between my fingers rather than the thoughts of tossing the food aside and ravaging her on the kitchen island.
“This is the only place I’ve found that’s anywhere near my mom’s cooking, and she claimed it was the closest she’d had to her mom’s cooking in Puerto Rico,” she explained, stabbing another fried plantain from the container. She hadn’t even finished her main dish, but it was the fourth piece of dessert she snuck between bites of her dinner.
“Well, thank you for introducing it to me. We’ll have to order it again because this chicken and rice is amazing, and I’m going to need to work my way through the menu to try it all. I’ve never had authentic Puerto Rican food, but you’ve made me a convert.”
“Then you’re in luck because I’ve been known to cook a dish or two. Also, my dad’s cook is Puerto Rican, and she always sends me extras. I might be convinced to share…maybe.”
She said everything around a mouthful of food that she pushed aside to her cheek and smiled. It probably should have looked unattractive and turned me off, yet that was the furthest thing from what was happening.
She’d come down in the same shirt but switched to a pair of sweatpants that hung loosely around the plump curve of her ass. Between the casual outfit, talking with her mouth full, and her slouched posture on the barstool, I was forced to readjust myself to hide my growing erection. All of it blended into a more relaxed version of Aspen I didn’t know existed.
A version far different than the put-together woman who mostly ate salads with delicate bites at the office.
A version I imagined many people didn’t get to see.
But I did.
And that fact inflated my chest with warmth.
I liked that she appeared comfortable enough to release the tight grip she held on herself, always in control of how she appeared to others.
Part of me wondered if this was another controlled version that she’d crafted for me, but after the past couple of months together and how she ceded control more and more easily each time we were together, I had to believe that this wasn’t a curated act—this was her. The real her.
And it was sexy as hell.
“It’s a good thing I can be very convincing.”
She cocked her head and pursed her lips. “Can you?” she asked playfully, going for another plantain.
I stabbed my fork into it before she could and enjoyed her dropped jaw as I slowly brought the bite to my smirking lips. “I think we both know I can, but I’m happy to remind you.”
My pulse thundered through my veins to my cock when her eyes turned heavy, and her tongue slid across her lips. When her teeth dug into the plump flesh, I was ready to snap. I was ready to give into my earlier desire and force her to her knees. I parted my lips for the command when the shrill ringing of her phone slashed through the tension.
She blinked, and the heat from our sexual banter slid away. It vanished completely when she looked to her phone. Her brow furrowed and jaw clenched.
I followed her gaze to find Dad flashing on the screen before she hit ignore. “If you need to talk to your father, then don’t let our dinner stop you.”
She sighed and pushed the device further down the counter behind her, as if she couldn’t see it, then she wouldn’t have to think about it. “Thank you, but I’ve actually been dodging his calls all week. So, me ignoring it has nothing to do with timing and everything to do with avoiding talking to him all together.”