Total pages in book: 55
Estimated words: 50801 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 254(@200wpm)___ 203(@250wpm)___ 169(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 50801 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 254(@200wpm)___ 203(@250wpm)___ 169(@300wpm)
“I did,” he says, sounding somehow angrier and drunker. And I get people say stupid shit while drinking, but this…
This is beyond wrong.
“You know what, Liam?” I say, barely able to hold back the tears. “You’re the who can go fuck himself.”
I hang up the phone, shoving it in my bag as the tears come.
“Whoa,” Paxton says as he comes around the corner. “What happened?” He immediately envelops me in a hug, and I fall into the embrace effortlessly.
“He’s just an asshole,” I say, clinging to him. “I should’ve listened to you. He’s vile.”
“What did he say to you?” he asks, his tone low and cold, all that icy rage directed toward Liam, not me.
I suck in a sharp breath, wiping at my cheeks as I finally get a fucking grip. “You don’t want to know.”
Paxton shifts me in the embrace so he can look down at me. “I do,” he says. “Tell me.”
It’s the way he’s looking down at me, his eyes sincere and compassionate, and the way he’s holding me, possessive yet tender, that has all my other senses firing up. We’re pressed together and he’s hugging me like he usually does, but I’m not burying anything anymore so I feel it. I feel him, and he feels so good.
I sigh. “He basically said that I’m a prude who probably can’t even get myself off.” I cringe, mortification threatening to take away just how nice it feels to be held right now. “But it never felt right with him,” I continue.
“Damn, I thought you two had…”
“Slept together?” I shake my head. “Nope. The one time we even came close to…exploring anything, he was wasted, so I stopped it before it could go anywhere. He’s been an asshole to me ever since.”
“Fuck him,” Paxton practically growls, hugging me tighter.
“Yeah, fuck him,” I say against his chest, shaking my head. “But it stings. Maybe he’s right.”
Paxton leans back, looking down at me with nothing but confusion.
“I mean, he’s not the first guy to say that about me.” I shrug. “Every time I try to be intimate with someone, I tense up. It’s too serious. Too big of a commitment to me. Too much to trust someone with all of me, you know?”
He nods. “I know how important trust is for you.”
“Maybe I am broken. Maybe I do put off the prude, non-desirable vibe.”
“You’re fucking joking, right?” he asks, and I blink in surprise at his tone. He releases me, taking a small step back, his eyes trailing me up and down. “Tell me you don’t believe that.”
I sigh. “I don’t know,” I say. “A girl can only hear those things so many times before she starts to believe it.”
“You’re listening to the wrong people then,” he says, stepping closer again. “Because you are the most beautiful, desirable person on the planet.”
A laugh rips from my lips, loud and raw.
Then I go silent when the face he’s giving me is anything but joking.
“Wait, what?”
“You are,” he says, a sort of resigned resolution on his face.
“You…you think I’m desirable?” I can barely get the words out from how hard my heart is beating.
“I don’t think it,” he says, eyes gliding along my body again. “I know it.”
My lips part, words failing me.
“You’re not broken,” he continues, stepping closer. He leans an arm on the building that I’m braced against, caging me in on one side. “You’re perfect. And I’ll show you right here and now just how damn desirable you can be. All you have to do is say the word.”
I’m not sure I’m breathing.
Wait, yes I am. Hard. Trying like hell to keep up with my heart as I look up at Paxton.
“Show me,” I say the words, feeling altogether like a different woman, another version of myself that is open and free and not scared of what may or may not happen should we cross these lines.
Paxton’s eyes flash from my lips to my eyes again. “You trust me, right?” He inches closer, his mouth a breath away from mine.
“Yes,” I whisper, feeling like a coiled spring.
“Say it again,” he demands as he glides one hand behind my neck, tipping my head back.
“I trust you, Paxton,” I say, breathless. “Show me. I want you to show me. Please.”
His mouth slants over mine in an unrestrained kiss, and I gasp at the contact. His lips feel so damn good against mine, and I tremble at the way he parts my mouth and slips his tongue in, expertly flicking it against mine and stealing my breath.
I reach up, sliding my arms around his neck, wanting him, needing him closer.
This kiss is different. It has nothing to do with a game and there’s no one watching us. We’re outside the building, sure, but we’re around the corner and covered in shadows.
This kiss is everything.