Total pages in book: 113
Estimated words: 110113 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 551(@200wpm)___ 440(@250wpm)___ 367(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 110113 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 551(@200wpm)___ 440(@250wpm)___ 367(@300wpm)
“The cockiest for sure.” I roll my eyes.
Ava just smiles as she shakes his hand. “Nice to meet you, Duke. I see the resemblance.”
“Ava, the pleasure’s all mine. Your shirt looks much better. Did my brother get the stain—”
“Don’t look at her shirt.” I curl my free hand into a fist, Mom’s admonishment passing through my head. Don’t punch your brother. You know how he bites.
“Jesus, since when do you growl?” Duke has a shit-eating grin on his face. “I thought that was Cash’s signature move.”
I stare him down. He stares back. Why can’t he take the hint? He needs to get gone, now.
Ava watches us, still smiling. “Tell me something, Duke.”
He tilts his head, lending her his ear. “Yes, ma’am?”
“Can you vouch for your brother?” Her eyes glint with mischief as they meet mine. “I’m a little worried he’s a serial killer.”
Duke grins. “Well, now that you mention it, he does exhibit some suspicious behavior—”
“Not funny.” I’m growling again.
“Oh, come on, Sawyer, you couldn’t be a serial killer if you tried. You’re more of an overgrown puppy. Like a basset hound with big, floppy ears and those droopy eyes.”
Ava smiles. “I see it.”
“Really?” I tease. “Ouch.”
“A very cute basset hound puppy,” she corrects. “Better than a murderer, right?”
I laugh, curling an arm around her waist. “Guess so.”
I don’t miss the way Ava leans into me, running her hand up my chest. Just the boost of confidence I need.
She’s feeling me. Same way I’m feeling her. Excitement blooms in my chest at the increasingly likely prospect of getting this girl naked. Hits me just how much I need the release.
Just how much I want her. The kind of want that makes my stomach hurt in the best way.
“Basset hounds are kinda slobbery, though.” Duke curls his lip.
“So are the drunk guys at this bar.” I give him a death stare.
Chuckling, he glances over his shoulder. “I best get back out there. Ava, it was a pleasure meeting you. I assure you there are no killers in our family that I’m aware of, aside from the lady-killer variety—”
“Not. Funny.”
My brother holds up his hands. “Fine, fine. I’ll get out of y’all’s hair.”
“He’s a character,” Ava says as we watch him disappear onto the dance floor.
“That’s one word for it.” I run a hand over my face. “Would you like another Shiner, or—”
I’m interrupted by the lead singer, telling us their set is over. The crowd claps and whistles, and a beat later Waylon Jennings starts playing through the speakers above our heads.
“That’s a bummer. They were really good.” Ava drums her fingers against my chest. “What do we do now?”
My heartbeat marches in my ears. It’s the perfect moment to ask her to get out of here. We’ve been dancing for hours. Neither of us is wrecked. I’m so turned on that I could scream.
I’ll be crushed if she says no. But goddamn it, what if she says yes?
“We could go somewhere else?” I look down at her. “Try another spot—”
“Okay.”
My pulse riots. Okay.
Ava just said okay.
“Any spot in particular you have in mind?” she asks.
The bed in my hotel suite.
I shrug, like my dick isn’t causing me serious grief right now. “I have an idea or two.”
“I like those ideas.”
“You don’t know what they are.”
“I think I do.” The frank lust in her eyes sends my pulse into a tailspin.
“You sure?”
She digs her teeth into her bottom lip. “Yeah, cowboy, I’m sure. But hold on.” She digs her phone out of her purse and holds it up to take a selfie. “I’m going to send your picture to my sisters. You chop me into little pieces, you bet they’re gonna come find your ass. Smile.”
I slide a hand into the back pocket of her jeans. “How could I not after that little speech?”
Snaking her free arm between us, she mimics the motion, dipping her fingertips into the back pocket of my Levi’s. She looks up at the screen. “Wow, we’re cute.”
“We’re hot as fuck.” I give her ass a squeeze. “Now take the picture so I can take you home.”
“Home is …”
“The Market Hotel.”
“Fancy.”
“Yep.”
Her eyes sparkle. I smile at the screen, and so does she. The camera clicks. She texts the photo to her sisters.
Then I grab Ava’s hand and lead her out of the bar.
CHAPTER 4
Ava
A Party: Or, Two Bottles of Champagne, Some Condoms, and a Pack of Parliaments
I don’t even pretend to want to go anywhere but Sawyer’s hotel room.
So much for having fun with my girls. That idea went out the window somewhere around the time this man showed me just how well he could dance. He’s so unself-conscious, always ready with a laugh or an encouraging smile.
As for Sawyer, he doesn’t pretend to slow down. Instead, he twines our fingers as we stalk out into the night, nudging me toward the inside of the sidewalk and away from the street.