Total pages in book: 146
Estimated words: 141951 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 710(@200wpm)___ 568(@250wpm)___ 473(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 141951 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 710(@200wpm)___ 568(@250wpm)___ 473(@300wpm)
And look where it got her.
“You’re lucky I like you,” Delaney mused under her breath.
Next to her in the car, where he sat in the driver’s seat manning the sporty Lexus, her date laughed a rumble of a sound that did wicked things to her insides. Maybe she simply heard every glorious note in his amusement and it stuck all of her chords in the right way.
Then again, it could be the liquor. That third glass had certainly been a risk, and while she left a couple of mouthfuls in the bottom of the glass, the wine had already hit her veins before she’d put her lips to the rim.
To be fair, Delaney didn’t get drunk.
Wasn’t drunk.
Just buzzed a bit. Enough to feel it and the heat the alcohol left swimming in her bloodstream. Nothing more and nothing less. She got enough of getting blackout drunk in her teenage years, and even had one emergency room visit to pump her stomach under her proverbial belt as the proof.
She learned her limit.
Long ago.
A couple of beers.
A half a bottle of wine …
She felt the car roll to a slow stop, and heard the gears shift as Lucas put the vehicle into park.
“Are we here?” Delaney asked immediately, already reaching up to remove the blindfold.
Lucas laughed again, and his hand left her thigh to catch hers before she could pull the scarf away from her face. “Yes, but wait.”
“For what?”
She really should work on her patience. Thinner than a string of sewing thread, it could snap at any moment.
That strong hand of his found her thigh again.
And squeezed.
“Was that true?” he asked.
Delaney blinked behind the scarf, searching her flubbing brain for the answer to his question. She blamed the blank slate of her mind on the fact that his hand had yet to let go of her thigh, and if anything, she’d become hyper aware of each of his fingertips digging in.
Deliciously.
“Was what true?” she eventually asked.
“You like me.”
She grinned despite biting her lower lip to try to suppress the reaction. Another fail on her part. “I think I said you’re lucky that I like you, right?”
Totally different things.
Not really.
She honestly expected another quick quip from Lucas—he always seemed to have one at the ready for her smart comments, after all. Instead, his silence reigned louder.
Longer.
All she heard were his soft breaths.
The shift of him in the driver’s seat, causing his hand to shift slightly on her thigh while his fingers skirted a millimeter higher under her dress. She didn’t even know if he meant to do that, nor did she intend to ask, but she couldn’t stop the subtle way her crossed legs tightened. The only proof that she would like for his hand to keep traveling.
Delaney needed to find her control.
Soon.
The longer Lucas remained silent, the more Delaney had to fight the urge to pull down the makeshift blindfold. She put all of that nervous energy into fidgeting with her fingers in her lap until he cleared his throat in the seat next to hers.
“Delaney.”
“Hmm?”
“Delaney,” Lucas repeated, lower the second time.
Oh, she reveled in the huskiness she heard in his voice, and dared to daydream what it might sound like breathed in her ear while they tangled underneath bedsheets. A dangerous game for her to play.
“Yes?”
“I feel like you need to know I think it should be illegal how cute you look sitting there blindfolded and biting your lip.”
“Cute?” she questioned with a chirpy laugh.
“I wasn’t sure if you wanted me to use another word.”
“I mean, other than the taste comment earlier, you have been a gentleman.”
Opening doors. Pulling out her chair. Even helping her in and out of her coat at the beginning and end of their dinner. He never pushed her boundaries more than holding her hand at the restaurant, and she had been the one to place his hand where it currently sat while they drove. She appreciated his effort to be respectful and appropriate.
She also wanted him to cross a line.
Not far.
Just enough …
“But?” Lucas questioned.
“Is there another word you might choose?”
Lucas’ next breath came out hard, but relieved. “Sexy. Sexy is the other word. The only word, let’s be honest here. And I’ve done this to myself by putting you in this position, but it’s a tease to me. You sitting there like that is killing me. Like a gift waiting for me to unwrap. I’d really just like to kiss you, but I didn’t ask, and I don’t want to assume—”
Her mouth decided to work before her brain did.
“So kiss me,” she whispered, smiling again.
Thank God her mouth heard her heart talking in her chest before it ever listened for her brain; those galloping beats of the organ screamed far louder than any rational thought coming out of her head, anyway. Even when it got her into trouble. This was not one of those times.