Total pages in book: 21
Estimated words: 19525 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 98(@200wpm)___ 78(@250wpm)___ 65(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 19525 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 98(@200wpm)___ 78(@250wpm)___ 65(@300wpm)
“I’m sorry he upset you,” I tell her.
“No.” She shakes her head, causing her hair to swing in the most adorable way. “He was bad, but I was already upset. I…I lost my job today.”
Anger pours through me. Who could fire her? Whatever happened, it definitely wasn’t her fault. I already want to find whoever is responsible and punish them.
“I’m sorry, Mari. What happened?”
Her sigh goes right through me. Who could cause such a sweet thing like her such distress? She looks like a frightened little bird just looking for a safe place to land, and if that’s what she needs, goddamn it, I’m ready to provide it for her.
“It’s a long story,” she says, her voice pained. “But let’s just say Pete wasn’t the first guy to come on to me tonight, and the other one cost me my job.”
“I see…” It’s no surprise. Men are pigs and a vision of beauty like Mari will attract the scoundrels. But the thought of someone else with his hands on her has me seeing red and hot anger blazing through me. Christ, I’ve never been so possessive before—never felt anything remotely like this in my life. No other man on Earth could pleasure her like I can. They wouldn’t know what to do with her, how to treat her, worship her, protect her. I’m already dying to ease her pain and show her what real pleasure is. But she’s been so shaken up tonight that I don’t know if I can…
I notice she has yet to wipe the tears from her cheeks, and I reach into my pocket for my handkerchief.
“May I?” I ask.
Out of pure reflex, Mari reaches a hand for her face but stops herself when she realizes what I’m offering. She looks at me for a moment, and I begin to lose myself in her eyes, those beautiful eyes that I’ve seen from afar but now seem to hypnotize me from up close.
Then she nods.
“Okay…”
My cock pulses beneath my jeans as I lean closer and gently dab the moisture from her face. The contrast between my cracked, callused hands and her smooth, soft skin is striking. I instantly start imagining the skin on the rest of her body…how she’d feel naked and laid out beneath me as I had my way with her. My dick is begging for a taste, and I’m dying to give him what he wants.
“There we go,” I say softly, returning my handkerchief to my pocket. I’ll never wash it again. “Forget about Pete. Forget about that other guy too. Everything will be all right.”
Mari laughs a single, painful laugh and shakes her head. “No. No, it won’t be. My life is over. I lost my job. Now I have no way of paying for my apartment. I barely have any savings, I have no family, and—”
I can’t take it any longer.
After all these weeks of watching her, after being this close to her, smelling her scent, touching her and staring her into her eyes, I simply cannot hold back.
I’ve wanted her for so long, and right now my masculine urges simply take over.
I lean in and I kiss her.
3
Mari
As Cane’s lips meet mine, something in my reality changes.
All of the negative emotion flowing through me—anger, panic, anxiety…they all dull and become nothing more than background noise. It’s instantaneous, like magic, and completely unexpected.
I never would have thought that after the day I’d just had, a man’s kiss would have been what I needed.
But then again, Cane is not just any man…
This is the man who’s had his eyes on me for weeks—the man who has taken over my thoughts in ways I never thought possible. The man I knew would finally come over and talk to me today…
I thought it would be when I was on my way to work, but as it turns out, I had to wait until I was on my way home for him to make his move.
Better late than never, I guess.
His hand moves to my waist, and I can hardly even remember what I was so upset about. I lose myself in his touch as his ravenous mouth presses against mine.
My first kiss…
I don’t even know what to do, how to kiss him back or what to do with my body or hands. Thankfully, Cane takes the lead.
He leans me back on the seat and pins me down beneath his body, letting me feel the full weight of his hefty frame. His muscles are firm and strong beneath his clothes, and as he grinds against me, I feel something very hard press against my lower stomach.
Is that? It can’t be!
I may be a virgin, but I’ve taken sex-ed, and I know that men get hard when they’re aroused, but it feels to me like Cane has a softball packed into his jeans as he leans down on me.