Total pages in book: 114
Estimated words: 108483 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 542(@200wpm)___ 434(@250wpm)___ 362(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 108483 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 542(@200wpm)___ 434(@250wpm)___ 362(@300wpm)
“Why?”
“Because no one else has done what you did for me. Not before you and not since. I want to see if what we had, what we should have had, is still there.”
“It’s not.”
“Liar.” Her lips part like she’s about to speak, but I don’t let her get that far. “I felt it last night. I feel it now. Since you value the truth so much, tell me you don’t.”
The muscles tense beneath her clear golden-brown skin, disrupting the fine line of her jaw. “Wallace and I—”
“Yeah, how do I get rid of him?” I ask abruptly.
“You’re asking how to get rid of my boyfriend?” Dark brows wing over the scorn in her eyes. “You don’t.”
“Do us all a favor. When he asks you to marry him, just let him down easy.”
“He hasn’t—”
“He will, and when he does, tell him no.”
“Why would I do that?”
“Because.”
“This isn’t second grade, Maxim. ‘Because’ isn’t a sound or compelling argument.”
“Because me. Better?”
“Your arrogance is truly astounding.”
“Thank you for that.”
“Not a compliment.”
“I make my own compliments. How does it feel knowing you could bring a man like me to my knees?”
“I don’t want to.”
“Oh, don’t worry. You’ll be on your knees, too. Should I tell you what you’ll be doing when you’re down there? Or do you remember?”
I lean forward a little, lower my voice.
“Do you ever think about how it felt to have my cock in your mouth, Nix?”
“Stop.” She grinds the word out, not looking at me, her fingers trembling around her teacup.
“To know that in that moment, I was completely at your mercy. That I belonged to you.”
“I don’t—”
“Because I think about you like that all the time. I want you like that again. Every night. Naked in bed and completely mine.”
“In what world could you possibly think I would belong to you?”
“In the one we make together.”
When I say it, whatever guard she had in place slips. Just for a second, and I see something in her eyes that tells me I’m not crazy. That tells me I’m not wasting my time. That tells me there’s more to her resistance than Wallace and our past and my mistakes and lies. I don’t know what’s behind that guard, but I’ll be damned if I stop pursuing her until I do.
“You did this on purpose,” she finally says. “Waited until the whole team was in place and we’d officially signed with Owen to show your hand.”
“Yes.”
“Because you think I want to win so badly I won’t back out?”
“No, because now you believe in Owen and you won’t let the inconvenient fact that I want you derail his candidacy.”
“You’re right. You’re not worth me giving up on someone who can advance my causes.” A bitter, brittle smile appears on her lips and then shatters. “But if you think you get a second chance, you don’t.”
She stands, and so do I. I don’t bother being discreet with the glance I rake over her in the bright-red dress molded to her body from shoulder to hip, tracking the curve of her thigh. Her stilettos bring her to my nose. I tease her scent out from all the others wafting through the coffeehouse. Hers is spicy, studded with sage and honey.
I want to pull her onto my lap, bury my face in the curve of her neck like I did once before. Nibble at the silky skin until she trembles against me. I’d do indecent things to her in broad daylight if I thought I could get away with it.
She moves to walk around me, and I gently grasp her elbow. The contact with her skin affects me. She’s a jolt of electricity, and my body is a live wire, struck by the power she probably doesn’t even know or care that she holds over me.
“It’s a shame you’ll set your resentment aside long enough to elect a Cade,” I say, “but can’t find it in yourself to forgive one.”
She flicks a glance from my hand on her elbow and up to me. “No, I don’t forgive you, and you can’t make me. You can’t will me to.”
“I’ve spent the last ten years getting what I want, not because I’m a Cade but because I work harder than everyone else. I keep working after everyone else has gone home. I take risks no one else even considers. I don’t give up on seemingly lost causes. When I want something, really want something, I’ll do whatever I have to until I have it.”
The strengths of her resistance and mine collide. No one looking would know this charming coffee shop is actually a battlefield and our weapons are drawn.
“I know I can’t will you to give me another chance, but remember this, Nix.” I bend my head so close my breath stirs her hair and her scent stirs my pulse. “The harder I have to work for something, the harder I take it.”