Total pages in book: 27
Estimated words: 24614 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 123(@200wpm)___ 98(@250wpm)___ 82(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 24614 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 123(@200wpm)___ 98(@250wpm)___ 82(@300wpm)
"Tell her that I'll call her tomorrow. We'll discuss it," I mumble, not even remotely prepared to think about this right now. It's way too much.
Everly just shrugs in response. "I'll babysit Rufus. Don't do anything I wouldn't do!" she shouts as she walks away.
I groan, hiding my face in my hands.
Kingston just chuckles beside me, pulling me up against his side. "Come on, princess. You've had enough for the night."
Of my family? Absolutely. Of him? Never.
I'm not sure why I expect him to live in a fancy mansion in a gated community, but he doesn't. He lives in a gorgeous three-bedroom beach house in Malibu. There are no gates, no security guards, nothing but sand and water stretching for miles. I know it probably cost him as much as a mansion in the Hills or Calabasas, but I like this better. It feels more like a family home than something he bought to impress everyone around him.
"I always wanted to live on the ocean," he murmurs, his hand trailing along my spine as he leads me inside. "When we visited when I was a kid, I thought the ocean was magic."
"I always thought the same thing," I murmur, turning to look up at him, only to find his eyes already locked on my face. The way he's looking at me makes me shiver. It's not like he's waiting for my reaction or like he expects me to be impressed. He's watching me like he just can't help himself again.
I could easily get addicted to that. So freaking easily.
"The first thing I did when I landed was drive out to Venice and put my feet in the water," I whisper, smiling at the memory. "We did it every time we visited with my parents. I had to do it again, just to carry on the tradition. It felt a little like bringing my whole family with me."
"Christ," he rasps. "You're so fucking cute, Evie." His hands span my waist, pulling me up against his body. "I just want to listen to you talk until you lose your voice, you know that?"
"Really?" I grin at him. "I'm not that interesting."
"The hell you aren't." His nose skims the side of my face, his grip on me tightening. "You're the most fascinating thing I've ever seen. You know, you looked like a goddess on that stage tonight? You were glowing."
"Performing makes me happy."
He lifts me like I'm weightless, setting me on the back of the couch. His lips run down the side of my throat as he steps between my legs, pulling me close. "I could spend my life watching you up there and not regret a second of it."
I moan because he's kissing me, because his hands are on me, because I can tell he means it. "You're a dangerous man, Kingston Monroe."
"How so?"
"You're making it impossible not to fall for you," I whisper, my heart in my throat. The words are terrifying—literally the most terrifying thing I've ever said. I think they may be the most important, too.
"Good," he growls, his fingers digging into my hips hard enough to make me moan again. "I want you to fall, Evie. I want you so wild for me that you can't imagine a future without me in it." His teeth graze my skin, his groan wild. "I want you so fucking in love with me, you can't see past me."
I don't tell him I want the same thing. Somehow, I think he already knows. Somehow, I think he's known since the moment we met that this was inevitable. I was always supposed to be right here, with his hands on my body and his teeth in my skin. I was always supposed to be dizzy from the way he tells me every thought in his head and holds nothing in reserve. I was always supposed to fall.
It's terrifying and exhilarating.
"Don't break my heart," I whisper, the tiniest of pleas.
He tips my head back, his wild eyes locked with mine. The softness there wrecks me like nothing ever has. "Break it? Oh, princess," he breathes. "I'm going to hold it so tight no one else ever even has a chance of taking even a tiny piece of it from me."
"Kiss me."
His hand cradles the back of my head, tilting it up to meet his mouth. He sinks into me like he's got all night, brushing his lips across mine in soft passes before he sinks deeper.
I melt beneath him, my hands all twisted up in his shirt. One slips beneath, my palm landing against his abdomen. His skin is electric against mine, his body so hard my mind can't even comprehend the work it takes to look like he does.
"Damn," he breathes against my lips, his fingers hooking into the sides of my shirt. "I need to see you, princess."