Total pages in book: 86
Estimated words: 81375 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 407(@200wpm)___ 326(@250wpm)___ 271(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 81375 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 407(@200wpm)___ 326(@250wpm)___ 271(@300wpm)
And that his green eyes are gorgeous when rimmed in black.
I’m more than a little surprised. Surprise and I don’t get along all that well, despite all evidence pointing in the other direction. All I can do is stare without blinking. At least his attention lands on my face and not on my nipples, which happen to be buzzing like an electric current has just been plugged straight into them. Car battery and clamps, meet my ovaries, meet my nipples.
His look is more than edgy and far more than handsome. It’s downright dangerous to my panties. It’s a whole lot of holy fugget hotness.
“Why are you dressed like a punk rocker?” I choke past my extremely dry throat. I very nonchalantly step into the kitchen and set the paper bag down on the counter.
“I don’t have any occasion to dress up anymore. I thought it would be fun.” He eyes what I just set down. “You brought a paper bag. Is it for me?”
My heart hitches, but I roll my eyes and pretend all his pain doesn’t edge up on me and threaten to break me. Sure, I don’t even really know him, but that’s what happens when you’re a sensitive person, which I am. When I’m not getting caught up in schemes.
“I brought cherries and rhubarb.” Then, I pull the surprise out of the bag. “And a jar of random jewelry from a thrift store.” The cherries and rhubarb were from the local market, and the jewelry was just a pure chance score this morning when I drove past the little shop after making my purchases for the pie.
He grins that scowl grin of his, and it hits me so hard that I have to grab the edge of the table. “I’m sure I can find something quite nice in there to augment my outfit.”
“It’s not for you! It’s for the crows!” I exclaim.
He blinks. “You want me to put that out for them?”
“They like shiny things, don’t they?”
“Them and the magpies. I’m sure they’ll appreciate your gifts.”
I smile. “Can you send me pictures when you do? I’d really like to see that.”
“Pictures?” he snorts. “Come around any day and we’ll watch them receive your offerings together.”
Whoa. That was so casual and so… tentative all at once. Adam’s warning echoes in my head.
I’m staying at a tiny little cabin I booked online. It’s still exorbitantly expensive, even though it was the cheapest thing I could find that was relatively close by. I have it booked for a week, but I might be able to extend it to two. My mom hates that I’m here. She actually hates all of this. I caught her chewing out my dad when I confessed I was going to New York. She’s probably still mad, even if she gets why he asked me to do this. He might have begged me to go, but I know he’s also worried about me being here.
I know we should just bake a pie, and I should come clean. Anything more seems like it’ll be signing us both up for a world of nasty… and not the fun, kinky kind.
I can’t look Luca in the eye when I respond. I pretend to be busy inspecting the fruit as I take it out of the bag. “Yeah, sure. Just let me know when and I’ll come by.”
He slides off the counter and turns down the volume on the turntable, which has two giant speakers on either side of it. The turntable seems to be a permanent fixture in the kitchen. I try very hard not to imagine him in here every day, cooking alone and eating alone like a tortured artist or poet. The image isn’t even real because he has Adam and his parents.
I look up at exactly the wrong moment. He’s bent over the turntable, inspecting something, and those pants are tight. They pretty much broadcast his rock-hard ass. It’s the BEST ASS I’ve ever seen, in all screaming caps.
The new plan is not to thirst-trap a man who was working with your dad before you were even born. Your dad’s could-have-been best friend and the man he wanted to make his protégé and even a partner in his bakery one day.
He spins around and catches me ogling his ass.
Yes.
It really happens.
If I look away now, I’ll just appear even more guilty, so I cross my arms and lean my hip casually against the countertop like maybe I was just eying up his extremely nice turntable.
“I think my vibe matches yours,” he says.
For a second, I have no idea what he’s talking about. Madly, my brain scrambles, going straight to some place that involves Luca’s hands on my body, his shirt getting torn away, and just those suspenders on over his gorgeous pecs and rock-hard abs.
“Oh. The makeup.” That’s right. I came in full, heavy makeup again, along with a long black skirt, black blouse, and black flats so I could be on my feet for more than a few minutes without dying.