Total pages in book: 50
Estimated words: 51243 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 256(@200wpm)___ 205(@250wpm)___ 171(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 51243 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 256(@200wpm)___ 205(@250wpm)___ 171(@300wpm)
“Well, I can’t wait to tear your essay about you and Stacey’s relationship apart next week. Brace yourself.”
“Stacey and I aren’t together anymore.”
“Good for her,” I said. “She can do a lot better.”
“Is that so?”
“I didn’t stutter.” I glared at him. “Your loss.”
“I thought you said she was unstable and not my type.”
“I was projecting your issues onto her.” I couldn’t believe he wasn’t apologizing. “Try not to make the next girl half as miserable, and you might last longer than usual.”
“Since you’re giving out tips, maybe learn how to fuck and the next guy won’t feel compelled to cheat on you.”
“Excuse me?”
“Do you need me to repeat it?” He stepped closer. “I can happily do that for you.”
“My sex life is none of your business.”
“You have to actually have sex to have a sex life, Audrey.” He looked directly into my eyes. “I bet you wanted the guy to wait for months and hope he’d forget all about it and just focus on writing with you.”
“Spoken like someone who thinks his dick is the magical cure for orgasms.” I could feel the anger radiating off him. “Spoiler alert: there’s a reason why none of the women you’ve been with ever come crawling back. They were just using you for your money; they could give better foreplay and strokes to themselves.”
“I’m shocked those words are even in your vocabulary, Audrey.”
“I’m equally impressed that you know words with more than two syllables.”
I tried to push my way past him, but he gripped my hips, holding me still.
“I’m not done talking to you.”
“I don’t want to hear anything else you have to say.” My chest heaved up and down. “You are literally the last person I would ever take relationship advice from, and you ripped my essay apart because you’re a goddamn hater and you can’t accept that there’s one person who is far better at writing than you ever will be.”
“You can believe that if you want.”
“I do.” I tried to move away again, but he pushed me against the wall. Then he placed his hands on the wall above my head, caging me in.
“Just apologize for what you said about the breakup with Stacey being my loss, and we can move on.”
“What?” I nearly choked on a laugh. “Why do you even care what I think about that?”
“I don’t, but we agreed to be cordial,” he said. “That was disrespectful as fuck, and I don’t appreciate it.”
“Truth hurts, Taylor. Let me go.”
“No.” He leaned closer, voice dropping. The veins in his forearms stood out like wire. “Since you want to discuss ‘truth,’ let’s talk about the fact that you’re attracted to me and you wish I would fuck you so you could finally know what it really feels like.”
“I’m not a virgin, Taylor.”
“You might as well be.”
“Let me go.”
“Tell me you really mean that, and I will.”
I should’ve walked. Instead, I held his stare.
He leaned in closer, his chest brushing mine, breath hot against my lips.
“Tell me you don’t want this,” he said, low and certain, his eyes daring me to move.
I opened my mouth to say it, to tell him I didn’t, but nothing came out.
He didn’t wait. His mouth found mine in a rush—hard and possessive—the kind of kiss that stole the air from my lungs and replaced it with his.
His hand slid to my jaw, then down my neck, fingers tightening just enough to make me feel the weight of him everywhere.
My palms hit his chest, meant to push him away, but they stayed there instead, clutching the fabric of his shirt like I couldn’t decide whether to fight him or pull him closer.
The kiss deepened, a hot blur of anger and want, until I caught my breath and shoved him back just enough to break it.
For a second, neither of us moved. His forehead brushed mine, both of us breathing hard, the air between us electric.
“That was out of line,” I managed.
“You started it.”
“Keep telling yourself that.”
I slipped away from him before he could say anything else, heart hammering, lips hot, the taste of cinnamon lingering like a dare.
TRACK 21. HOAX (0:13)
TAYLOR
What the fuck was that?
TRACK 22. SWEET NOTHING (4:29)
AUDREY
The taste of Taylor’s mouth lingered on my lips as my new favorite flavor.
Though I refused to admit it.
I tried thinking of other guys and the way they’d kissed me, but it was useless. Every memory paled in comparison. From now on, there’d be no need to revisit them for a muse in my writing again.
Pulling out my classroom binder, I decided to distract myself by checking on my students one by one.
I started with Emma and called.
“Hey, Miss Parker!” she answered on the first ring. “What’s up?”
“I was just calling to see if you were on track with your big ten-page paper,” I said. “I really want our team to beat Mr. Wolff’s team, so—”