The Real Deal_A Novel by Lauren Blakely

Author:Lauren Blakely [Blakely, Lauren]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Amazon: B0763T1396
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
Published: 2018-07-10T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty

Theo

I want to tell her the truth. A truth. Something. Anything. This fakery is eating me up. I don’t want to be like her lying ex, but I don’t want to get screwed over either.

“What? What is it?” April asks again.

Nerves prickle up my skin as I consider answering her. Telling her I’m into her. Telling her about my parents. Telling her what I did for a living years ago. I part my lips to speak because I want her to know me. Harboring secrets is too hard. They weigh you down. But as soon as I opened up to Richelle, she was done with me. No more boyfriend, and no more work. The jobs ended instantly.

I don’t want to lose this gig.

I need this gig.

But I don’t want to lose the chance to let April know that kiss was real.

I’m torn in two.

Make that three, because I also want to kiss her again. She’s candy and sex appeal, and a little something different. She’s left of center; she’s right of center. She’s not like anyone I’ve ever met. “I don’t know what I was going to say. Kissing you fries my brain,” I say, dodging the questions as I lean on humor.

She laughs softly, and that sound hums down my spine. How the hell is this possible? Her laughter turns me on. I dip my head to her neck. “Mmm. You taste like sunshine.”

She murmurs.

“And oranges.”

She sighs.

“And everything I shouldn’t be attracted to,” I say roughly. There it is. The admission that we’re not a thing. We’re a client and a contractor.

“I know,” she whispers, her tone wistful. “But you’re a great actor.”

“So are you.” And because I can’t resist her, I press a kiss to her soft lips for one, two, three seconds. I inhale her. “Just because.”

“That was a ‘just because’ kiss?” she asks with a lift of her eyebrow as we break apart.

“We do that a lot, don’t we?” I ask, and though we’re playing our game again, this moment feels more honest than anything with her so far. I’ve spent so much time pretending, playing, tricking, and right now, I want to ride close to the truth.

“We are the king and queen of ‘just because’ kisses,” she says, and damn, if that doesn’t make me want her more. We are like Mad Libs, filling in words to make the other laugh, to turn each other on.

I dust my lips along her jaw, to her ear. I nip her earlobe and murmur “Just because.” She moans, looping her arms around my neck. I should stop. But as she melts in my arms and I tangle my tongue with hers, stopping seems impossible. Instead, I kiss her deeper. I slide my hand through her hair, and I steal yet another kiss. Then one more. She is soft, and she tastes fantastic, and I want to strip off her clothes and kiss her everywhere. Explore her body, lick her skin, taste the hollow of her throat.

I want to watch her back arch.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.