Hard Knocks (Blood, Sweat & Kisses, #2)

by Cassie Mint

“You’re thinking evil thoughts about me, princess,” my neighbor drawls, leaning against his door frame and folding his arms. “I can always tell. You get this little scrunch in your nose.”

God. I’ve got no dignity when it comes to this girl. She raises her hoity-toity nose and asks me to jump, and all I can say is: “How high?”

Fuck. The longing swells in my chest, same as it always does: a giant wave crashing through my insides, leaving splintered wreckage in its wake. She’s so goddamn beautiful.

Wild, funny stuntmen like Dawson Reynolds don’t go for bookish prudes like me, and that’s just a fact. I lived through high school, you know? I understand how this works.

“It’s not that I didn’t want to touch you,” Dawson says, each word bitten out like it pains him. “It’s the opposite problem. I wanted it too much. I thought that grabbing each other like that… being pressed together… I might lose my head.”

“Is that—how will you breathe?” I tap my throat. “Secret gills. Come on, Lara, smother me to death. You know you’ve always wanted to.”

“This, Lara, is the best thing I’ve ever felt. You know what you’ve done, letting me feel this? You know how much I’m gonna hound you now, begging for another taste? Another feel? Another chance at heaven?”

Dawson beams, rocking his head back and forth, his eyes falling closed like he’s in pure bliss. “Stop it, Lara. Stop promising me the world. I can’t fucking take it.”