More on this book
Community
Kindle Notes & Highlights
For all the women who’ve been told they should smile more. Fuck that noise. Frown all you want.
“Let me take you on a date, and we’ll call it a deal. I’ll fire Patrick,” I call out—only half joking. It’s her turn to laugh now. It filters back toward me, melodic and amused. “No chance, Stefan. You’d fall in love with me, and then I definitely couldn’t be your vet.”
Life isn’t fair,
“Hey, no worries. It was kind of fun. It also never fails to kill any inkling I might feel about wanting to have a baby.” I snort. “Seriously, Mira. Something that big coming out of something that small is terrifying.” “Vaginas are very elastic. You’d bounce back.”
“You’re really going to make that running joke part of this deal?” His lips tip up. “That’s rich coming from the woman who brought me a coffee, spent hours helping me, and tried to hit me with her best damsel-in-distress face to get what she wants.”
I am a smart girl who is about to do something very stupid.
Arent we all
“Whatever you say,” he replies smoothly. “I just can’t fall in love with you, right?” I chuckle as I twist the doorknob to leave. “Oh, Stefan. I think you already are.”
“Eyes up here, Dr. Thorne,” he coos with a knowing smile. I like this more playful version of Stefan Dalca. Not the uptight, almost too-smooth version of him everyone sees down at the track. I decide to roll with it. “Why?” “Because you might fall in love with me if you stare for too long.”
She’s an equation I’d love to solve. Or maybe the broken little boy in me just wants her to treat me the way she does a horse. With love. I shake my head at myself as I turn to follow her. The thought of her softening up for me is the ultimate carrot she could dangle. I want nothing more than to watch her melt.
But then, I’ve got three dates to make her want my hands on her body.
Hi. We’re on our way. Can you throw me a bone and just stay away for a bit? He texts me back almost instantly. Stefan Maybe if you beg. Ha. That’ll be the day. Mira You’d like that, wouldn’t you? Stefan Absolutely. Perv.
“Trust me, Dr. Thorne, if I had you up against a wall, you’d be the meal.”
“You look like you were shooting a professor themed porno or something.” I wink at her. “Maybe I was.”
“No, you’ll just be filming porn.”
“People see that strength and try to tear her down. I think some people—men in particular—thrive off that. She’s young now and has me to make them regret that type of behavior. But in a few years, she won’t need my help at all.” I smirk into the glass as I take a drink, letting the flavour of cherries and menthol pour across my tongue. “She reminds me a bit of you.”
I shouldn’t be looking, but I’m defiant. It’s a character flaw. When someone tells me not to do something, it makes me want to do it more. I’m Eve picking the apple just to see what happens. Want me to settle down and have babies? I think I’ll throw myself into my education and my job. Want me to hate Stefan Dalca? I think I’ll start fantasizing about him instead.
Pale eyebrows knit together suspiciously. “All good?” she asks. I pull out the carton of eggs I hid in my coat and smile at her with all my teeth. The perfect distraction. “Yup. Did I mention I’m well acquainted with where Principal Cooper lives?”
“Mmhmm. It seems they have some questions for me. Someone egged Principal Cooper’s car last night. Of course, we were all at my house having dinner. So, I just need to clarify that for them. May I put you down as a witness?”
“Hey, Mira?” he calls out right as I reach for the door handle. “Yeah?” I toss back into the echoey barn, continuing my forward motion. “You owe me a carton of eggs.” Well, shit.
“She’ll be fine,” she says with another gentle squeeze of my hand. “Us womenfolk are smarter and stronger than you all give us credit for.”
This is a good sign. My heart hammers when she turns that pleased expression down on me. And suddenly, I wonder what it would be like for her to gaze at me like that from between her thighs. I wonder how low her voice would go then—how my name would sound on her lips while she comes on mine.
“I’m in a long-term relationship with Mr. Purple.” My brow crinkles. “That’s a weird last name.” “He’s battery powered and made of silicone. I think it would be weird if I brought him home to meet my parents.”
“I’ll be better company than a dildo. I promise.” She shakes her head again and swipes her kit off the ground. “Doubtful,” is her reply as she walks away. I can’t help but appreciate the way her cargo pants hug the round globes of her ass. The things I’d do to that ass. “Bet I can make you come harder too.” She laughs, a girlish laugh. Not her usual throaty husk. “I’d like to see you try.” Challenge accepted.
“Good. Because I want to make myself abundantly clear.” We’re so close. I can feel the entire length of his body covering mine. He teases me with the lightest brush of his lips against my ear as he drops his voice and holds me captive. “You are not the pawn, Mira. You are the prize.”
My hand snakes out, fingers clamping around the back of his neck, hard enough I hope it hurts. “That’s Doctor Thorne. And it’s time for you to leave. Now.” My fingers pulse, and I feel him tense.
He’s a modern man who took my mother’s last name when they got married.
“Listen to me, Mira. Your father looked at me like that, too. And guess what? The sex was sensational. It still is. A marriage is hard work, but great sex makes it easier.”
To throw him off, I turn and whisper, “Because I can fuck myself better with Mr. Purple than any man ever has.”
“Challenge accepted. But I’m not going to fuck you until you’re begging for it.”
The good news for Mira is that if she wants a man who is happy for her to go on having her own life and goals and ideas—I’m that guy. I couldn’t care less if she wants to sit at the opposite end of the table. I saw how she’s been looking at me all night. I’m pretty sure that where she wants to be sitting is on my cock.
“You need to think about having babies at some point. You won’t experience that fulfillment until you have one for yourself.” Mira’s eyes narrow and her mouth opens, but I cut her off. The part of me that has failed at protecting the women in my life up until this point rears its ugly head. “You know what’s wild?” I announce to the entire table. “I’ve answered a lot of questions tonight. And it’s been an absolute pleasure meeting every one of you. But not a single person has inquired about my family planning agenda or implied that I might be close to my expiration date on becoming a father.”
“I find it fascinating that no one has ever asked me that as a man, but somehow it’s polite dinner conversation for a young woman with lofty career goals and an enviable level of focus.”
“The next person to make that woman cry will wish they hadn’t.” I push my chair back calmly and turn to Nana. “Thank you for the beautiful meal. I look forward to meeting you again.” Then I turn to Mr. and Mrs. Thorne. “Thank you so much for hosting me in your home. I had a lovely time.”
“He was mostly a pet. But he was mine. He was my best friend. My heart horse. My reprieve from my life. I could spend all day out in a field with that horse, pretending I was anyone in the world. A knight, a traveler—the options were endless so long as I didn’t have to be a boy stuck in a violent home. On the bad nights, I curled up and slept on the floor of his stall in the small barn we had. When Constantin sold him to teach me a lesson… well, the only lesson I learned was that when a heart breaks, the pain never stops.”
“Just before she died, she told me my biological father used to be the bartender in Ruby Creek.”
He projects his voice across the driveway before I can hide in the safety of my truck. “Guess I’ll be waiting for you to kiss me then.”
Something between us just shifted. I just can’t tell for the life of me what it is or what it means. All I know is that I wanted his hand on my leg to keep going. I wanted his lips on my skin.
I don’t want to tame her; I just want a front-row seat to watch her win the race.
Mira steps up to the bar when the people ahead of us get their drinks. “I’ll have a beer in a champagne flute.” The bartender, his brow knitting together, looks at her like she has two heads. Her head tilts. “Did I stutter?”
Mira moves beside me, her face calm and her head tilted at him like she’s sizing him up and finds him entirely lacking. Condescension drips off her in waves. “Did you know that I can castrate a pig just as easily as a horse, Patrick? Even a little one like you.”
“Yes, oh. But I do rather enjoy your jealous side. Do you think I’ve been asking you to let me take you on a date for the past several months just so I could pursue another woman after finally tasting your lips? Did you think I’d give up that easily?”
“Absolutely nothing about the way I feel for you is a joke. And I’ll keep telling you that until you believe me.”
My finger slides over the crest of her shoulder, and I feel her warm breath against my jaw as she tips her chin to follow. She’s watching my every move, her eyes locked onto my finger. “It’s a shame I’m not allowed to kiss you anymore. Because you look positively edible right now, Mira.”
Nothing about this feels fake. Our bodies. Our minds. Our hearts. Absolutely everything about being with Mira feels like one of the most real things I’ve ever had in my life. And I won’t let her slip between my fingers now. I’m going to make her come on them instead. I pull away to nip at the lobe of her ear, and she whimpers in protest. “Do you remember what I said I was going to do to you if I had you up against a wall, Dr. Thorne?” “What?” Her voice is pure lust, almost slurred. “I told you that you’d be the meal.”
“What do you say, Mira? Are you going to give me a taste? Would you like that?”
My chin falls to my chest just as his second knee hits the ground. “Right here?” He presses a firm kiss to my stomach before dragging his teeth across my hip bone. “I think I’ve waited long enough, don’t you?”
Stefan Dalca is kneeling before me, hands on my thighs, still looking so proud and polished—but just a bit undone. He yearns for me. I see it in his eyes. He does nothing to conceal his longing. And that feeling must be contagious. Or maybe seeing this man on his knees for me twice in one night is just too much to take.
“You owe me a pair of panties.” “I’ll buy you an entire shipping container of them if it means I get to keep ripping them off of you.”
“Mira.” Stefan’s hushed voice is gravelly as his lips move against my hair. “If you don’t watch that hand, I’m going to pull you onto my lap and fuck you right here in this car.”
“Is that your idea of begging, Dr. Thorne? Why would I sign up to be your dirty little secret?” My tongue darts out over my lips. “You won’t be.”
