“If I didn’t feel the exact same way, I’d be real offended right now.” I smile over the top of my glass.
Drake’s eyes glitter with laughter. “You know, it occurs to me that I still owe you a do-over of the first date.”
“Are you still gonna insist on that? Really? Don’t you think we’re past that now that we’re officially doing the dating thing?”
“You only call it dating to appease Nonna,” he points out, a wry smile on his lips. “But no. So, now that this case is done, we’re going to do a real date. Hopefully out of town.”
Of course. With the return of the mayor is the return of Jessica.
Ugh. I almost forgot about her, too.
I cast my eyes toward my plate and swirl a piece of pasta around my plate. This will never be easy. I knew that. I know that. We’ll always be antagonistic and a completely crazy kind of match. Except I’m kind of convinced that maybe it could work, even if we do have to solve cases together.
Except I’m more than a little worried about her.
“Nope.” Drake gets up, his chair scraping across the floor. He takes my fork from me then clasps my hands and pulls me up.
My lips part as my front comes flush with his and he wraps a firm arm around my waist, holding me against him.
“You aren’t doing this. We aren’t doing this,” he says quietly but certainly. His eyes are so bright and compelling that I can’t look away even though my chest is tight. “She’s my ex for a reason, Noelle. Actually, several reasons.”
I smile and rest my hands on his waist. “I know. But she’s obnoxious and pushy and—”
“So she’s an uglier you.”
“Um.” I lean back and raise an eyebrow. “I’ll have you know that I have a special brand of bitch, and I own its copyright. Take that back before I kick you.”
He laughs and tightens his arms around me. “She’s an uglier wannabe you,” he corrects himself. “How’s that?”
“It’ll do, I suppose.”
“Right.” He leans his face in toward mine and our noses brush. “Again, she’s my ex. She’s only here now to get under my skin and convince me that breaking up with her all of those years ago was a mistake because she’s realized what she’s lost.”
“Whoa now, Detective. You need to be able to walk out of my front door. You know that, right? Keep singing your own praises like that and your ego is gonna get stuck right here in this kitchen.”
“I’m pretty sure you’re incapable of shutting up, especially when you get uncomfortable.”
“And I’m pretty sure you have that exactly right,” I confirm, grinning. Or trying to. Because I am uncomfortable. A little.
Okay, a lot.
Drake covers my mouth with his hand. “Problem solved. Now—”
I interrupt him by licking his palm. “You were saying?” I ask with an innocent smirk after he removes it.
He clicks his tongue against the roof of his mouth. “I was saying,” he continues, wiping his palm—the one I just licked—down my cheek.
“Ew!” I squeal, batting him away from me and swiping at my cheek. “That’s vile!”
He answers by laughing and grabbing me back. “Now, for the love for God, shut the fuck up a minute so I can finish what I’ve been trying to say for five minutes!”
“Oh my God, okay,” I groan, making it extra dramatic.
He opens his mouth,then stops. “I don’t even remember what I was saying.”
“All of that for nothing,” I sigh, extracting myself from his arms and reaching for my wine glass.
He grabs me from behind, his arms pinning mine to my sides, and I squeal again when he squeezes me tight, rubbing his jaw across mine. It makes me squirm, but equally, the roughness is kind of hot even though he’s only playing.
“I was saying that you shouldn’t give her another damn thought, because she’ll never be half the woman you are. And I need a real kind of woman. And let’s face it, sweetheart. There isn’t another guy in this town who could handle your special kind of pain in the fucking ass.”
I’d be so offended by that if it weren’t true.
“Uh, okay,” I mumble as he replaces his stubble with his lips.
They brush across the top of my neck, and I bend my arms up so my fingers curl around his forearms.
“I think I can take that kind of explanation. Even if you did just call me a pain in the fucking ass.”
He smiles against my skin. “But you’re my pain in the ass, and that makes a huge difference.”
I tilt my face toward him. “Yeah. I guess it kinda does.”
Then he spins meand kisses me fully, and somehow, everything makes sense.
At least, for today.
Until early September…
Read other books by Emma Hart
By day, New York Times and USA Today bestselling New Adult author Emma Hart dons a cape and calls herself Super Mum to two beautiful little monsters. By night, she drops the cape, pours a glass of whatever she fancies - usually wine - and writes books.
Emma is working on Top Secret projects she will share with her followers and fans at every available opportunity. Naturally, all Top Secret projects involve a dashingly hot guy who likes to forget to wear a shirt, a sprinkling (or several) of hold-onto-your-panties hot scenes, and a whole lotta love.
She likes to be busy - unless busy involves doing the dishes, but that seems to be when all the ideas come to life.
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TANGLED BOND (Holly Woods Files, #2)
Copyright 2015 by Emma Hart
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Table of Contents
Title Page
Books by Emma Hart
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
About the Author
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