Twist My Heart by Brooke Taylor (ebook audio reader .txt) 📕

time he’d seen those pink fingernails as she’d frantically pumped gas. That girl he’d wanted to blaze through one night with, this one he desperately wanted all the time in the world with.

Discipline your fucking emotions, Steele.

He lowered her hand from her face. “You’re right.”

Her swollen lower lip quivered in disappointment as she nodded.

He stepped in even closer and brushed his fingertips along her hairline, tracing down to her jaw. “I don’t want to date a girl like you. I want to date you, Thea.”

Her knees softened as she pushed out her held breath. He was quick to catch her against him. The corners of his mouth tugged up. “Careful, you’re going to spill your wine before you’ve even tried it.”

“Oh, right, the romantic wine,” she said with a nervous giggle. Bringing the cup to her lips, she took a cautious sip and smiled.

He caught his own buzz watching as she turned the tentative taste into a full, long drink, exactly as she had with their first kiss. God, he needed another one.

“Cheers,” he whispered as he leaned in and suckled the trace of red glistening on her lips. He knew better than to linger too long. A quick taste before he lost all senses again.

She ducked her head with a confused laugh. “Cheers? Aren’t we supposed to clink glasses?”

“We don’t have glasses and it would’ve been bad luck for me to toast without taking my own drink,” he explained before pouring himself an official one. “Or maybe I couldn’t stop myself from tasting you again.”

A pink flush flared on her cheeks. Despite whatever had happened in her previous life, this—wine, kissing, romance—was all as new to her as the feeling of snow had been. He’d do his best not to fuck it up. But shit, romance was a foreign language to him as well.

He held a hand out, helping her balance as she lowered herself to sit on the sleeping bag. Following suit, he knelt before the pizza box. “Okay. You’re not going to find many pizzas as good as this again. I’m probably ruining all pizza for you because of it. Sorry. Not sorry. I present to you the Hell’s Kitchen.” He lifted up the lid. “Twenty-six inches of pizza nirvana. It is divided in quarters—basic cheese, white garlic, Greek, which is also vegetarian, and the Godfather, which is Sicilian meats and peppers. You can try them all.”

“Did you have them make this special?”

Fearing her adoring thank you smile might disappear, he reluctantly admitted, “Not exactly. It does serve the purpose of letting you try different flavors out, but this is how it comes. When I have the guys in town we always order a few.”

She reached out for the basic cheese one first, as he grabbed a Sicilian. Titan drooled from the sidelines.

“Oh…my…God. Why do people even eat anything else?” she asked after wolfing her first bite down. Titan shamed her out of the last bit of crust with big puppy eyes. “Well, I mean French fries, and bacon, and sweet rolls… I can understand those.”

“I’ve created a monster.” Nik laughed as he tossed the beast a bigger bite as a goodwill offering. “Maybe we should plan for more whole grains and veggies tomorrow?”

“Maybe you and your abs and your ego can live off whole grains and veggies, but this girl’s gonna need pizza and sweet rolls for long-term sustainability.”

More than the delicious pizza, he found himself captivated by her passion as she tried another slice. He wished he had cupcakes, so he could watch her eyes light up tasting one. Though nothing would ever compare to the way they’d fired up tasting him for the first time.

She might’ve been engaged before, but she was also a blank slate. Anything and everything between them would be a first for her.

New for him as well. No other woman had ever affected Nik like Thea. Her kiss burned on his lips longer than it should’ve and when it faded, feeling her again was all he could think of.

Truthfully, it freaked him out.

Hell, he hadn’t been anyone’s first kiss since grade school. He hadn’t been anyone’s first anything else after. He’d always gravitated toward sexually confident girls, even back in his teens. Thea was different, though. At twenty-five and engaged she’d more than likely had sexual experiences. Yet, everything had been mentally and emotionally reset, at least for the moment. And in this moment, the idea of anyone else introducing her to so much as a cupcake didn’t sit well in his stomach.

He poured Thea a refill, but didn’t indulge in his own. One drink with a meal was all he allowed himself if he was driving. He maneuvered to his knees as he lobbed Titan a whole slice of cheese pizza and some leftover crusts, then shifted his concealed carry from appendix to his right hip before sitting back into the rock ledge.

He directed Thea’s gaze from the city lights below to the impressive night sky above. The fields of constellations visible from the mountains were shocking to anyone who’d never been out of a city, but for Thea it was also the first time she’d ever knowingly witnessed a night sky. She inhaled sharply as she took the magnitude of the entire universe in for the first time.

Her hand reached out for him. Only once her fingers locked with his did she exhale. It took a little longer before she spoke. “How did I not notice them last night?”

“You were busy trying to figure out how many fingers I was holding up before you threatened to shoot me one of yours.”

She hid her face with her free hand. “I’m sorry I was so rude. You were saving my life. You didn’t deserve it.”

“Maybe I should’ve had you count stars instead.”

“Were they this impressive?”

“I don’t know, it was pretty dusty and I was distracted…looking into your eyes.”

“I doubt my eyes compare to this.”

“No, they don’t compare at all. Yours are far more beautiful.” Even though he was being deathly