Total pages in book: 52
Estimated words: 51744 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 259(@200wpm)___ 207(@250wpm)___ 172(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 51744 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 259(@200wpm)___ 207(@250wpm)___ 172(@300wpm)
He was, for many years.
And now he’s not. He’s alive. Alive and big and strong and gorgeous and the amazing kisser he always was. It was… God. At first, I was surprised. But I shouldn’t have been. Chance was always a little dominant, a little possessive, and he liked to kiss me, to touch me, to show me I belonged to him whenever we were together.
I loved it, the feeling of knowing I was his.
The recent kiss? The same. I felt like he was claiming me all over again. Hot and fierce. Demanding. Chance takes, but also gives. I crave—
“Avery…”
I practically fan myself remembering, which makes me cranky, because I shouldn’t like what he did. I shouldn’t want more. Need more.
“Just get the hair. Do it now, and make some excuse to go out and overnight it to me. There’s still time for me to get it by morning.”
“I’ll try. But sweetheart, I need to talk to you about something. When you have some time.”
“Is it urgent?”
A moment passes. Then, “No.”
I’m too focused on this case, on Chance, on getting the hell away from those kisses to hear anything else right now. “Then it has to wait. Get the hair, and then please take care of my son until I’m home.”
10
CHANCE
* * *
I should forget Avery. Just push her out of my mind and move on with my life. That has never worked. Not one fucking time in all these years. Now, she mentioned a letter.
A letter.
I can’t get past it because I have no idea what she’s talking about. I toss. Turn. Stare at the ceiling. Get up for the usual chores and make coffee.
Miles and Austin shuffle into the kitchen and grab mugs to fill with caffeine.
I stare as the coffee maker drips, drips, drips…
That’s it. Right there. I can’t take another second of not knowing. Of having Avery in town and not being near her. I need answers. I need them now.
I turn, cut across the kitchen. “You two are on your own this morning.”
“Where the hell are you going?” Austin calls.
“To get the truth.” I snag my hat off the hook by the mudroom.
The answer doesn’t satisfy them and they keep at it, but I ignore everything they ask and head to my truck in the garage.
I drive into town, having no real memory of doing so, and pull up in front of the motel on the south side of town. It’s the only one in Bayfield, so it’s easy to know where Avery’s staying.
It’s early, just after six. The sun’s up, but low in the sky. It’s going to be a warm day. A pretty one. I don’t give a shit about any of it except talking to Avery about this letter.
Fortunately, because Bayfield is small, I know the motel owner and have the room number out of her in thirty seconds. The woman’s old enough to remember Avery and I were a thing in high school and that she hasn’t been back since. Maybe she hopes for a reconciliation as much as I do.
Whatever, it doesn’t matter.
I knock on room 102. Again.
The door slides open, the chain barring my entry to a sleepy and rumpled Avery.
“Let me in.” While I have zero patience left at this point, I keep my voice soft. Gentle. The last thing I want to do is scare her or kick the door in. I don’t want to hurt my chances of getting to the woman who has been mine since we were kids.
“What… What are you doing here?” She clears her throat.
Good. She can’t escape the conversation we’re going to have.
“Let me in, kitten.”
Her eyes flare. “We don’t have anything to talk about.”
“I want to know about the letter, and I’m not doing it through a door.”
She looks down and I finally do as well. She’s in a sleep shirt and nothing else. While the hem of it comes to mid-thigh, longer than some dresses women wear these days, the look makes my dick twitch. She’s got to be warm and soft from sleep and I wonder if she’s wearing panties because she sure as hell isn’t wearing a bra. Those little nipples I used to love to suck are hard and pointy beneath the thin cotton.
She glances around, as if she can see around me to the rest of the parking lot, and then sighs and closes the door enough to undo the chain.
She opens the door and steps back. I enter, and pitch black engulfs us when she closes the door behind me. I know we’re closed in together. Her scent is heavy in the small room and one small whiff brings back every memory I have of us.
With a snick, the bedside lamp comes on. I turn to Avery, and her hand is on the switch on the wall.