Total pages in book: 41
Estimated words: 37824 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 189(@200wpm)___ 151(@250wpm)___ 126(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 37824 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 189(@200wpm)___ 151(@250wpm)___ 126(@300wpm)
Libby
My sister got out. I didn’t. My leg made sure of that. I’m no good to anyone—at least that’s what my father always told me. Until I met Ace. Until he saved me from my old life. He’s a hero, not just to me. To everyone. I keep thinking there’s no way he really wants me, that I’m damaged goods. But with each gentle touch, each heated look, he’s starting to convince me that maybe I’m more than I’ve been led to believe.
Ace
I started a new life, content to run a business instead of doing secret ops all over the world. At least I *was* content until I saw a blue-eyed stunner who was gone before I could so much as blink. Ever since, she’s all I’ve thought about. When I find out just who she is, I know I have to have her. My new life won’t start until she’s in it.
I'll burn the world to keep her.
*************FULL BOOK START HERE*************
1
ACE
Igo over the information my brother gave me for a second time, making sure I have everything correct and memorized. The map is where I focus a lot of my attention.
Here I thought I was going to be stuck over at the bar while I rode out the snowstorm alone. There wasn’t much to do in this town to begin with. I own the only bar in town and live above it. It's not that I can't afford a real home; I just don't need one. It would be pointless. All that empty space would likely drive me insane.
When I envision a house or a home, it usually involves a family, something I don't have. I hadn’t thought I wanted one until recently, when a blue-eyed girl came into my life as quickly as she left.
Not sure you can even count it as coming into my life. I’d only seen her in passing when she’d been in town in the back seat of a car outside of the hardware store. I was standing across the street when she turned her head, her eyes striking me. You could see the bright blue from blocks away. Then, before I had a chance to react, the car she was in began to pull away. That moment in time had changed me, making me feel emotions I hadn’t thought still existed for me.
Sometimes I wonder if I'd made it up. I even tried searching the vehicle's license plate she’d been in, but it came back to a different car that had been salvaged two years ago, which made no sense. I have since resorted to going over the feed at the end of the day of the cameras outside of the hardware store, hoping for her to return again, but there has been nothing.
I knew she wasn’t from town. I would remember her. I know everyone here. That meant she might have only been passing through, and those eyes will haunt me for the rest of my life if I’m unable to find them. So living above the bar is where I’ll be staying.
I’m not sure what I was thinking when I bought this place. All I knew was this is where my twin had wanted to retire, so if I wanted to be near him, then I would need to lay my own roots down here. Garrett and I have always been close. We might look a lot alike, but we're far from the same, and it suited us and also played in our favor when we enlisted after our mom passed.
We moved up quickly in the ranks. Garrett and I were thick as thieves on missions. We didn’t even have to be in communication to know what the other would be doing or thinking. They sent us on a shitload of missions before they moved us to the Star Team, where we spent some years before getting out.
It can be a hard life. Spending days in the freezing cold or in the middle of the desert. Shacked up in places no one would ever want to be. Once we left, we ventured into the private sector, often contracted by the government. The best part of it was we had the freedom to choose our own jobs.
I still do private work here and there, but my brother is completely out. I should be too, but what the fuck else am I going to do? I thought this bar would keep me from going stir crazy, but that’s far from the case. I thought about selling it, but then I would end up in a cabin in the middle of nowhere, outside of town like my brother. He only comes to town twice a month, and it’s because I demand it. I don’t know how he does that shit. I’ve spent enough time alone for a lifetime.