Total pages in book: 23
Estimated words: 21386 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 107(@200wpm)___ 86(@250wpm)___ 71(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 21386 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 107(@200wpm)___ 86(@250wpm)___ 71(@300wpm)
“Okay, I’m ready.”
I chuckled, my cock stirring. “You should probably wear some too, princess.”
Everly grinned, her cheeks red as she sauntered over to me and leaned out to kiss me.
“Do I have to?”
I growled.
“Princess, as far as I’m concerned, you can sit naked in that seat next to me the whole fucking drive to California.”
She giggled, kissing me hungrily before she dove into her bag and yanked out some shorts and a t-shirt.
“You know, just in case.” She winked as she slipped them on. I yanked my pants up, loosely tugging on my dress shirt.
“What about your stuff?”
I smiled. “Already in the car when I left my apartment this morning.”
“Would you have gone without me?” She bit her lip. “I mean, if I hadn’t have come in, or if I’d have said no—”
“I’d have taken you anyways then,” I groaned. “I’d have thrown you over my shoulder, tossed you into my car and stolen you away anyways.”
“That a promise?”
“Always,” I growled as I leaned in to kiss her slowly. “That everything?”
Everly turned and glanced around her room. She picked up her bag, and then slipped her other hand into mine.
“Now it is,” she said quietly.
“Time to go find our new lives, princess,” I whispered, making her squeal as I scooped her and the bag up in my arms, chuckling as I tossed her over my shoulder and headed downstairs.
Minutes later, we were roaring away from the life that’d tried to make us things we weren’t, and keep us from being together. The miles drove on, and as my hand slid across the seats to entwine with hers, I knew there’ be nothing but sunshine in our future.
Sunshine, freedom, love
And lots of letters…
Epilogue
Everly
Water teases over my feet, and I look up from my paperback to realize the tide has come in much more than I thought. I smile, letting the late afternoon sun warm my skin as it starts to set over the gorgeous big Pacific Ocean. My toes curl in the sand, and I breathe in the fresh air and sunshine.
Suddenly, hands grab me from behind, and I shriek as my heart jumps into my throat before I hear that chuckle behind me
“You dick!” I gasp, shaking my head at Channing — in just a perfectly fitting black bathing suit — as he plops down on the sand behind me. He grins that insanely gorgeous smile at me, sending a throb of heat into my core that takes my breath away. I try and slap at his chest for scaring me, but he just chuckles and wraps his arms around me, pulling me tight against him.
“Someone lose track of time?”
I nod. “Yeah. It’s a really good book.”
“Learning anything good?”
“Yeah, actually.”
“Well, I hear the Kama Sutra is full of—”
He laughs as I wriggle around and tackle him, tickling him for teasing me before our lips find each other’s, and we sink into a kiss there on the beach blanket.
“It’s Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, you big doofus,” I mutter, hefting my paperback.
Channing just grins at me. He does that a lot these days — smiling. More than he used to back on the east coast. It’s the sun out here, or the weather maybe. Or maybe it’s just that out here, we’re ourselves, and we can be free and happy, as us.
When we left a year ago, we got out of the mess back home just in time. We’d both known my dad’s firm was pulling shady stuff, but when the District Attorney started poking around, all kinds of skeletons fell out of the closet. Embezzlement, fraud, money laundering — they even hit him and the other partners with conspiracy charges for the close ties the firm had with mafia elements.
So, yeah, us leaving when we did was perfect timing. My dad’s trial starts soon, but honestly, I’m not following it. I guess it’s sad in a way, us not being close and there being no real family love there. But my family died with my mother, and I went without for years until I met Channing.
Catherine floated on, filing for divorce from Ken less than a month after he was charged. So much for stand by your man, I guess. So, technically, Channing and I aren’t step-siblings anymore, not that we’d give a single shit if that were still the case. After all, who really cares?
Out here in California, Channing started immediately at the firm that’d been courting him. He started as junior partner, and as of two months ago, he’s moved to senior partner. I’m about to start my sophomore year at the small college I got into. And at first I thought it was pretty damn convenient that my school and Channing’s job were so close, until I looked into his eyes and saw the truth.
Random chance? Yeah, right. He’d planned the whole thing, with the only variable being if I’d say yes or not.