Total pages in book: 57
Estimated words: 70630 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 353(@200wpm)___ 283(@250wpm)___ 235(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 70630 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 353(@200wpm)___ 283(@250wpm)___ 235(@300wpm)
Nico being one of them.
I never made dinner.
Chapter 1
Jingle Bells, Twilight smells, Edward ran away. Jacob cries, Bella dies, Harry Potter all the way. Hey!
-T-shirt
Nico
Eight years later
“Nikki, I can’t talk right now. I’m swamped,” I said as I continued filling out my paperwork.
“She’s back!” My sister crowed loudly into the phone.
“Who’s back?” I asked distractedly.
“Georgia Brianne!” My sister yelled.
That was enough to make everything freeze, even my blood.
“What?” I asked for clarification.
“You heard me, big brother. She’s here. I saw the farm’s gates unlocked when I walked past it this morning on my morning walk. You know how curious I get, so I had to walk up there and see,” Nikki explained.
My keys were in my hand and I was walking out of the bull pen moments later without actively thinking about it.
On the drive to her house, I thought about that night. The night I’d gone to her house to find it burned to the ground.
The two youngest of Georgia’s siblings, as well as both of her parents, perished in the fire.
It’d been a murder suicide.
Her father had tied each child up, as well as his wife. Colt, Remy, Jasper, Hansen, and Georgia had all been shot by their father, but lived.
Rain and Dell, the babies of the group, hadn’t lived from their gunshot wounds, dying within minutes of being shot.
Georgia’s mother was burned alive, their father having doused her in gasoline and set her on fire to initially start the blaze.
It’d been while their father had set the fire that Georgia was able to get free, and their father had shot himself while Georgia untied her siblings.
The five remaining Valentine children had disappeared the next morning, and it wasn’t until a year later that I was able to find Georgia again.
They’d moved to Houston.
All but Georgia had been taken into state custody. Georgia had followed her brothers, taking any job she could get to help support herself.
The family that’d taken in the brothers was a good one. A rarity.
They’d taken in Georgia, too. Or would’ve if she’d have let them.
I pulled up to the gate that led up to the Valentine farm, stopping at the bottom to walk up the long driveway.
She’d get spooked if she saw the KPD squad car and I didn’t want to freak her out.
The farm looked much the same as it used to. The last couple of years it’d spent abandoned; yet, now, the pastures were mowed, and there were a couple cows mulling about on either side of the drive.
Almost like the last eight years had never happened.
The large, charred farm house was gone, though.
I’d seen to that.
There was nothing left but the bare bones. I’d gotten a pleading letter from Georgia around a year after the incident, asking me to ‘take care of the house’ and then a letter from an attorney giving me the right to do so under the law.
Since that time, I kept the property directly around the homestead free of weeds and overgrowth, keeping it ready…just in case.
Although there was only a barn left, there was a huge loft that they used to rent out in the summer to an extra ranch hand. That was probably where she was staying.
I spotted her the moment I topped the hill.
She was wearing jeans. Skin tight jeans that made my heart skip a beat.
She looked exactly like I remembered her.
Long legs that went on forever, small dainty hands. She was around five eight, and had a killer ass. Her hair was the only thing different.
It used to be long and brown, down to her waist.
It was the same beautiful brown color on top, yet now there was a barrage of colors added to the layer underneath the top brown layer. It was shorter, as well. Short. As in to her shoulders, short.
In fact, it really did it for me.
I made sure to scruff my boots on the gravel to let her know I was behind her, and she froze, turning slowly.
Her face was exactly like I remembered it.
A smattering of freckles still covered her nose and cheeks, and her beautiful lips were still round and full.
And God, her eyes were to die for.
Crystal fucking blue.
She was gorgeous.
Those gorgeous baby blues widened when she saw me, but it didn’t take her long and she was running.
I widened my stance and caught her as she launched herself into my arms.
She was my world eight years ago, and now, it felt exactly the same. I wanted her so bad it hurt.
Wrapping my arms around her, I buried my nose into the crease of her neck.
“Nicolas,” she breathed into my neck.
She smelled like the sun, and felt perfect in my arms. Like she was always meant to be there.
Eight years ago, I’d made the first move. Letting her know that I was interested.
I’d waited too long, though.
I should’ve done it earlier, but I was worried about propriety.
I worried that she’d been too young, that I should wait until she was graduated.
Maybe if I’d made my move earlier, she’d have stayed.
But I didn’t, and she’d disappeared.
Then I’d gotten deployed, and we’d lived on the occasional letter to keep in touch.
My favorite letter, the one that’d saved me. The one that was the first thing I’d read after the death of nearly my whole unit. The one I still carried with me to this day.
It was nothing special. Just a short one from Georgia telling me she’d taught a boy, in a park she ran at, how to do a sliding tackle. But it’d been the words at the end of the letter that had pulled me out of whatever zone I’d been in.
Three simple words: I need you.
The letters had gotten me through a lot of years and a lot of scary days.
She probably didn’t realize it, but she saved my life.
“Georgia.” My roughened voice croaked. “I’ve missed the hell out of you.”
She leaned back, giving me her eyes. “I’ve missed you, too. Did you get the message I left you at your place?”
I shook my head. “No, I haven’t been back there in nearly twenty four hours.”