Total pages in book: 90
Estimated words: 85950 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 430(@200wpm)___ 344(@250wpm)___ 287(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 85950 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 430(@200wpm)___ 344(@250wpm)___ 287(@300wpm)
He holds me, making me feel precious, as he softens and falls free of my body. He doesn’t open his eyes until my heart rate has slowed enough that reality threatens to ruin everything.
Silently, he shifts me around, his head leaning back under the flow of water. With effortless efficiency, he washes his body, his smile never fading.
After rinsing off, he steps forward and brushes a kiss to my temple before climbing out.
I quickly stand back under the flow of water, watching him in the shadows and distorted movements as he dries off and gets dressed.
I don’t know what I expect the man to say before he gets back to this shift, but I certainly didn’t think he’d just walk out without a word.
Chapter 23
Cash
In the years I’ve worked for the Lindell Police Department, before this last month, I could count on one hand the number of times I had to call Adalynn and tell her I wouldn’t be able to see her at the bar. Recently, it seems like the world is stacked against us because not only did I not get to see her last night, but I also didn’t get to meet her tonight either.
When she texted earlier this week and told me she had a bad day at work, I didn’t hesitate to head to her house. What happened in her shower two nights ago will live inside my head until the day I die. Even after crossing over to wherever it is we go after taking our last breath on earth, I know nothing could pull that memory from my mind. I could be rotting in hell or walking those streets of gold, and I’d still be hyper focused on the way she clenched around me under that flow of water.
She was on fire, and it left me feeling a little singed, scorched from her heat. Things just keep getting better and better. Every time we come together our interactions make my years-long fantasies seem like child’s play.
I haven’t seen her in nearly two full days, and that’s absolutely unacceptable.
My body is humming for the last two hours of my shift.
I should probably stay home after I shower. She has an early morning tomorrow like she always does, but feeling like an asshole doesn’t stop me from parking on the street outside her house.
It’s after midnight, and I know she only has a handful of hours to rest before she has to get up to go to work, but sleeping alone in my bed feels like the worst thing in the world. It feels wrong to be there without her, and I’m betting that she feels just as awkward alone in her bed.
Since getting shot isn’t on my list of plans tonight, I press my finger to the doorbell, standing in full view under her porch light.
I sense her on the other side of the door before my ears register that she’s there. I’ve always been that way with her. Even when we were hours away, her here in Lindell, while I was away at college in Huntsville, she always felt close.
“Cash?” she asks, terror filling her voice when she pulls open the front door.
In a matter of seconds, tears leak from her eyes and form pathways down her cheeks.
“Fuc—damn it, Ads, what’s wrong?”
Her breathing is heavy, terror in her eyes.
“You’re ringing my doorbell after midnight. You tell me what’s wrong.”
I swallow several times, trying to fight down the disappointment I feel at her reacting this way to me, as if I’ve broken some agreement.
“Who’s hurt?” she whispers.
“What? No, Ads. No one’s hurt.” I scrape my hand over my shower-damp hair. “Shit. Shoot, I mean.”
“No one’s hurt?”
I shake my head. “I just wanted to see—”
The air rushes from my lungs when she slams her body against mine.
“Shh,” I urge, my hand running up and down her back in an effort to calm her. “I didn’t think. I’m so sorry.”
She starts doing that traumatized hiccup crying when I pull her back so I can swipe her tears away with my fingers.
“I thought Ronnie or Don—”
“No, baby. Come here.” I pull her against me once again, urging her legs up around my waist as I carry her inside. With one hand gripping her ass, I use my free one to shut the door and engage the deadbolt before walking and activating the alarm.
She clings to me, her sobs softening as I carry her to her room.
Her lips taste of salt and mint when I place her on the bed and lean down to kiss her.
When her hands roam down my back, pulling me closer, I know she’s giving me permission to take this as far as my body demands. As much as I love being inside of her, that’s not why I came over here. I need her beside me more than anything.