Total pages in book: 122
Estimated words: 115706 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 579(@200wpm)___ 463(@250wpm)___ 386(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 115706 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 579(@200wpm)___ 463(@250wpm)___ 386(@300wpm)
“I appreciate that,” I reply softly to Aubrey. With her hand still on my bare forearm, I hold her gaze. The air suddenly feels like it’s crackling between us. At least, that’s how it feels on my end.
With flushed cheeks, Aubrey removes her hand from my forearm like it’s on fire. “I’ll go check your bedroom, so you can get to bed.”
Her chest heaving, Aubrey turns on her heel and strides away, giving me yet another lovely view of her swishing ass as she goes.
Suddenly, I know two things to be true, with total clarity:
One, I’m going to fuck Aubrey in this house, sooner rather than later. It’s fucking inevitable. Unavoidable, like gravity.
And two, from this moment forward, I’m going to stick with my sobriety and do whatever it takes not to fuck up this second chance at a new beginning with my daughter. No matter what.
Chapter 9
Aubrey
Iwake up in a cold sweat, gasping for air and feeling like my heart is being scraped by a spiked, metal rake.
Claudia.
She was screaming in pain in my nightmare. Falling down a well. She cried out for me, desperately. Reached for me, her blue eyes wide and full of terror. But I couldn’t help her. On the contrary, I watched in horror as my best friend since fourth grade fell into a deep, dark abyss and, eventually, disappeared from sight.
I reach for Raine next to me, frantically, and whimper when she’s not there. But when my brain orients, I remember Raine is safe at my parents’ house. That Claudia is gone and at peace now, and I’m sitting in a dark bedroom in Caleb’s lake house. With a shudder, I bow my head, rest my forehead against arms on my knees, and sob like a baby.
I was so exhausted when I finally slid into bed in this cute little rustic bedroom, and honestly so excited to finally get to sleep without Raine’s warm body draped all over mine for a night—also, to get to sleep without ministering to Raine after a nightmare—I thought for sure I’d sleep blissfully till morning for the first time since Claudia’s death. But no such luck. Apparently, in the absence of Raine’s nightmares, my brain conjured one of its own to fill the void.
When my tears subside, I check the time on my phone. It’s just past three. Too early to get up for the day, so I get up to pee and get a quick drink of water from the faucet.
In the hallway, I tiptoe past Caleb’s closed bedroom door and head into the small bathroom. After doing my business in there, I creep back out into the dark hallway and immediately bump smack into something hard and totally unexpected: Caleb’s bare torso.
“Gah!” I blurt, as I bounce off his naked chest. “I didn’t see you!”
“I thought you were in your room,” he mutters, stepping backward and raising his large palms in a show of harmlessness.
Shit. I’m wearing nothing but panties and a tank top, due to the heat, and Caleb’s wearing nothing but briefs that make the large package behind them easily identifiable. It’s the first time I’m able to confirm the extent of his tattoos. They’re everywhere. Covering every inch of his body, other than a few small patches on his thighs.
Yum.
That’s my body’s involuntary reaction to the nearly naked, muscled and tattooed man standing mere inches from me. Obviously, my conscious brain doesn’t respect or like this selfish, entitled man-child. Also, I’ve never been attracted to inked bad boys with demons. That was always Claudia’s thing, not mine. But my body in this moment is having a primal, visceral reaction, whether it makes sense or not.
Caleb’s broad chest heaving, he turns sideways to let me pass in the narrow hallway, at which point I can plainly surmise he’s hard as a rock behind his briefs. Blushing as I pass, I wrench my gaze off his bulge, but when my eyes land on the lustful, greedy blaze in his green eyes, I quickly look down at my bare feet and blush.
“Well, goodnight,” I choke out, as I reach my bedroom door.
“Goodnight,” he replies smoothly, no hint of flustered distress in his tone. “Sweet dreams, babysitter.”
Damn. That boy’s got some serious swagger. Clearly, Caleb knows he’s a sight to see. A worldwide sex symbol. I wish that obvious, hard bulge didn’t affect me in the slightest; but it did. A lot. In fact, thanks to that brief encounter, I’m now short of breath and pulsing in my panties.
Inside my bedroom, I lay a hand on my chest and feel the fast drumbeat of my heart. I haven’t had sex since breaking up with Trent almost two years ago, and, suddenly, my body is feeling every minute of that drought.
With a long exhale, I turn on my side in bed and tell myself to calm down. To forget what I saw. But visions of Caleb in that hallway keep slamming into me, unbidden, making it impossible for me to fall asleep again.