Total pages in book: 137
Estimated words: 138683 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 693(@200wpm)___ 555(@250wpm)___ 462(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 138683 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 693(@200wpm)___ 555(@250wpm)___ 462(@300wpm)
“Let me.” His voice was low. Back to that reserved quietness he wore at the club.
He zipped it closed, his gaze cautious as he stood with the suitcase and stretched out his free hand. “Let’s go.”
I nodded again.
Numb.
Shocked.
I didn’t know.
I rushed to keep up with him as he hauled butt out of the room and across the landing to the stairs. I warily glanced through the double doors of the office to where Karl had begun to moan as we went by.
Holy crap.
Did that just happen?
Milo gave my hand a tug, and he bounded down the stairs. I almost followed him out the door before I realized what I’d forgotten.
“I need to get my car.”
“Shit.” He almost looked like he was going to tell me to leave it.
“This way.” I turned directions, and Milo followed me into the garage. Three luxury cars were parked in the first bays, and my Corolla was in the fourth. I jammed at the button to open the garage door, and I moved for the car, Milo right behind me.
I got into the driver’s seat, my shaking hands going to the steering wheel, my breaths labored.
“You sure you can drive, Little Dove?”
“Yep, I’m fine. Great. Perfect, actually. You kicked Karl’s ass.” I grinned. All manic-like. But could anyone blame me?
Milo grunted. “Pull out and onto the road. I’ll follow you home.”
Home.
Right.
With my fake fiancé.
I laughed.
Laughed and laughed because this shit was hysterical.
Huh.
It looked like the insanity of it all had just caught up to me.
TWELVE
MILO
My chest pulled in all the wrong places as I looked out the bank of windows to the view out back.
She was there, sitting on the edge of the dock with her legs dangling over the side, her feet bare, her arms propping her up as she tilted her face back to the last fragments of sunlight that hung to the pink-hewn sky.
A breeze gently blew, and those fiery locks of red billowed with the soft gusts, in time with the ripples that shimmered across the placid lake.
She looked like a fucking painting right then, framed by the trees that towered on each side, the mountains a gorgeous backdrop behind her.
But the girl was the focus.
The center.
The light.
Like the painter had gotten the shading just right.
Throat thick, I eased open the door and stepped onto the porch. The air was cool as it brushed my overheated flesh.
Pushing away the reservations, I eased down the three porch steps and took the path that cut through the middle of the lawn. My footsteps slowed as I trekked across the yard to the beach, slower still as I took the first step onto the dock.
The wood groaned, and I could feel Tessa’s spirit race out to meet with mine.
That strange connection thrummed on a thread of peace.
Crazy, since I’d never had such a disorder toiling from within.
She sat up a bit and ran a hand through her hair to tame it, tucking it to one side and exposing the delicate slope of her neck as she shifted to look at me.
A slow smile moved across her stunning face, the sharp angles somehow so fucking soft while every part of me remained rigid and hard, my blood still boiling from the showdown with Karl earlier today.
“Hey, you,” she whispered into the quiet rustling of the forest.
Blue eyes swam.
A welcome.
Calling me to their depths.
“Hey.”
“Want to join me?” Tessa lifted her wine glass, her voice shifting into a tease. “I’m about to polish this baby off. Clearly, I need someone to save me from myself.”
She had a bottle of pink, bubbly wine chilling on ice in a wooden bucket, and a Bluetooth speaker hummed some indie band I didn’t recognize.
“Have to work.” I was having a hard time responding in anything more than grunts.
Amusement played all over that tempting mouth. “At a bar.”
Air puffed from my nose. “What, you think we sit around doing shots all night?”
“Isn’t that what people who work at bars do?”
“It’s my job to haul the drunk assholes out, not to be the drunk asshole.”
Her smile spread too wide. “Are you implying I’m an asshole, Milo Hendricks?”
Rough laughter scraped out. This girl just had a way of soothing the soul.
“Think you’re the farthest thing from it, Little Dove. Think you deserve that entire bottle after what went down today.”
Cautiously, I eased the rest of the way over and sat down beside her. That energy went to whispering around us the way it liked to do, calming, almost disarming, while my insides stormed with her claim.
Her smile softened, filled with this gratefulness that spun around her like silk. “Thank you for what you did earlier. I really hate dragging you into my mess.”
I huffed. “Dragging me into your mess? Pretty sure it’s the other way around.”
Her head barely shook. “You were there when I needed you.”