Total pages in book: 104
Estimated words: 98264 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 491(@200wpm)___ 393(@250wpm)___ 328(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 98264 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 491(@200wpm)___ 393(@250wpm)___ 328(@300wpm)
“All right,” he clipped. “Here’s how this shit is going down. First off, you need to get to your girl and tell her these tapes still exist. That shit isn’t going to be easy on her, especially if he manages to release them and she gets blindsided. Second, I’m gonna send a guy your way. If Cousin Cocksucker is getting desperate, there is no telling what he’s going to do. I’d rather have feet on the ground and you not need them than be underprepared. Lastly, I’ll make some calls and see if I can figure out what the hell kind of trouble this asshat has gotten himself into. If he’s got as much pull in this small town as you say he does, he’s not going to waste his time working with off-the-grid small-timers. If he’s running scared, someone will know why.”
I let out a sigh, reconsidering the whole kidnapping-Nora thing, but at this rate, New York wasn’t even far enough away from Caskey to keep her safe. “Thanks, Leo. I appreciate it.”
“Not a problem. Take care of your girl and we’ll be square.”
She wasn’t my girl. Well, not exactly. Not in the way that meant I got to keep her when this was all said and done.
But she was still mine.
Or at least I was hers.
“Keep me in the loop,” I said to Leo.
“Will do.”
We both hung up, and I walked straight to the shower. I was quick, not even my cock objecting as I did the world’s fastest lather-and-rinse routine. I spun around the room, dragging on a pair of jeans and a gray T-shirt, and then moved to the nightstand and grabbed my keys. My wallet wasn’t sitting there, so I searched through the pants I’d taken off the night before and dug it out of the back pocket.
Our ten-dollar bill came tumbling out with it. I froze, staring down at it. When the hell had she given it back to me?
While the ten had been in my possession for the last half a decade, it wasn’t often I allowed myself to handle it. For over a year after our night at my dad’s hunting cabin, I’d carried it with me everywhere, never knowing when I’d see her next, and always hoping it would be soon. As time passed, though, and the dream of her finding her way back to me started to disappear, I began leaving it in my dresser at home. I tortured myself with a lot of things, but the memories that bill held were often more than I could take.
Bending over, I plucked it off the carpet, a wave of nostalgia assaulting me.
Snapshots of our past together came back to me in a rush.
Nora laughing as she’d swung from the rope into the creek.
Nora racing away from me, her hair flowing behind her, a smile aimed over her shoulder.
Nora’s eyes as she’d stared at me, her hand poised over mine in the middle of a high-intensity game of Slapjack.
Nora.
Nora.
Nora.
I’d spent five years missing her.
Five years waiting for her to come back to me.
Five years giving her the time and space I’d promised so we could both get our lives together.
In the end, it was Joe who had called me though. Not her reaching out because she wanted me in her life. Not her pining for the last five years, desperate to reconnect. Just…Joe.
Of course, I was going to be here for her. We were friends—first and foremost. But we’d also been more, and learning how to move on without her had almost destroyed me.
After tucking the bill into my pocket, I grabbed my phone and headed out the door.
As much as I would have loved to lose myself in Nora Stewart for whatever time I had left with her, there was no way I was signing myself back up for the heartache that accompanied another goodbye.
I stopped by the Clovert Bakery on my way to her place, hoping to soften the blow with donuts and a coffee. It wasn’t quite seven when I arrived, and her house was still dark, so rather than scaring the hell out of her by knocking, I dialed her number.
She answered on the third ring, sleep still clinging to her voice. “Wow, you’re up early.”
“Actually, I’m outside. Can you let me in so we can talk?”
There was a rustling on her end. “Depends. Is it a good talk or bad talk?”
“Uhh, I brought you donuts and a coffee with enough cream and sugar to kill a horse.”
“So a bad talk then. Great.” Her front door suddenly opened, and she appeared on the other side, her hair pulled back into a ponytail, the phone still held to her ear. She was adorable, all mussed from sleep.
But that wasn’t why my mouth dried.
Or my heart stopped.
Or my cock twitched.
Nora Stewart was standing on the other side of the threshold in the sexiest outfit I’d ever seen. It wasn’t tight, revealing, or anything men usually found inherently sexy. But, to me, it was only one shade below her opening the door stark naked.