Total pages in book: 68
Estimated words: 67490 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 337(@200wpm)___ 270(@250wpm)___ 225(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 67490 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 337(@200wpm)___ 270(@250wpm)___ 225(@300wpm)
I was half-tempted to ask him if he was leaving the country, but I figured he’d pack a bag before he did that.
“Mmmkay,” I said sleepily, my body lethargic after the early morning wakeup call. “Call me if you need me.”
“My sisters will be here around noon, right?” he asked as I heard him moving around the room. “You’re not staying here alone all day to go through everything else by yourself?”
We were at Addison’s rental.
Everything was organized and separated into keep and donate piles. But everything still needed packed away, hence our staying at her place last night.
It was weird being here without her, and I had to admit, kind of depressing.
I just felt off.
And he’d sensed it.
I blinked open one eye and looked at him just as he was stepping into his boots. “Yeah. Why do you sound so worried?”
He flashed me a grin. “Because my sisters are a whole lot more intense than your family.”
I snorted. “You could say that again.”
I loved his sisters, though.
They were great, and they made me smile, which was something that didn’t happen as often since my sister had left me.
“Be good.” He pressed a kiss to the top of my face. “I love you.”
My heart started to pound, and I came up on an elbow in the bed just in time to see his back as he was leaving.
“Hey!” I cried out.
He paused and appeared back in the doorway of the bedroom.
“You’re just going to say it and leave, and not wait for me to say it back?” I grinned. “If you’d stop being a little weenie, I’d tell you I love you, too.”
His smile was nothing short of magnificent. “Good.”
I rolled my eyes. “Be careful, Keene.”
He winked at me. “Bye, honey.”
Then he was really gone that time.
I collapsed back onto the bed in time to hear him close, lock, and rearm the alarm.
I was in a half-awake, half-asleep phase when I heard it.
The small sound of a door closing.
Someone trying to be quiet and failing.
Addison’s rental was old. As in, it needed a lot of upgrades to ever be quiet, old. Maybe a new foundation would be recommended…
If you stepped on parts of the floor, it creaked. If you closed a door, it was a crap shoot if it closed or not, but if it did close, it squeaked as it did.
And someone who hadn’t been in the rental before wouldn’t know how loud it was.
Sitting up, I reached for the discarded t-shirt I’d been wearing to sleep in last night and shrugged it on.
I was just reaching for the gun on the nightstand when I heard it.
The slam of the door as it opened was enough to make my heart nearly explode inside my chest.
Then there was a body diving toward me.
It took all of two seconds for him to have me incapacitated.
He was straddling my body, hand over my mouth, staring down at me with a weird look on his face.
It was then that I recognized the face.
Addison’s husband.
“Heard your man has been looking for me,” the man with his hand over my mouth said. “You Carter girls just can’t get enough, can you?”
I fisted my hands in the bed sheets at my side.
When was it that Keene left?
I knew it had to have been only twenty minutes ago.
That meant I only had about an hour before his sisters would be here.
Fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck.
That was too long to wait for a rescue.
“Cat got your tongue?” he asked.
I nearly rolled my eyes.
How was I supposed to answer with his hand over my mouth?
He must’ve read the disdain on my face because he moved his hand and said, “Speak.”
“What do you want?” I asked.
“I want you to fucking die like your sister,” he rasped. “But first…”
He started to reach for me, his hand going to my waist, but stopped short when he heard the laughter from outside.
They were early.
Oh, thank fuck.
His sisters were early!
“Guess we’ll have to finish this another time.” He grinned wickedly. “Do you think you’ll fit out the window?”
“No,” I said. “That window doesn’t open.”
It didn’t.
I’d tried last night because it was stuffy in the room.
He narrowed his eyes. “You’re lying.”
I was already shaking my head. “I’m not.”
“You’re lying,” he repeated, as if he truly didn’t believe me. “Get up.”
He yanked me with him, and I had enough forethought to swipe the gun off the nightstand as we moved.
With one arm around my body, he held me to him as he tried in vain to open the window.
Upon his silent curse, he started moving me toward the front of the house.
And, because there was absolutely no way in hell I was going anywhere with him, I brought the gun around, aimed, and shot him in the foot.
He howled in pain as he started to bounce around the room.