Total pages in book: 81
Estimated words: 76347 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 382(@200wpm)___ 305(@250wpm)___ 254(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 76347 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 382(@200wpm)___ 305(@250wpm)___ 254(@300wpm)
“It’s freaking cold out here.” His breath travels up in a white cloud above his head.
“I agree.” I chafe my hands up and down my sweater-clad arms.
“I have a cure for that. For our last night in this place for a good long while.”
I’m glad he doesn’t say forever. None of us know where we’re going to end up, especially us. I know most people probably couldn’t handle living a life like that, but for me, it’s more than an adventure. It’s a journey with the man I love, with his family, who I’ve also come to love, with Lennox and his crass humor, and with Cass, who is tender and sweet. She actually gave me the idea to give the house back to my parents, and we borrowed what she had told her family to come up with a plan as to what to tell mine. It’s a journey with Orion, who is more on the quiet side and never passes up an opportunity to give Atlas hell but would also defend him like a knight going into battle if it came down to it, and with Atlas’ granny, with all her tough love, eccentric personality, and soft side that she only shows a person when they really, truly know her, and she trusts them.
She made all this happen. I was going to write a time travel romance novel, but I decided to change it up after hearing some of Atlas’ stories and do what I had joked about and write a thriller slash murder mystery. Yes, it became almost an instant bestseller, but Atlas’ granny had a lot to do with that. She made it such that the book became hot shit, so it would look legit when I said I had a publishing deal and that I was moving to Europe. That’s my cover story. I mean, it’s also true, but Atlas’ granny owns the publishing company through a shell company that’s through a shell of that and on and on. She’s a genius marketer, at least online, and she pulled out all the stops. I also know Azalea, Alden’s girlfriend, helped Granny a lot in the first few months since she’s a writer too.
We’ve had this plan in place for months, and now it’s finally here. Six months sounds like a lot of time, but it’s gone by so, so fast.
“What’s the cure?” I snap out of my thoughts and grin at Atlas. Of course, I already know what it is, but I’ll never get tired of his eyes darkening and that knowing grin spreading across his face.
He wraps his arms around me, hustles me back into the house, and shuts the door on the wintry January day. “Can I kiss you?” he asks.
“Absolutely. Always.”
“Can I kiss you just as me? As Atlas? With absolutely no secrets between us or fables about home renovation? As the man with the crazy life and the crazy badass family, but also the man who is just plain crazy in love with you?”
My breath punches out of me as though I’ve just been hit with a blast of cold air, not the warm, slightly cinnamon-scented air from the candle Mom gave me for Christmas. Gah, my heart. “Yes,” I whisper-yell because there really isn’t any controlling my volume right now. My voice is wavering all over the place with every single erratic thump of my bursting heart. “You can kiss me as the woman who is part of all that now.”
With a huge smile, Atlas hauls me up against him and cups my face in his massive hands. Despite just standing out in the cold, they’re warm. Always so warm. “Tell me more about this crime-fighting husband and wife duo.”
“Well, they just met, and they bonded over solving crimes together. The books are going to be funny, warm-hearted, and of course, involve lots of bad guys going down hard. They’re going to be funny and kind of sexy and also totally badass and thrilling.”
“And what about you? Are you excited about Paris, and by Paris, I actually mean Switzerland?”
Atlas’ granny loves Switzerland, and when the family goes to Europe, that’s where they always end up before they travel on to whatever mission she finds for them next.
“I’m very excited about Switzerland. I’m going to be living my dream, and I have an army of people behind me who love and support me. Even though I never saw myself living like this, I’m so lucky that life is sometimes full of unexpected surprises.”
Atlas drops his head and kisses my neck, working his magic there before he finds his way to my lips. I melt against him, and all of me is instantly hot and wet and aching with anticipation. I can feel my nipples slicing through my bra, trying to do me a favor and cut it to shreds so that it’s one less piece of clothing to take off, and I can feel the hard bulge in Atlas’ jeans as he presses up against me, which only makes me instantly wetter.