Total pages in book: 91
Estimated words: 87155 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 436(@200wpm)___ 349(@250wpm)___ 291(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 87155 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 436(@200wpm)___ 349(@250wpm)___ 291(@300wpm)
He stared at me for a long second. “And what about work? You’ve been working for her dad. It’s not going to be as easy to find a job without connections.”
“Thea owns a company and can work from anywhere. She’ll put me to work. And let me tell you, Lee, she is pissed as all hell at me right now, so it’s going to be serious shit-work for quite a while.”
He barked a laugh. “You want me to sign this transfer, I’d keep your relationship problems to yourself.”
“Oh, there’s no problem. She’ll enjoy watching me suffer. I’ll enjoy that she’ll enjoy it. And then late at night, when she crawls into my bed feeling a little guilty and a lot sweet, I’ll enjoy it in different ways. But only if I can—”
He waved me off. “Get out of here.”
“Exactly.”
He clicked on the mouse of his computer, illuminating the screen. “No. I mean. Get out of my office. I’ve heard you, and I need to get some work done today that doesn’t entail listening to you vomiting hearts and flowers.”
My stomach sank, not knowing if he was going to look into my request or not. “Lee, I—”
“Out,” he rumbled, staring at his computer screen.
Resigned for fear of pissing him off, I rose from my chair and started toward the door. He did, after all, have my future in the palm of his hand.
No sooner than I reached for the doorknob, he called, “When you were assigned to me, I went through your file. I saw the pictures of what he did to her.”
I turned to look at him. “I see them every time I blink.”
His face got soft. “I got four daughters, Ramsey. One of ’em came home looking like that…” He trailed off, shaking his head. “I got a buddy in Dahlonega. Nice little mountain town. You and Thea will have all the privacy you need to get to know each other again.”
Relief tore from my lungs, stripping the emotion from my throat on the way out. I looked like a pussy, but I had not one fuck to give as I choked out, “Really?”
He nodded. “Give me a few days to get all the paperwork filed. I’ll sign off on a travel pass so you two can start hunting for a house, but check back with me before putting down a deposit, okay?”
I nodded at least a dozen times, the constant pressure in my chest slowly deflating. “Thank you. Thank you so much.”
He jerked his chin to the door. “Lead a good life. Be kind to people. Help your girl heal. Forgive yourself. Stay out of trouble. Make the world a better place. And raise those kids to be better people than any of us. That’s how you thank me.”
“I can do that,” I rasped.
He didn’t say anything else, and after a minute, I’d finally collected myself enough to walk out to Thea, who was waiting in the 4Runner.
“What’d he say?” she rushed out when I opened the door.
I slid into my seat, shut my door, and caught her at the back of her neck. Hauling her in, I pressed a hard kiss to her already tender lips.
“This is not an answer,” she mumbled against my mouth.
Chuckling, I released her. “Dahlonega.”
Her lips curled into a breathtaking smile. “That’s like four hours away.”
“We can get a little cabin in the mountains. Disappear for a few years until I finish my parole. Hopefully, if we really stick to a budget, I’ll be able to save up enough money so we can travel when I’m done. It won’t be Paris, but I should be able to afford Ohio.”
“I have money,” she whispered. “I have so much money, Ramsey.”
I laughed and tugged on my seat belt. “So you’ve mentioned. But it’s important to me that I can at least contribute to our lives together. It’s not going to be nearly as much as you, Little Miss Money Bags, but I can try.”
She kept grinning at me as she started the engine. “It’s you and me. It’s always been you and me. And it will always be you and me. Let’s make a deal. This lifetime is on me. You can take the next.”
Muscles I hadn’t known I possessed sagged for the first time in over twelve years.
She wasn’t wrong.
This lifetime.
The next.
And in all the ones that followed, Althea Floye Hull—soon-to-be Stewart, though she didn’t know it yet—would always be mine.
Before she put the car into reverse, I leaned in for another kiss. I took this one deeper, opening my mouth and indecently dueling with her tongue in the middle of the parking lot.
I kissed her with a passion that burned in my soul.
I kissed her with apologies I’d never stop issuing.
But most of all, I kissed her with the promise of a future.
We’d eventually fight about the money.