Total pages in book: 138
Estimated words: 128260 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 641(@200wpm)___ 513(@250wpm)___ 428(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 128260 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 641(@200wpm)___ 513(@250wpm)___ 428(@300wpm)
My mouth fell open again. Carson had obviously changed in many ways, but that cocky self-assuredness was still there. Only, I had this inkling that where once it’d been at least somewhat contrived, now it was authentic. He’d come by it honestly through grit and—
A light knock sounded and I jumped while Carson’s eyes flew to the door. “Expecting someone?” he asked.
“Oh my God, Alex said he might come by with dinner. I thought it had gotten too late. That’s probably him,” I hissed.
Carson stood, and I leaped up next to him. “Break it off with him, Grace,” he said, taking a few steps toward the door. “For him. For you. For me.”
“For the future of mankind?” I asked sarcastically.
A slow grin lit his face, and that dimple popped out. “Absolutely,” he said. “The world needs us, Grace.”
Ugh. He was so sexy. “Wait!” I whispered. “You can’t open that door!”
He turned and made it back to where I stood in just a couple steps, taking my face in his hands. “I need to tell you one more thing before I go.” His eyes searched mine as another soft knock sounded that we both ignored. “I haven’t been with anyone else either. Not since you.”
Huh? “What?” Was he joking? I was caught off guard, shocked. How could that possibly be true? In almost five years, Carson Stinger, sex-on-a-stick, hadn’t been with anyone else? “Why?” He’d asked me the same question and I hadn’t answered it, but it appeared that he would as he opened his mouth to speak. But just then, a second knock sounded, this time louder.
Alex. I came back to my senses. “This won’t look good. Please, you need to go out the back door, Carson,” I whispered. “Can you do it quietly?”
His lip quirked. “I might have some expertise in stealthy getaways, buttercup,” he said, letting go of my face and walking backward away from me. “But next time, I’d like to leave through your front door.” Next time. He opened the sliding glass door that led to the small patio at the back of my house and stepped outside.
I blinked and he was gone.
_________
Carson
As I slunk around the side of Grace’s house, I heard her front door open and a male voice say, “Dinner delivery! What took you so long to answer?”
He sounded like a fucking loser. Nah, that wasn’t really fair. If Grace liked him, he was probably a decent guy. And that was the part that fucked with me even more. I really wanted to hate him, but why should I? He hadn’t done anything wrong except not know how to sexually satisfy his woman. Which actually made me like the hell out of him. In this case.
“Oh, I was getting out of the shower!” I heard Grace lie. She was kind of bad at it, but apparently, the fiancé didn’t pick up on that.
I walked to my truck, parked in front of her neighbor’s house. I hated sneaking out like I was some kind of thief. But I had made it clear what I wanted. Now I just had to hope she figured out that she wanted the same thing.
I sat in my truck, watching their shadows move beyond the blinds. Maybe Grace and Alex weren’t fucking, but I still bet he was in there holding her and kissing her. So yeah, maybe I could hate him.
I’d surprised myself by telling her about not being with anyone else since her either. I didn’t even know if she’d believed me. I wanted to explain why. I wanted to tell her what I’d gone through. I longed to open up to Grace. I hadn’t opened up to anyone since her—not in any true sense. The truth was, I just wanted her in every way possible, despite…everything.
Circumstance had been our downfall once. And fate had stepped in the second time I almost contacted Grace. But I would be damned if I wasn’t going to take advantage of this opportunity now. I had a whole lot going on and so did she, and maybe in the end, we’d been put back in each other’s lives for a different purpose and eventually we’d go our separate ways. But everything inside me fought against that idea. I knew what I wanted, and I was at least going to put up a fight. Now I just had to hope Grace came to the same conclusion.
I fired up my truck and turned onto the road that led to my house. All these years, I had thought of Grace and not known where she was, what was going on in her life. Now I knew she was five minutes from me. And in some ways, it hurt worse than knowing she was a continent away.
CHAPTER 26
Grace
Christmas was a week away. I immersed myself in last-minute shopping and work, including the Garner case. The trial was set for the end of January and so I had time to prepare, not that there was very much new evidence. The autopsy on the victim had come back and other than the obvious cause of death, a gunshot wound to her head, there was no physical trauma, no drugs in her system, and from what the ME could tell, she was a virgin. She hadn’t been sexually molested so that ruled out that possible motive. But even without a motive, the DNA evidence was irrefutable. The accused’s blood was at the scene on the rock, and the victim’s blood was found on clothing at his apartment. Not to mention that the bullet removed from the victim was from Josh Garner’s registered firearm. I didn’t think we’d need to provide a motive with evidence like that.