Total pages in book: 79
Estimated words: 76456 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 382(@200wpm)___ 306(@250wpm)___ 255(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 76456 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 382(@200wpm)___ 306(@250wpm)___ 255(@300wpm)
And since I didn’t want to be standing on the cold step, I nodded and we moved inside.
I braced myself for the smell of rot, but there was nothing but the slight scent of a lemon cleaner.
“Dennis!” I called as we moved down the hall toward the kitchen, where the table was cleaned off, the sink empty.
For a second, I almost thought I’d imagined the rotting food and the mold.
But, no.
I mean, if Dennis was back, of course he’d have cleaned up his mess. He wasn’t going to stay in a house reeking of old food.
“Don’t hear a shower,” Gav said, tilting his head up to listen to the top floor.
He was right.
It was completely silent.
I felt unease prickle across my skin, making my hand reach instinctively for my gun, not sure what was going on, but not liking the vibe I was getting.
Gav noticed, and his hand went for his own weapon. The other hand made a twirling motion in the air, and I knew him well enough to know his meaning.
Let’s do a sweep.
So that was what we did, and with each room we passed through with no one in it, I could feel my tension rising until my spine was ramrod straight, and my gut was twisted into a tight knot after we’d explored all three floors with no success.
Back in the kitchen, I pointed toward the door in the mudroom. The one that led out into the garage.
Where there was no longer a car.
“Could have just run out to get some food,” Gav said, shrugging.
It was good logic. He’d been gone a while. His food supply was probably low. Maybe he wanted to serve us something for the meeting.
But even with that theory floating around, I couldn’t seem to shake my unease, my sense that something was wrong, that I was missing something.
“Give ‘em half an hour,” Gav said, leaning against the counter.
But he didn’t put his gun away.
If that was because he was feeling some sort of unease as well, or just picking up on mine, I didn’t know.
All I did know, though, was half an hour passed.
Then an hour.
Then two.
With no sign of Dennis.
I texted.
I called.
I felt anger mingling with that feeling of tension.
“What is it?” Gav asked as we walked back down the front path.
“I don’t know,” I admitted. “That’s what’s pissing me off.”
Something was going on here, but I had no idea what the fuck it was.
“Maybe he went to the flower shop?” Gav suggested. “That’s his place, after all. He’s been away. Maybe he wanted to check on shit.”
That was actually pretty good logic.
And I wasn’t just thinking that because my cock was still aching at the thought of Mere reaching out and touching it, stroking it, sucking it into her mouth, welcoming it into her tight, wet pussy.
“True,” I agreed, nodding.
“Want me to come?” he asked.
I couldn’t think of anything I wanted less than that, actually.
“No, I got this. Why don’t you call Emilio and tell him that Dennis was in contact, but that we haven’t talked yet,” I told him instead, wanting him to have a task so he didn’t get suspicious and show up at the flower shop.
“Alright. Can do. Let me know what you find out,” Gav said before dipping into his car.
I had to slow my pace to my own car, getting in, and driving slowly back into town.
Mere’s car was gone from the side of the road, signs of a tow truck in the snow, making it muddy and packed down. I hadn’t been aware she’d called for it. But maybe she’d done it after I’d dipped out of her apartment that morning.
I figured that Vega must have driven her into work, because I saw the open sign on the door, and the flowers in the front window as I drove down the street to park.
Anticipation was sparking through my system as I walked toward the shop, making me feel like some fucking teenager, still waiting for his first taste and feel of the opposite sex.
I didn’t stop to think bout it, though, as I yanked open the door to the empty shop, hearing the little chime on the door fill the space, as I couldn’t seem to focus on anything other than my sheer dumb luck.
An empty shop.
And Mere.
I didn’t even fucking care anymore if Dennis was still in the wind.
I just wanted to see her.
She wasn’t in the front of the store, and it took a solid minute before her figure appeared in the doorway to the back.
Looking back, I would see the signs.
The tense shoulders.
The big eyes.
The way she kept shifting her feet.
At the moment, though, I was looking through a lens of desire. And everything else seemed to fall out of focus.
All that mattered was she was there.
Looking even prettier than I remembered.