Total pages in book: 92
Estimated words: 84002 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 420(@200wpm)___ 336(@250wpm)___ 280(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 84002 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 420(@200wpm)___ 336(@250wpm)___ 280(@300wpm)
“Morning, beautiful!” Riley jumped down from his truck and tried not to seem too eager. He’d missed her in the few hours he’d been gone from their bed and had rushed through his morning routine to get back to her before she left for the day. It was only as he was driving down the driveway that he remembered what he’d done when he woke up this morning.
His woman he’d noticed can jump from feisty to testy in a split second, and he was expecting a fight. He swooped in and lifted her off her feet for a kiss before she could sink her teeth into his ass for what he’d done. “You all ready to go?”
“I was, but I seem to have misplaced my vehicle.”
“Is that thing yours or the department’s?”
“It’s mine. Why? What did you do?”
“I’m having it serviced; you can drive this in the meantime.” He pointed at the luxury SUV, and her mouth fell open.
“I can’t drive around town in that are you insane?”
Celia could just imagine what everyone would say if they saw her riding around in the expensive ride. No doubt, tongues would wag, and people might start getting the wrong idea. She was already dreading everyone finding out that she’d moved in with him so soon after his wife’s death, but Riley can’t seem to get it through his head that they might be moving too fast for some.
As far as he’s concerned, it’s nobody’s business what they do as long as the two of them are happy. That’s all good and well for him; he’s not a public servant; he doesn’t have to deal with the town’s people unless he wants to while she has to if she wants to do her job properly.
“It’s a far walk from here to there, but okay.”
“What are you talking about? Where is my car? I’ll just drive that to work same as I do every day.”
“Can’t.” He tapped her ass just because and gave serious thought to dragging her back inside for a quickie. He’d already stolen a piece before climbing out of bed at the ass crack of dawn, but that was at least four hours ago.
If she didn’t look like she’d bite his dick off with the least provocation, he might’ve gone for it, but she was already going to be steaming mad at him for what he’d done to her piece of shit car, so he decided not to push his luck. “What do you mean can’t? Where is it?”
“It’s in the garage, up on blocks. When is the last time you had someone look at that engine?” He kept walking towards the house since a quickie was out of the question, and he wasn’t about to stand around in the heat, arguing with her about something that he wasn’t going to change.
“Riley!” She gritted his name so hard between her teeth; it’s a wonder she didn’t chip them. He walked back to her just to steal another kiss before patting her on the ass again while pulling her into him so she could feel his need. Fuck! She gotta go to work, and he had things to do that couldn’t wait. Later!
“The keys are in the ignition. Drive safe detective. Are you coming home for lunch, or do you want me to bring you something?” He didn’t look back as he asked and didn’t wait around for an answer. Just walked around the side of the house and out of view. He barely made it around the corner before the laughter he was holding in escaped.
She was fit to be tied his little city girl. She’s just too damn cute when she stares daggers at him as if she’d like to take a shot at him with her nifty little sidearm. The way he saw it, it was better to get everything out of the way from the get. That way, there will be no surprises going forward.
He’d held back a lot in his marriage, had let things slide that maybe he shouldn’t have. Though there’s no comparison between then and now, he didn’t see where he could go wrong by laying his cards on the table. Sure, she might have a hard time with it now, but he had all hopes that things would smooth themselves out in the future.
If they didn’t, then that was too damn bad for her. Her job was already too dangerous for his liking—two murders in a matter of months. With a town this size, that’s plenty. As far as he’s concerned, she’s lucky he has no intention of trying to make her quit. And the only reason he’s not going there is because he knew how much she loved her work from the conversations they’d had.
Celia slammed into the SUV, muttering beneath her breath all the while. It took three tries before she got the stupid key to work, and by the time the engine purred to life, she forgot her mad. The damn thing drove like she was gliding through the air on wings. She found herself grinning when her eyes fell on the note she found stuck to the dashboard.