Total pages in book: 83
Estimated words: 78631 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 393(@200wpm)___ 315(@250wpm)___ 262(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 78631 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 393(@200wpm)___ 315(@250wpm)___ 262(@300wpm)
Someone had eyes on him.
He’d spent too many years dodging bullets and hunting terrorists in third-world shit holes not to heed his instincts.
But this warning wasn’t about danger—unless it was to his heart.
“What’s wrong?” his older brother, Trees, demanded, scanning the nightclub like a man who had spent his life taking down enemies for God and country. He tucked Laila, his wife and the mother of his four children, protectively against his side. Then his gaze snagged on something that made him scowl. “Holy shit.”
The band announced they were taking a break. People chatted and clinked glasses, brushing past Nash in the crowd. The activity hardly registered. His earth stopped turning. His life stopped moving. His heart stopped beating.
Without turning to see for himself, he sensed her. He swore he could fucking hear her breathe. He inhaled her musky amber-rose scent he’d know anywhere. His cock hardened to steel.
His date, Lissa, turned and searched the room before frowning blankly. “What?”
Nash couldn’t respond to the blonde. “She’s really here?”
Trees nodded. “About twenty feet behind you. What do you want to do?”
Was his brother asking if he wanted to leave? Hell no. Haisley Rowe had left town two interminable years ago. So why had she shown up here? Tonight? No clue. But he was staying to get some long-overdue answers.
He wasn’t desperate to touch her again. At all.
After nearly a year of…whatever their relationship had been, she had left him with the briefest of goodbyes. No explanation, no fuck you. She’d just…gone. He’d spent six celibate months vacillating between craving her and hating her. The other year and a half, he’d tried to fuck her out of his system—when he wasn’t staring like a schmuck at the engagement ring still nestled in the velvet in the box he’d never had the chance to give her.
“Who are you talking about?” Lissa demanded.
The pretty blonde at his side was used to being pursued. There was hardly a red-blooded man in Lafayette who didn’t want to nail her, and she was notoriously choosy. But he hadn’t worked particularly hard to persuade her to spend New Year’s Eve with him. Strike one. He hadn’t taken her somewhere fancy. Strike two. Now that another woman had stolen his attention? He didn’t have to guess where that left him.
He didn’t give a shit.
Nash uncurled his arm from around her shoulders, swallowed back the last of his beer, and tried to wire his shit tight.
He’d waited—fantasized—about his chance to lay eyes on Haisley again. He’d even made a list of everything he intended to say. Now that she was so close, he felt annoyingly stunned, tongue-tied, and blank.
“I don’t think she’s seen you yet,” Trees assured. “Oh, wait. She just did.”
Nash knew the instant Haisley looked at him. Fresh awareness sizzled across his skin. Knowing she stood mere feet away was like a double shot of Red Bull to his libido.
Fuck, Haisley had always gotten to him, from the moment they’d met at his brother’s wedding. Despite the years and the hurt, he’d been bullshitting himself. Nothing had changed. He was still as hung up on her as ever. He’d give anything to touch her again.
Goddamn it.
“Are you seriously focused on another woman right now?” Lissa barked. “Um, hello. I’m standing right here.”
His behavior was rude as hell, but was lying to her about his interest really better?
“Is she coming this way?” he asked his brother. Or is she leaving again?
“Nope. She’s just hanging out with some of those girls who attended our wedding.” Trees turned to Laila. “Remember?”
“Yes. She looks as surprised to see you as you are that she is here,” his sister-in-law added in her lightly accented lilt.
“Wait. You’re talking about some ex of yours?” Lissa stomped her little stiletto. “Seriously?”
“Yes.” The only one of his exes he gave a shit about, in fact. Haisley had always mattered—even when he’d told himself she didn’t. Despite two long years apart, he couldn’t deny that anymore.
Hands on hips, Lissa gaped at him. “You asked me to spend New Year’s Eve with you. I didn’t turn down three other invitations so you could gawk at someone you used to fuck. It’s her or me.”
It probably wasn’t smart, but Nash didn’t hesitate. “Her.”
In fact, he didn’t care if he ever saw Lissa Hollister again. Honestly, he couldn’t figure out what the fuss was about. Sex with her hadn’t been that great.
His date’s jaw dropped as indignation spread across her face. “Unbelievable. Don’t ever call me again, asshole.”
“Don’t worry,” he muttered as she spun away and stomped for the door. “Zero chance of that.”
Trees both winced and laughed. “That’s one way to lose a date. Now you’ll have to find someone else to kiss when the clock strikes midnight.”
Laila glanced at her phone. “You have less than twenty minutes to accomplish that.”